Jo Tarnawsky: Richard Marles’ chief of staff launches legal action over claims she was bullied out of job

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles is being sued by his own chief of staff for allegedly shunting her from the office after she complained of bullying at the hands of colleagues.

Jo Tarnawsky, who is still employed by Mr Marles, has now launched legal action in the Federal Court against her boss, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Tim Gartrell and the Commonwealth, alleging adverse action under the Fair Work Act for how they handled her complaint.

In a statement of claim filed on Monday, Ms Tarnawsky alleges she was punished after she went to Mr Marles, detailing bullying and harassment by a senior staff member.

The career public servant is not accusing Mr Marles or Mr Gartrell of bullying her, rather the claims are about how they responded to the bullying complaints.

Speaking from Parliament House on Monday, Ms Tarnawsky said she had been left with no choice but to launch legal action because of “untenable delays in action from the Government”. She said there had been “no investigation into the behaviours I reported, nor regarding the actions taken by the deputy prime minister against me” since going public last month.

“Three weeks ago, I wrote a letter to the prime minister, asking him to intervene and to hold the deputy prime minister to account for the way that I had been treated. The prime minister has not responded,” she said.

“Instead, my complaint has been passed around, first the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service, more recently to Comcover, both claim to be independent agencies but both chose to engage lawyers, the same lawyers from the same law firm who were also clearly taking instructions from the deputy prime minister.

“They have not been able to assure me that my private information or psychological safety will be protected and they cannot deal with the most important issue I have raised. That is for those who did this to me, to be held accountable and to ensure that nobody else in this place is ever treated this way again.”

Mr Marles and his office have previously said the premise of Ms Tarnawsky’s account was wrong, and that he had always acted with her welfare in mind.

A Government spokesperson said on Monday: “This matter is subject to legal proceedings, and it would not be appropriate to comment further”.

In her statement of claim, Ms Tarnawsky alleges a senior staff member undermined her authority as chief of staff by routinely not responding to or acknowledging messages; belittling and criticising her in front of other staff, including within earshot; withholding information; isolating Ms Tarnawsky, team activities, interactions and social events; and “treating Ms Tarnawsky in an abrasive, hostile and exclusionary manner which was not directed at Mr Marles or other team members”.

She alleges another unnamed staff member also bullied her.

Matters came to a head during a stressful trip to Ukraine in April, which Mr Marles, Ms Tarnawksy and the senior staff member were all on.

“During that trip, Ms Tarnawsky worked under immense pressure to work around last-minute itinerary changes to ensure the expense to taxpayers and risk to staff was justified, of what would otherwise have been a ‘$350k war zone coffee’,” the statement said.

Ms Tarnawsky raised her concerns with Mr Marles on the flight back to Australia, and they agreed to speak later. Mr Marles reportedly told her she had done “amazing work” and that they should “chat properly”.

The night before that meeting, Mr Marles told Mr Gartrell he no longer wanted Ms Tarnawsky to be his chief of staff.

During their April 30 conversation, Mr Marles told her there had been issues with or related to her for “over a year”, that he did not consider the bullying and harassment “fixable”, and said she should take leave while looking for another job.

She tried to return to Mr Marles’ office in June, but Mr Gartrell allegedly told her she could “never” come back, and had been seconded to the Office of Staff Support.

She claims that between April 30 until now, she has not been provided any certainty by Mr Marles, Mr Gartrell, or the Commonwealth regarding her role as an employee, including that she had not been provided any notice of termination. She claims she has not spoken to Mr Marles since April.

Ms Tarnawsky said her case showed the Government’s parliamentary workplace culture reforms were simply “window dressing”.

“The Government is now testing in real time exactly what you can still get away with,” she said.

“But if the Government won’t hold its own poor behaviour to account, then I will ask the court to do that.”

She said staffers give “countless hours of our lives” to support the ministers, senators and MPs they work for.

“In return, we should not be tossed aside abruptly after such loyal service... It should not be unreasonable for any of us to expect to depart our roles with dignity, to walk away better from our time working in this building rather than carrying lifelong trauma from the poor treatment we have endured here.”

Her lawyer, Michael Bradley, said his client was seeking punitive damages and compensation for medical and treatment expenses; hurt, distress and humiliation; and reputational damage.