South Coast MP Shelley Hancock has called on her colleagues to "listen to women, believe women and take action" on allegations of sexual misconduct.
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Dhanya Mani worked for Mrs Hancock and alleges that in 2015 another NSW Liberal parliamentary staffer came to her house, forced himself on her, tried to undo her jeans and began masturbating. Ms Mani said she was advised by a senior Liberal woman that her complaints were unlikely to lead anywhere.
Asked about the allegations, Mrs Hancock said the incident was not reported to her, and that she did not know why the information had not been fed back to her by colleagues.
"If she told me, I would have been able to support her all the way through," Mrs Hancock said.
"If incidents like this are reported to senior party members, then they have to do something about it. We can't allow this to happen."
Mrs Hancock said she did not believe the assault was a reflection of the culture in the Liberal Party, but was "disappointing".
We can't allow this to happen
- Shelley Hancock
She said she was in discussion with other party members about what could be done, and that those discussions would continue at state council meetings and within the state executive.
Kiama MP Gareth Ward was asked if he believed the Liberal Party culture was "toxic" to women, after staffers of other members made sexual assault allegations, and one of his own staffers, Jacob Sich, resigned after making lewd comments online.
Mr Sich later returned to volunteer for Mr Ward's electorate office.
Mr Ward said "every party could do better" and women who had complaints should make them through official channels, or go to the police.
"I've seen plenty of inappropriate comments from members of all sorts of political parties over the years," he said.
"Complaints should always be raised with the most appropriate authority, but let's be serious about this, if you want to make a serious complaint then shouldn't you go to the body that's responsible for dealing with that? Any action disparaging or indeed negative towards women should not be supported or tolerated."