Adviser alleges ‘racial microaggressions’ in state Liberal office

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A former Liberal party staffer has alleged she was subjected to “racial microaggressions” while working in the office of the state opposition leader and plans to take her complaint to Victoria’s human rights watchdog.

Policy adviser Ella Chanel, who was hired in 2022 under then-leader Matthew Guy on a six-month contract, claims she was excluded from meetings, left off emails and ignored by colleagues.

Opposition Leader John Pesutto.Credit: Jason South

“It was a boy’s club with middle-aged white men being rude to me,” Chanel, who is of African ethnicity, told The Age.

Chanel says that in February she made a verbal complaint about the alleged microaggressions – repeated hostile behaviours experienced by marginalised groups – which included being excluded from staff meetings and being left out of WhatsApp groups and emails that she says started after the election loss.

Opposition Leader John Pesutto’s office told The Age it was not aware of the allegations until Chanel left the office in March. Pesutto took over as leader from Guy after November’s election defeat.

Chanel initially took her allegations to the workplace watchdog, but later abandoned her claim.

Matthew Guy, with wife Renae, conceding defeat on election night in November.Credit: Jason South

She told The Age she now plans to lodge a formal complaint about her treatment with the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission and has engaged lawyers to seek an apology and compensation because she only received two days’ pay.

Chanel, who formerly worked for three federal MPs, said the work environment in the state office was “shocking”.

“I worked in federal politics for just under 10 years, and I thought that would be a toxic and difficult work environment,” Chanel said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It was very uncomfortable.”

She described alleged incidents in which she was ignored by senior staff and other colleagues. Chanel alleged that she was the sole person working on a policy when a colleague ignored her and asked another staff member about her work.

In another meeting, she claimed, she offered an idea but it was ignored and not acknowledged. Moments later, she said, another colleague made a similar contribution and was lauded.

“I was consistently the person left out of meetings and conversations,” Chanel said, adding she wanted to speak out to take a stand against racism and ensure it was stamped out.

Chanel’s departure came after all the opposition’s employees were told they would receive updated contracts in late January following the change of leader and election defeat.

In emails seen by The Age, Chanel repeatedly asked if she would be kept on after her contract expired, but her requests for information initially went unanswered.

In mid-February, she received an automatic email from the payroll department informing her that her contract would expire on March 10 and would not be renewed. She then forwarded the email to a manager and asked, “can you please let me know if this is the case?”

Two weeks before her contract expired, Chanel was offered a contract extension to work with the policy team, but she declined the offer at a February 28 meeting and raised the racism claims with Pesutto and her manager.

Advice from the public service to the opposition indicates Chanel’s decision not to accept a new contract meant she was not owed a termination payment.

Chanel’s allegations on racial microaggressions are not directed at Pesutto personally, but emails seen by The Age reveal he was informed about her experience at that departure meeting and in a subsequent email.

“I will not be in the office and I will organise for my pass to be returned, everything else should be on my desk,” Chanel wrote in the email to Pesutto.

“Unfortunately, I do not feel comfortable being in the office and having to deal with the racial microaggressions that I have had to deal with in the last couple of months.”

A spokesperson for Pesutto said Chanel’s allegations were “only made after she left the office”.

“Mr Pesutto was never made aware of her allegations while she was working in the office,” the spokesperson said.

The Age has also seen evidence Chanel was added to at least one office WhatsApp group in August, shortly after she was hired.

When contacted by The Age, one former staff member who worked with Chanel in the opposition leader's office described her as “professional, courteous, intelligent, empathetic and diligent”.

The threat of legal action comes just weeks after upper house MP Moira Deeming issued a defamation concerns notice to Pesutto, alleging he accused her “of being a Nazi sympathiser” in March, when he moved a separate motion to expel her from the party room.

In January, former Liberal staffer Mitch Catlin also launched a workers’ compensation claim over his treatment during his stint as Guy’s chief of staff.

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