Morrison apologises for inaccurate claims against News Corp
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has apologised for comments made at a press conference yesterday, whereby he insinuated that there was a sexual harassment claim being investigated at News Corp.
In a statement posted on his Facebook account yesterday evening, Morrison wrote he had made an “insensitive response” to a question from Sky News political editor Andrew Clennell, about sexual harassment allegations within parliament, by making an “anonymous reference” to an incident at News Corp, that has been rejected by the company.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison at the press conference.
“I accept their account. I was wrong to raise it, the emotion of the moment is no excuse,” Morrison wrote.
He added: “I especially wish to apologise to the individual at the centre of the incident and others directly impacted. I had no right to raise this issue and especially without their permission.
“What matters now is doing everything in my authority to take the actions that are needed to fix the culture in our Parliament and work to make Australia a safer place for women.”
The Australian Parliament and the Liberal Party have had a raft of sexual harassment and assault claims aired in recent months.
Morrison wrote earlier in his post: “…profound regret and deep disappointment as I acknowledged the terrible mistreatment of women in this country over a long period, and specifically in relation to the disgraceful events that have occurred in our workplace at Parliament House.”
The claim against News Corp made at the conference by Morrison was that there was, within Clennell’s own organisation, “a person who has had a complaint made against them for harassment of a woman in a women’s toilet and that matter is being pursued by your own HR department”.
Sky News is owned by News Corp.
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Olivia Kruimel is the managing editor at Mumbrella. She has more than 15 years of experience in journalism, communications and marketing. Her journalism career began at Fairfax Media (now part of Nine) and includes various B2B publications such as B&T, Travel Today and ALB. As a marketer Olivia has worked for Standard Chartered and various global law firms.
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