Labour MPs say they don't believe there's a bullying culture in Parliament in the way Hamilton West MP Gaurav Sharma has claimed, as an opposition MP called Sharma "brave".
In an opinion piece published in the NZ Herald on Thursday afternoon, the first-term backbencher alleged there was a culture of bullying at Parliament, and that constituents "would be appalled if they saw even half of what their elected representatives have to bear in terms of harassment from inside the Parliament”.
Ayesha Verrall, herself a first-term Labour MP, told 1News at Wellington Airport she hadn't experienced bullying in Parliament and had always felt supported.
Labour West Coast-Tasman MP Damien O'Connor and MP Andrew Little said there were no bullies in Labour.
Labour Māngere MP Aupito William Sio said he was surprised by Sharma's allegations.
"I've never felt that. It is an environment that can be quite tough, at times, and I'm sad we were there and that we didn't understand that's what his experience was.
"I wish he had reached out. But, nonetheless, we're hoping that support is given to him by the Parliamentary Service and by our whips. I haven't had a chance to talk to him. So, we'll get a chance to reach out and see how he's doing," Sio said.
He said Parliament had recognised they had to do better "in terms of working relationships" with the likes of MPs' electorate offices and Parliamentary Services.
"There is support there… if MPs are feeling that way you can't hide it. You've got to talk about it. And, hopefully, Parliamentary Services wraps support around individuals who might be feeling that way."
In his opinion piece, Sharma pointed to former MP Louisa Wall as an example. Sharma wrote she "was bullied by a senior Labour Party MP early in her career", as she mentioned in her valedictory speech.
READ MORE: Labour 'aware of issues' after MP's scathing bullying opinion piece
Sharma criticised the Parliamentary Service - which provides administrative support services in the precinct - and alleged that "member-to-member and party-to-member bullying rampant in Parliament is - I believe - promoted and facilitated by this very organisation".
He claimed that the service did this "by working behind the scenes with the whips office, the offices of the leaders of various parties, along with the Office of the Leader of the Opposition and the Prime Minister's Office".
In 2018, Speaker Trevor Mallard announced an independent review by Debbie Francis that looked into bullying and harassment at Parliament.
Francis' 2019 report found large parts of the Parliamentary workplace had a toxic culture, and 29% of more than 1000 respondents reported experiencing some form of bullying or harassment from an MP or manager.
She recommended 85 actions to improve Parliament's culture, including one to appoint an Independent Parliamentary Commissioner for Conduct to investigate complaints of poor conduct of MPs.
Other parties react
Green Party MP James Shaw said the Francis review did show Parliament could be a "toxic" workplace.
He said he'd never seen MP-to-MP bullying first-hand, but was aware some people had reported instances of it. That was why he supported the independent commissioner for conduct.
"Leaving it up to individual political parties who often don't have the in-house expertise in how to deal with these things is a real problem."
When asked if there was bullying in Parliament, National MP Chris Bishop said the Francis review had "made it clear that over the years there's been an unhealthy culture".
There had been improvements since the review was completed, including a new code of conduct within National, he said.
On Sharma's opinion piece, Bishop said: "I think it's very brave, pretty extraordinary actually."
Bishop said he wouldn't go as far as labelling the Francis review as "a PR exercise to placate some of the backlash from the public in recent years", as Sharma had done.
"I think the Francis review and the changes made in a cross-party way have been good," Bishop said.
Labour whip Duncan Webb said they had "been working with Parliamentary Services and Gaurav to address employment matters in his office".
"We had been working to provide support for Gaurav and find a solution. We’re committed to reaching an outcome everyone is happy with," Webb said.
In a separate statement, the Labour whip's office said they had become aware of "issues between Gaurav and some of his staff a year ago".
"It recently paused hiring with the intention of providing further assistance before more staff were hired into his office. This seemed prudent."
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