A secret inquiry into bullying claims in the office of the Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt has heard of staff being "scared" to work with an advisor who claimed to have a "special relationship" with the senior government frontbencher.
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The minister has refused to release the findings of the inquiry - ordered by the then chief-of-staff to Malcolm Turnbull - prompting whistleblowers to reveal details of what they say was a toxic work culture "enabled" by Mr Wyatt.
The $37,000 investigation was conducted by a firm called CPM Reviews on behalf of the Department of Finance late last year and heard testimony from at least 10 staff members.
Transcripts of interviews with multiple former staffers obtained by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age lay bare a culture of "intimidation" as a result of the "inappropriate influence" of senior advisor Paula Gelo over Mr Wyatt.
Ms Gelo continues to work for the minister and his campaign to retain the marginal seat of Hasluck on Perth's eastern fringe.
Several former staffers have accused the Liberal MP of "enabling" Ms Gelo's behaviour and allowing her to swear, yell and scream "abusive, insulting and offensive comments" at junior staffers, according to the transcripts.
Staff complained of being undermined and refused access to the minister. Female staffers were repeatedly reduced to tears, left "distraught" and said they lived in fear of carrying out routine administration tasks when they required Ms Gelo's involvement.
"Everybody is scared I guess. Everyone is on egg shells...in the ministerial office it's a scared kind of environment," one staffer told the inquiry. At least two staffers described feeling scared.
When attempts were made to confront Ms Gelo about her behaviour she accused one junior staffer of being "insecure".
One former chief of staff told investigators she was sacked as a result of her efforts to "manage" Ms Gelo, a senior advisor, by setting out position descriptions and direct reporting lines in an attempt to reduce what could sometimes be Ms Gelo's sole and direct access to the minister.
"I'd heard before I'd taken the job she was challenging and hard to manage," the staffer told investigators in September. "What I didn't hear was that she was a bully because had I known that, I would never ever have taken the job," she said.
In evidence provided to the investigator a staffer stated that Ms Gelo had claimed: "I have a very special relationship with the minister. The minister is the number-one priority in my life. My husband knows that. I don't need to work because my husband is semi-retired."
That staffer, who has advised nearly half a dozen ministers, said that for a political employee to describe their relationship with their boss in this way was "totally inappropriate".
"[In the past I've had an] exceptional, excellent working relationship but I would never say I had a special relationship," she told investigators.
Mr Wyatt was asked to commission the inquiry by Clive Mathieson, the then chief of staff to Mr Turnbull, who wanted the issues in Mr Wyatt's office addressed when alerted to them.
Mr Wyatt's initial response was to sack his fourth chief of staff in two years. One of Mr Wyatt's former staffers told the inquiry that the high turnover was because Ms Gelo wanted to be number one and felt threatened by her superiors.
A spokesman for Mr Wyatt said the rate of staff turnover was "not at an unusual level for parliamentarians" and said he had acted on the report's findings, but would not state what had changes he had enacted.
"Minister Wyatt has actioned all the recommendations of the report provided to him by the Department of Finance," the spokesman said.
The minister defended keeping the report private, citing privacy.
- SMH/The Age
