Review criticises ACT Greens handling of sexual misconduct allegations

ABC NEWS (Australia)

An independent review has found the ACT Greens should have gone to police sooner when they became aware of allegations of sexual misconduct against former MLA Johnathan Davis. Mr Davis resigned after the allegations because public knowledge in November last year. He hasn’t commented on the allegations and has never been charged with any offence. The greens leader has also apologised to the complainant, who says he was left traumatised by the party’s efforts to investigate the claims.

Transcript

00:00 From an unlikely election win to a sudden resignation.

00:08 After allegations emerged Jonathan Davis had had an inappropriate relationship with a 17

00:14 year old male.

00:15 The teenager says he also sent sexually explicit images to Mr Davis.

00:20 The matter was referred to police, though they've received no formal complaint and no

00:24 charges have been laid.

00:26 The fallout extended to the rest of his party amid questions about how it handled the claims.

00:32 Assembly Speaker Joy Birch tasked former Public Service Commissioner Lynelle Briggs with conducting

00:37 a review.

00:38 She's been critical of the Greens attempts to keep the matter in house.

00:42 I do think they were mistaken in assuming that they were in a position to investigate

00:47 the rumours or allegations.

00:49 In my judgement the Greens should have gone to police as soon as they were advised of

00:54 the rumours.

00:55 The Greens leader has accepted the findings but says everyone acted with good intentions.

01:00 The focus was to take these allegations seriously, to deal with them promptly, to listen carefully

01:09 to what was being told to us.

01:10 The review also noted the close relationship between Mr Davis and Corrections Minister

01:16 Emma Davidson, who was the first MLA to be made aware of the rumours.

01:20 She told the reviewer Mr Davis was like a little brother, but denied that impaired her

01:25 judgement.

01:26 My primary concern was always that there was a young person out there who had had a potentially

01:32 traumatic experience.

01:33 Lynelle Briggs also criticised Mr Rattenbury's Chief of Staff for meeting with the complainant.

01:39 The teenager told the review he was traumatised by the questions he was asked and felt the

01:45 staff member cared more about Mr Davis and the party than about him.

01:49 We deeply regret that the young person feels that way and we apologise that that is the

01:53 impact that it's had on him.

01:55 That was never our intention.

01:57 In a statement, the Chief Minister Andrew Barr said he would seek further advice on

02:01 whether Mr Rattenbury or Ms Davidson breached the ministerial code of conduct.

02:06 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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