The support service report spans from October 2023 to June 2024.

Nine percent, or 30, of the allegations were in the category that includes rape, sexual assault, assault, sexual harassment, stalking or intimidation, while 10 percent were allegations of intimidation.

Eighteen percent were related to domestic and family violence, alcohol, drugs or mental health incidents and more than a quarter, 27 percent, were workplace conflicts. Another 124 cases were classified as unknown or other.

The annual report also shows that more than 50% of complaints were made by political staff, 12% by parliamentary department staff and 17% by MPs or senators.

Complaints do not necessarily come from alleged victims in parliament. Allegations or calls of concern can be made by friends or colleagues, and the service is also available to people working in parliament who are experiencing a personal incident unrelated to their work or colleagues.

“The rate of sexual assault may appear to be high because support staff take a trauma-informed approach and record incidents as described by the client,” a footnote in the report states.

“People use the term ‘sexual assault’ to describe a wide range of behaviours, from feeling uncomfortable about the way a person views them to what would be a traditional use of the word rape.

“It is likely that very few of these matters are actually allegations of rape. Those that are could also include matters reported to the police (or) sex discrimination commissioner and would include matters that predate the current and previous terms of parliament.”

The watchdog provides both support and review services until the independent Parliamentary Standards Commission, which will investigate alleged serious workplace safety breaches, is up and running.

In 2021, Higgins alleged that her colleague Bruce Lehrmann raped her in Parliament in 2019. Lehrmann’s criminal trial was aborted in 2022 following juror misconduct. Lehrmann then launched a defamation suit against the media’s reporting of Higgins’ allegations.

In April, Federal Court Judge Michael Lee ruled on the balance of probabilities that Lehrmann raped Higgins. Lehrmann has always maintained his innocence and is now appealing the ruling.

The Parliamentary Workplace Support Service (PWSS) came under fire in October over claims it tipped off lawyers to deal with Tarnawsky (Marles’ chief of staff), who claimed the legal adviser was opposition and had been instructed to to the deputy prime minister.

Tarnawsky’s attorney, Michael Bradley, said he was not surprised there was no resolution on record, describing the service as “a scheme that was set up to fail.”

“PWSS ends up being a support service for the member of parliament, including providing the member of parliament with free legal support, and the staff is left to their own devices,” he said.

The service’s legal costs for the nine months came to nearly $370,000, including in-house staff.

Loading

“PWSS maintains an in-house legal capacity and the figure for in-house expenses represents the salaries and other overheads required to fund this capacity,” the human resources body said in a statement.

Human Resources is also investigating independent Senator Lidia Thorpe’s allegations of harassment against Independent Senator David Van last June. Van denied the allegations.

Thorpe told this mast that the service staff were helpful but found they were powerless to fix the problems.

“It’s frustrating and disappointing,” she said.

Four formal harassment complaints were also lodged by Greens senator Dorinda Cox’s parliamentary service staff.

National Sexual Assault, Family and Domestic Violence Advice Line: 1800 737 732. Crisis support can be found on Lifeline: 13 11 14.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, opinion and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up for our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.