Canberra police have received a complaint of potential revenge porn related to the sharing of intimate images taken at Parliament House.
The report was received on 30 March, one week after a Liberal staffer was sacked for performing a solo sex act on the desk of a female MP amid a storm over the Morrison government’s handling of sexual harassment.
The sacking of Nathan Winn, a longtime Liberal aide to Coalition whips including Nola Marino, provoked a fierce backlash against the whistleblower who had reported the alleged workplace misconduct to Network Ten.
Ten broadcast pixelated images on 22 March of unnamed Coalition advisers allegedly performing lewd sex acts, including on the desk of a female MP, in Parliament House.
On 29 March, Liberal MP Warren Entsch, another former employer of Winn, told the Sydney Morning Herald the distribution of explicit images was a clear case of revenge porn and should be investigated by police.
Gavin Cuddy, the whistleblower who has never worked at parliament but admits he engaged in consensual sex there, has previously denied committing an offence by releasing intimate images, reportedly responding to Entsch by saying “none of this is true”.
An ACT policing spokesperson told Guardian Australia on Thursday it received “a report on 30 March 2021 in relation to the unauthorised sharing of intimate images at Parliament House”.
“At this time, officers are engaging with a complainant and completing an assessment of the report,” they said.
Non-consensual distribution of intimate images is a crime under ACT law punishable by a $48,000 fine or three years in prison or both.
The police report could complicate a finance department-commissioned investigation into whether other staffers engaged in workplace misconduct. Cuddy has already provided a statement to the inquiry.
In late March, the finance minister, Simon Birmingham, who is responsible for the employment of parliamentary staffers, warned that any others found to have committed inappropriate conduct would be sacked.
“We’ve shown we’ve got zero tolerance for that sort of thing,” he said.
“One individual was able to be identified and that individual was sacked. We will take similar action if similar acts have been undertaken by other people. I am grateful to those who are helping in terms of investigations. Obviously, sacking someone is a significant step and we need to be confident that we know that people are guilty of having undertaken such acts or anything similar, but we won’t tolerate it where we can find that evidence.”
Guardian Australia has contacted Cuddy and Winn for comment.
