A senior official at the Fair Work Commission removed "scantily clad" figurines that he had painted and adorned his office with following complaints from multiple staff.
At least one of the figurines was of an anime — Japanese animation — character, and it was on display among others in the office of the commission's deputy president, Gerard Boyce.
It has also been revealed in a Senate Estimates hearing that Mr Boyce had installed a surveillance camera in his Sydney office.
Mr Boyce was not in the Senate Estimates hearing but the Fair Work Commission's general manager Bernadette O'Neill confirmed the figurines were in his office and agreed they were "inappropriate".
"My recollection is one was a female figure and the other I am not sure was even human," Ms O'Neill said.
Labor senator Deborah O'Neill pressed the general manager about the approximately 20 figurines on display.
Ms O'Neill said she could not recall if the figurines' breasts were exposed.
"Scantily clad is probably the way I think of it," she said.
"So, he [Mr Boyce] gets these figurines and, these anime, book character, comic figurines, which have been described as erotic by others, you describe them as 'scantily clad'," Senator O'Neill said.
Senate Estimates heard concerns were raised internally at the commission and both the figurines and camera were removed.
Ms O'Neill said she had not seen the figurines in person because she worked in Melbourne, but she had seen a photo.
'He removed all of them' after complaints from peers
When asked about who had raised concerns, Ms O'Neill said both Mr Boyce's peers and senior staff had voiced concerns directly with him on a number of occasions.
"The upshot is that he removed all of them," Ms O'Neill said.
Senator O'Neill questioned the "quality of the appointment" of Mr Boyce over the materials which were in his office.
"I am here to stand up for women in the workplace who should not be exposed to this kind of gross intimidation," Senator O'Neill said when Liberal senator James McGrath cautioned about her line of questioning.
The general manager was asked if Mr Boyce was counselled over the figurines and surveillance, but took the question on notice. She will respond to the Senate at a later date.
Ms O'Neill also told the hearing that no-one had been told about Mr Boyce's plan to install surveillance in his office.
She said Mr Boyce had "advised that it [camera] was fake or certainly not working and would remove it".
"This is a horrendous breach of workplace standards at any workplace," Labor senator Tony Sheldon said.
"The commissioners are responsible and liable for providing a safe workplace, to find a commissioner at Fair Work putting his own staff under surveillance is an appalling abuse of their responsibilities."
The Government's workplace insurer told Senate Estimates it intends to begin a workplace health and safety investigation into the reports.
ComCare chief executive Susan Westin told senators she intended to lodge a "WHS concern" about the matter.
ComCare's general manager of regulatory operations, Justin Napier, told Estimates the process would then involve an inspector being appointed.
"Some of these matters are more complex than others so it's difficult to give you a timeline on that, but we will move hastily in relation to this matter," he said.
