tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/vikki-campion-49669/articlesVikki Campion – The Conversation2018-09-07T05:18:43Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1028502018-09-07T05:18:43Z2018-09-07T05:18:43ZNo finding by Nationals in Barnaby Joyce sexual harassment case<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/235355/original/file-20180907-190665-snhip2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Nationals have been unable to make a finding on a sexual harassment allegation against Barnaby Joyce.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Mick Tsikas</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Nationals have been unable to make a finding on the claim by a woman that former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce sexually harassed her.</p>
<p>Catherine Marriott, former West Australian Rural Woman of the Year, made the allegation at the height of the controversy over Joyce’s affair with his former staffer (and now partner), Vikki Campion. He claimed at the time it was the tipping point that led him to quit the Nationals’ leadership, although he has said subsequently when Campion became pregnant, he always knew he would have to go.</p>
<p>Marriott, who made the complaint in confidence, was highly upset when her name was quickly leaked.</p>
<p>She said in a Friday statement expressing her frustration at the inconclusive result of the eight months investigation that “this outcome simply isn’t good enough”.</p>
<p>She had been told by email on Thursday that the NSW National Party “has been unable to make a determination … due to insufficient evidence”.</p>
<p>“This is despite the investigation finding I was ‘forthright, believable, open and genuinely upset’ by the incident.</p>
<p>"The result of this investigation has underpinned what is wrong with the process and the absolute dire need for change”, she said.</p>
<p>Joyce on Friday had no comment beyond standing by what he had said initially, when he described the accusation as “spurious and defamatory”.</p>
<p>Marriott said she was “extremely disappointed that after eight months of waiting, three trips to the east coast at my own expense to meet with the party, my name and confidential complaint being leaked to the national media, and my personal and professional life being upended, the National Party have reached a ‘no conclusion’ verdict.”</p>
<p>But she said she wasn’t surprised because the party hadn’t had an external process in place to deal with such a complaint “My complaint was handled internally by the NSW National Party executive with no professional external expert brought in at any stage.”</p>
<p>She said the only positive outcome from a “harrowing experience” had been “the development of much improved policy by the party”, which she had encouraged. She was heartened that people who found themselves in similar situations in future “will have a robust policy in place to assist them”.</p>
<p>The outcome of the investigation comes as the Liberal party has been rocked by allegations of bullying during the leadership battle. Several Liberal women have spoken out strongly against the bad behaviour, and MPs are waiting to see whether individuals are named in parliament next week.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102850/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The National Party has been unable to reach a verdict on a complaint by Catherine Marriott that Joyce sexually harassed her,Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/980092018-06-08T05:23:05Z2018-06-08T05:23:05ZVIDEO: Michelle Grattan on the changes to foreign interference laws<figure>
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<p>Michelle Grattan speaks with Canberra University’s Vice-Chancellor Deep Saini about the week in Australian politics. They discuss the government’s concessions on the foreign interference laws, the fallout from Barnaby Joyce’s paid TV interview and an early poll for the Mayo byelection favouring incumbent Rebekha Sharkie over high profile Liberal candidate Georgina Downer.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98009/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Michelle Grattan speaks with Deep Saini about the week in Australian politics.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/974582018-05-30T11:40:10Z2018-05-30T11:40:10ZBarnaby Joyce’s decision to sell his story is a breach of professional ethics<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220900/original/file-20180530-80620-13eyei0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Barnaby Joyce blames his latest troubles on the absence of a general right to sue for breach of privacy.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Lukas Coch</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Barnaby Joyce’s decision to accept money – <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/may/27/barnaby-joyce-and-vikki-campion-reportedly-sell-story-to-channel-seven-for-150000">reportedly $150,000</a> – from Channel Seven in return for giving an interview about his relationship with his former staffer Vikki Campion, calls into question his fitness for public office.</p>
<p>It betrays a complete lack of understanding of the convention that in democratic political systems, public officials are accountable through the media to the people. That responsibility to be accountable comes with public office. It is not a marketable commodity.</p>
<p>To treat it as such is a fundamental breach of the professional ethics of a public officeholder.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/barnaby-joyce-takes-personal-leave-after-horror-day-97411">Barnaby Joyce takes personal leave after horror day</a>
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<p>So far, his fellow Coalition MPs have failed to come to grips with this central problem. While none of those who have spoken publicly have tried to defend Joyce’s decision, most have either equivocated or contented themselves with general statements of disapproval.</p>
<p>Michael McCormack, Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the National Party, which Joyce represents in the seat of New England, told ABC radio he would “have a yarn” to Joyce, as if it were some casual matter of no particular importance.</p>
<p>Malcolm Turnbull, who previously got himself in hot water by preaching morals to Barnaby Joyce <a href="https://theconversation.com/turnbull-announces-sex-ban-and-signals-joyce-should-consider-his-position-91922">about marital fidelity</a>, this time is saying he will be “circumspect” and speak to him in private.</p>
<p>To date, only the Financial Services Minister, Kelly O’Dwyer, has spoken her mind publicly, saying she believed most <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-29/odwyer-says-most-australians-would-be-disgusted-by-joyce-payment/9810454">Australians would be “disgusted”</a> by Joyce’s behaviour.</p>
<p>As if it couldn’t get any worse, has Joyce now hung Vikki Campion out to dry, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-29/australians-disgusted-barnaby-joyce-sold-his-story/9810418">saying it was she who made the decision</a> to accept the money.</p>
<p>From a professional ethics perspective, it makes no difference which of them made the decision. The fact is their relationship became a matter of legitimate public interest once it was revealed it led to the expenditure of public money in <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-10/prime-ministers-office-intervened-in-barnaby-joyce-affair/9418692">finding Campion a government job outside Joyce’s office</a>, given her presence inside it had become untenable because of their affair.</p>
<p>Several other factors added to the legitimate public interest in the matter, because in the end they brought about his <a href="https://theconversation.com/barnaby-joyce-succumbs-to-pressure-and-will-go-to-backbench-92353">resignation as deputy prime minister</a>:</p>
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<li><p>his poor judgement in allowing the relationship with Campion to develop as it did while she remained on his staff;</p></li>
<li><p>his prevarication on the question of whether she was actually his partner at various relevant times;</p></li>
<li><p>his <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-05/barnaby-joyce-says-paternity-of-unborn-child-nobodys-business/9508748">deplorable public airing</a> of doubt about the child’s paternity, and</p></li>
<li><p>his determination to cling to office in the face of sustained pressure from his colleagues that he should go.</p></li>
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<p>In a democratic society, public officials are held to account for mistakes like these. The media are the primary means by which this is done: that is what is meant by the term the “fourth estate”. It does not rest on formal legal power but on a convention that has its roots in 18th century English constitutional arrangements.</p>
<p>When a convention that is so central to the working of democracy is flouted, as it has been here, both parties – Joyce and Channel Seven – are seriously at fault.</p>
<p>To reduce these abstractions to everyday language, if someone says: “I was paid to say that” the ordinary reasonable person is entitled to disbelieve what was paid for.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-barnaby-joyce-affair-highlights-australias-weak-regulation-of-ministerial-staffers-91744">The Barnaby Joyce affair highlights Australia's weak regulation of ministerial staffers</a>
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<p>When that happens in an exchange between a public official and a media outlet, the accountability required by convention is subverted.</p>
<p>As for Channel Seven, it is subject to the <a href="https://www.acma.gov.au/Industry/Broadcast/Television/TV-content-regulation/commercial-television-code-of-practice-tv-content-regulation-i-acma">television industry code of practice</a>. It is a limited document, silent on the ethical issues raised here.</p>
<p>Now, the code needs to be amended to make this kind of arrangement a breach punishable by the imposition of a condition on the broadcaster’s licence.</p>
<p>This makes it a matter for the broadcasting regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, which is required to approve the code and is empowered to have it reviewed.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, we may sit back and marvel at the hypocrisy involved, as Campion complains to the Australian Press Council about the newspapers’ breach of privacy in reporting her pregnancy, while she and Joyce take money from a television channel to tell even more about it.</p>
<p>And Joyce blames it all on the absence of a general right to sue for breach of privacy. If there had been such a law, he says, then he and Campion would not have been subject to invasive drones and paparazzi stakeouts at their home. If they had not been persecuted like that, they would not have felt the need to be compensated by selling their story.</p>
<p>The logic is not persuasive, but if he survives in office, perhaps Joyce could bring forward a private member’s bill introducing a tort of privacy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97458/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Denis Muller does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In democratic political systems, public officials are accountable through the media to the people. That responsibility to be accountable comes with public office. It is not a marketable commodity.Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Advancing Journalism, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/919192018-02-16T03:09:39Z2018-02-16T03:09:39ZWelcome to the new (old) moralism: how the media’s coverage of the Joyce affair harks back to the 1950s<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206709/original/file-20180216-131021-qboshf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Barnaby Joyce saga has been an example of 'shake-the-tree' journalism at its worst.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Lukas Coch</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Barnaby Joyce saga has given a great boost to what might be called “shake-the-tree” journalism: you shake the tree by running a sensational story and see what falls out.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-07/mps-defend-joyces-right-to-privacy-after-partner-on-front-page/9403988">Daily Telegraph’s original public-interest case</a> for publishing the first story of Joyce’s relationship with ex-staffer Vikki Campion was weak when weighed against the privacy intrusions on Joyce, his estranged wife, his daughters, and Campion.</p>
<p>However, that story has resulted in the emergence of three genuine public-interest justifications.</p>
<p>The first is whether Joyce breached the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BN/2012-2013/Conduct">ministerial code of conduct</a> by employing his partner in his office. On this he has prevaricated, saying that his partner was not so employed. Here he was clearly referring to his wife, not Campion. In the circumstances, this was a distinction without a difference.</p>
<p>The second matter of public interest concerns the expenditure of <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/pm-s-office-says-vikki-campion-jobs-did-not-breach-rules-because-she-was-not-barnaby-joyce-s-partner-20180211-p4yzzp.html">public money on jobs</a> said to have been found for Campion when her presence in Joyce’s office became untenable. Her salary is reported to be about A$190,000.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-turnbulls-excoriation-of-joyce-has-changed-the-game-but-how-91948">Grattan on Friday: Turnbull's excoriation of Joyce has changed the game, but how?</a>
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<p>The third is whether the Prime Minister’s Office was informed of this or whether Joyce misled them by omission.</p>
<p>Once the story came out in The Daily Telegraph, the media as a whole piled into a story they had all known about for months. And they have done so with a kind of shamefaced gusto, making up for lost time.</p>
<p>How much better it would have been if someone – anyone – in the Canberra gallery had succeeded in establishing at least one of those substantial public-interest justifications and broken the story framed around that.</p>
<p>Instead, the story that broke was coloured by the salacious moralism beloved of tabloid newspapers since time began.</p>
<p>It featured a large picture of Campion, heavily pregnant, a gross violation of privacy if ever there was one.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206717/original/file-20180216-131003-4d7c7t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206717/original/file-20180216-131003-4d7c7t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206717/original/file-20180216-131003-4d7c7t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206717/original/file-20180216-131003-4d7c7t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206717/original/file-20180216-131003-4d7c7t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206717/original/file-20180216-131003-4d7c7t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206717/original/file-20180216-131003-4d7c7t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The Telegraph breaks the story in a gross violation of privacy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.dailytelegraph.com.au</span></span>
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<p>Here it was: the fruit of sin. The impregnated mistress, to borrow some of the vulgar moralising language that has disfigured the coverage.</p>
<p>The photo has been defended by The Daily Telegraph’s editor as proving the truth of the story that Barnaby Joyce had got his staffer pregnant. It proves nothing of the sort. It shows a woman pregnant. It says nothing about paternity.</p>
<p>Then on Valentine’s Day, The Daily Telegraph was at it again, this time with a page-one picture taken in 2016 in which Joyce and Campion are sitting next to each other at an official function.</p>
<p>Campion is in the foreground and Joyce, according to the caption, “eyes off” his media adviser. The headline says: “Bad look”.</p>
<p>There are many ways of interpreting this picture and headline. One of them is that Joyce had sexual designs on Campion back then, which from the caption is clearly the main message The Daily Telegraph wished to convey, regardless of truth or context.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206716/original/file-20180216-131013-1xgvwkv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206716/original/file-20180216-131013-1xgvwkv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206716/original/file-20180216-131013-1xgvwkv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206716/original/file-20180216-131013-1xgvwkv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206716/original/file-20180216-131013-1xgvwkv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206716/original/file-20180216-131013-1xgvwkv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206716/original/file-20180216-131013-1xgvwkv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The Daily Telegraph’s February 14 splash.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.womensagenda.com.au</span></span>
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<p>But the picture is also about Campion. Although she is oblivious of the glance from Joyce, the reader is given the opportunity to inspect her as the “other woman”: we get a good look at her face, her figure and her legs.</p>
<p>Put the “bad look” headline with that, and the reader is invited to draw negative conclusions about her appearance and her character.</p>
<p>This judgemental tone, redolent with sexual possibilities and consequences, is a throwback to the busybody moralising of the 1950s and 1960s.</p>
<p>Then – before the sexual revolution and the rise of second-wave feminism – it was a staple of middle-class morality to take a gossipy and often hurtful interest in marital breakdowns and pregnancies out of wedlock.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-is-barnabys-baby-a-matter-of-public-interest-or-just-of-interest-to-the-public-91507">Grattan on Friday: Is Barnaby's baby a matter of 'public interest' or just of interest to the public?</a>
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<p>So why is this throwback happening?</p>
<p>Professor Alison Dagnes, a political scientist at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania and editor of a textbook on <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/sex-scandals-in-american-politics-9781441186904/">sex scandals in American politics</a>, proposes a theory that goes like this: there is a well-documented loss of trust in institutions, one consequence of which is that the public is inclined to regard all politicians as scumbags.</p>
<p>Digital technology has equipped everyone with a camera and social media has provided everyone with the means of publishing. This has created a competitiveness of unprecedented intensity among media.</p>
<p>Scandals pique everyone’s interest, even among those who are not usually interested in politics. So any scandal that shows politicians to be the scumbags we suspect, guarantees lots of “likes” and “shares” on social media, generating a frenzy in traditional media and opening up the scandal to instant and reiterative public judgements.</p>
<p>This, in turn, adds to public distrust in institutions.</p>
<p>To this theory might be added two more possible factors.</p>
<p>The first is the shift in norms of privacy induced by social media and the ubiquity of mobile phones with cameras. Old understandings of the boundaries between private and public have been obliterated and new ones have not yet taken their place.</p>
<p>The second is people’s sense of entitlement to pass judgement on matters of which they have personal experience: intimate relationships, the primary school curriculum, the quality of driving on the roads. This is not new, but it is a powerful driver of attitudes.</p>
<p>Doubtless there are other factors, but whatever they are, Western society does appear to be in the grip of a new moralism, and the tabloid media are adept at making the most of it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91919/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Denis Muller does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Media reporting of the Barnaby Joyce affair would have been so much better if journalists had established substantial public-interest justifications before breaking the story.Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Advancing Journalism, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/919752018-02-16T01:43:52Z2018-02-16T01:43:52ZBanning workplace romances won’t solve the problem of sexual misconduct in the office<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206686/original/file-20180215-131021-r5yyev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Malcolm Turnbull gave several justifications for his ban on ministers having sexual relationships with their staff.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Lukas Coch</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The recent revelation of a sexual relationship between Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and a young woman working in his office has <a href="https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-turnbulls-excoriation-of-joyce-has-changed-the-game-but-how-91948">created considerable embarrassment</a> for the government and those involved. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull responded <a href="https://theconversation.com/turnbull-announces-sex-ban-and-signals-joyce-should-consider-his-position-91922">by announcing</a> that sexual relations between ministers and their staff will be prohibited under a change to the ministerial code of conduct.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/turnbull-announces-sex-ban-and-signals-joyce-should-consider-his-position-91922">Turnbull announces sex ban – and signals Joyce should consider his position</a>
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<p>Turnbull gave several justifications for the ban. These included that although ministers were entitled to privacy in personal matters, they must <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national/politics/barnaby-joyce-dumped-from-acting-prime-minister-position/news-story/52f13bc420440eb1372624f38a0fd207">lead by example</a> because they occupy positions of responsibility and trust. </p>
<p>Recently in the US, sexual relationships between Capitol Hill lawmakers and their staffers <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/06/house-passes-bill-to-ban-relationships-between-lawmakers-and-their-staff">were prohibited</a> in response to multiple scandals and in the wake of the <a href="https://metoomvmt.org/">#MeToo movement</a>. </p>
<h2>Inappropriate and unlawful sexual behaviour at work</h2>
<p>To judge whether workplace relationship bans are an effective or appropriate response to alleged or actual sexual misconduct, we must first understand the difference between “inappropriate” sexual relationships and unlawful sexual behaviour.</p>
<p>Unlawful sexual conduct includes <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-the-difference-between-sexual-abuse-sexual-assault-sexual-harassment-and-rape-88218">sexual abuse, sexual assault and sexual harassment</a>. Sexual harassment <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2014C00002">is</a> any unwanted or unwelcome sexual behaviour that makes someone feel offended, humiliated or intimidated. It is <em>not</em> <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/sex-discrimination/guides/sexual-harassment#sh">interaction, flirtation or friendship</a> that is mutual or consensual.</p>
<p>In contrast, inappropriate relationships – while not explicitly unlawful – are usually associated with unequal power relationships.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-the-difference-between-sexual-abuse-sexual-assault-sexual-harassment-and-rape-88218">What's the difference between sexual abuse, sexual assault, sexual harassment and rape?</a>
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<p>Organisational codes of conduct often set out guidelines around the behaviour of supervisors and managers over their subordinates. A power imbalance between two employees may arise due to age, seniority or other factors, such as the capacity to influence outcomes. </p>
<p>The development of a sexual relationship in particular – even if it is apparently consensual – creates the potential for abuse of position, for damage to the less-empowered and potentially vulnerable individual, and for conflicts of interests to arise. </p>
<p>A common requirement in codes of employee conduct is for the person with the greater power to notify their supervisor of the relationship and immediately cease any decision-making role in respect of the subordinate. Such guidelines raise awareness of the potential for workplace relationships that may lead to later problems for those involved, and raise risks for organisational reputation and functioning.</p>
<p>By providing a clear course of action, such codes of conduct also acknowledge that workplace relationships do occur. </p>
<p>In contrast, outright bans on consensual sexual relationships at work are likely to be seen by many employees as over-reaching into their private lives. They may also perceive that it undermines their autonomy and dignity. </p>
<p>Retail fashion chain <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jan/07/american-apparel-bans-work-romances">American Apparel</a> recently introduced a policy barring managers from engaging in romantic relationships with employees over whom they had a perceived or actual influence. The policy also mandated the disclosure of such relationships – not to the person’s supervisor, but the human resources department. </p>
<p>Romantic relationships were defined broadly, and included both casual dating as well as committed relationships. </p>
<h2>Public/private boundaries</h2>
<p>In recent years, a considerable blurring of public/private boundaries in organisational life has occurred. Examples include the installation and monitoring of CCTV in workplaces, the enforcement of wearable surveillance devices that measure employees’ <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/ed6a985c-70bd-11e2-85d0-00144feab49a">productivity in real time</a>, and the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-your-employer-watching-you-online-profiling-blurs-the-boundary-of-our-public-and-private-lives-64300">profiling</a>” of job applicants through searches for private online information.</p>
<p>These employer actions have <a href="https://web-b-ebscohost-com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=7987a146-c5aa-4eb2-82de-640ed7e942e2%40sessionmgr103&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLHNzbyZzaXRlPWVob3N0LWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=112260808&db=bsh">reshaped the boundaries</a> between the relatively public sphere of work and the private lives of employees.</p>
<p>Workplace relationship bans may also be impractical and have unintended consequences. Many people meet their future partners at work or engage in short- or long-term consensual relationships that run their course. </p>
<p>The prospects of an employer effectively standing between two adults who are attracted to each other, or who fall in love, and preventing a relationship developing between them, seems slim.</p>
<p>Worse, bans may drive relationships underground. Employees who fear punitive consequences from ignoring a codified directive will likely conduct the relationship in secret. This may obfuscate loyalties and threaten the development of trust among co-workers. Engaging in a secretive relationship when those involved would prefer it was open may also prove stressful. </p>
<p>At its most extreme, regulating workplace relationships may damage women’s careers rather than contribute to them through a raising of professional standards. </p>
<p>Some male executives and senior politicians such as US Vice-President <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/03/pences-gender-segregated-dinners/521286/">Mike Pence</a> have been said to avoid working with women altogether to avoid being accused of inappropriate behaviour. This constrains opportunities for sensitive and strategic workplace discussions, and holds women back from key advancement opportunities.</p>
<h2>Balancing competing interests</h2>
<p>Joyce’s case raises several important issues insofar as preventing fall-out when colleagues engage in romantic and/or sexual relationships. </p>
<p>Banning relationships is likely to be ineffective and may result in disengagement, secrecy and resentment by employees of the encroachment of employment policies into genuinely private matters. </p>
<p>Outright bans also imply a connection between sexual misconduct and romantic relationships that is dubious at best. For example, although some sexual harassment cases arise following the breakdown of a former consensual relationship, <a href="http://www-tandfonline-com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/doi/abs/10.1080/09585192.2015.1023331">most do not</a>. </p>
<p>Preventing and redressing sexual harassment and achieving gender equality requires far more <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/doi/10.1111/1744-7941.12046/abstract?systemMessage=Wiley+Online+Library+is+migrating+to+a+new+platform+powered+by+Atypon,+the+leading+provider+of+scholarly+publishing+platforms.+The+new+Wiley+Online+Library+will+be+migrated+over+the+weekend+of+February+24+and+25+and+will+be+live+on+February+26,+2018.+For+more+information,+please+visit+our+migration+page:http://www.wileyactual.com/WOLMigration/">nuanced and multi-faceted approaches</a>.</p>
<p>However, relationships of unequal power clearly need to be carefully managed to avoid the harmful consequences that may result for those involved. This can be achieved through carefully crafted and implemented policies and practices that raise awareness among employees of expectations about professional behaviour and where the greatest risks lie. </p>
<p>However, power comes in many forms. And it can only be judged on the basis of the particular circumstances and people involved. </p>
<p>Policies must also be sensitive to balancing the competing interests of employees and employers. This includes employees’ interests in privacy and autonomy, and employer interests in promoting workplace harmony and avoiding reputational damage. </p>
<p>Responses need to also acknowledge the reality that relationships between consenting adults are an inevitable and almost certainly enduring feature of many contemporary workplaces. Attempting to ban them is unlikely to be a panacea.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91975/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paula McDonald receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>Banning relationships is likely to be ineffective and may result in disengagement, secrecy and resentment by employees of the encroachment of employment policies into genuinely private matters.Paula McDonald, Professor of Work and Organisation, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/916322018-02-11T11:03:01Z2018-02-11T11:03:01ZLabor moves in on the Barnaby Joyce affair<p>The Labor Party, which started with a hands-off approach to the Barnaby Joyce affair, has now segued into making it a political issue, while trying to still argue that its “personal” aspect should be private.</p>
<p>The opposition is eyeing possible openings to exploit in the liaison between Joyce and his former staffer Vikki Campion – who is expecting his child – by pursuing questions about processes and taxpayers’ money, as well as harbouring the hope of dragging Malcolm Turnbull into the matter.</p>
<p>Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek walked the fine line on Sunday.</p>
<p>“I don’t think [Joyce] needs to account for his personal behaviour, his relationships, to the public,” <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/insiders/tanya-plibersek-joins-insiders/9420216">she told the ABC</a>.</p>
<p>“The only area in which there is a genuine public interest is in the area of the expenditure of taxpayers’ funds, and there have been questions over the last couple of days about jobs that have been created for Vikki Campion, the expenditure of taxpayer funds on travel.</p>
<p>"I think those are areas where the prime minister and the deputy prime minister ought to be fully transparent,” she said.</p>
<p>Turnbull last week tried to keep away from the Joyce matter by saying it was private. </p>
<p>“These private matters are always very distressing for those involved, I don’t want to add to the public discussion about it. I’m very conscious of the distress this causes to others, in particular Natalie Joyce and her and Barnaby’s daughters. So it’s a private matter, a tough matter. I don’t have any more to say about it,” he said on Friday.</p>
<p>Pressed later, he said he was “not aware of any inappropriate expenditure of public funds”. But the issue of “public funds” is becoming murkier.</p>
<p>When the Joyce-Campion affair was creating problems in Joyce’s office, she was moved to the office of Resources Minister Matt Canavan. Later a place was found for her with Nationals then whip Damian Drum.</p>
<p>Questions are now being asked about the pay and arrangements in relation to these positions. On Friday, Turnbull was being quizzed about whether he’d counselled Joyce to remove Campion.</p>
<p>One can only imagine the Turnbull anger about the situation. He comes at it from a personal position of being very family-oriented and his sympathy is clearly with Natalie Joyce and the daughters. Also, with the government starting the year looking better, the last thing Turnbull wants is to have this becoming another distraction, let alone have any suggestion of a role in it.</p>
<p>Joyce by Saturday had publicly taken sole ownership, with a statement “that he had not discussed Ms Campion’s employment with the prime minister or his office.</p>
<p>"He confirmed that the Nationals were responsible for decisions relating to staffing in the offices of Nationals’ members. The Prime Minister’s Office has an administrative role in informing the Department of Finance.” Labor no doubt will be probing this “administrative role”.</p>
<p>Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, appearing on Sky on Sunday, was clearly uncomfortable. He maintained that “all of my advice is that everything was absolutely above board”, while also saying: “I am not aware of the specific staffing circumstances of every single one of my colleagues”.</p>
<p>The next few days will reveal whether there is anything to see, in terms of untoward arrangements or costs. Nationals sources point to the obvious implications for Joyce if there were any such revelation.</p>
<p>The big question – assuming there is no public money time bomb – is what this will do to Joyce’s leadership. There are mixed opinions.</p>
<p>He can point to the fact that in terms of retail politics, he has been highly popular, and led the party to a very good result at the election, in contrast to Turnbull’s below-par performance.</p>
<p>His position is protected (even more than Turnbull’s, in the Liberal Party, is protected) by the absence of an alternative leader. But the Nationals are at present an unhappy bunch.</p>
<p>There’s criticism of Joyce’s recent performance, including his handling of the Nationals’ part of the pre-Christmas reshuffle, which saw Victorian MP Darren Chester dumped from cabinet and assistant minister Keith Pitt ending up on the backbench.</p>
<p>There’s ruminating about how his new circumstances will play out in the wider Nationals’ constituency, which tends to be conservative and family-oriented. Will people have long memories or will they just move on when the fuss dies down?</p>
<p>Perhaps most relevant is whether Joyce will lose his political energy as he deals with new personal circumstances and some loss of respect.</p>
<p>With a bitter separation behind him, it won’t be easy.</p>
<p>Tony Windsor, Joyce’s old enemy in the seat of New England, is turning the knife, predicting in a tweet: “The Eagles are circling, don’t be surprised if Joyce resigns "for personal reasons” before the main story claims him … he will know it’s getting close to a one-way street to a job with Gina".</p>
<p>With unfortunate if exquisite timing, Turnbull held a family fun day for Coalition MPs at the Lodge on Sunday. Unsurprisingly, there was no sign of his deputy prime minister.</p>
<iframe src="https://www.podbean.com/media/player/6jqa7-8776fa?from=site&skin=1&share=1&fonts=Helvetica&auto=0&download=0" height="100" width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player"></iframe><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91632/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Labor is eyeing possible openings to exploit in the liaison between Barnaby Joyce and his former staffer Vikki Campion.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.