Mark Parton, leader of the Canberra Liberals, has been accused of sending a text message during a meeting containing the words “my job is boring.”
On Thursday, the politician admitted that he had indeed sent messages saying his job was “boring,” but denied reports in the local media that the messages were addressed to a sex worker and contained expletives. The Canberra Times reported that Parton allegedly wrote “And f**k, my job is boring. Wanna swap,” whilst Parton said that this was a “smear.”
“There’s a hell of a lot of private messages sent by a hell of a lot of people during sitting days and hearings,” Parton explained on Thursday, adding: “I think it’s appropriate to send private messages to people that aren’t intended for the public domain.”
He also stated that he had occasionally responded to comments on social media and made public posts during the hearings. However, he made it clear that he regretted sending the message and would not send similar messages during future hearings.
“I’ve got an off-the-cuff, larrikin communication style. I understand that most people’s perception of budget estimates hearings is that they’re pretty boring,” Parton said. “To be honest, I’m not sure they’re really anybody’s business other than the sender and the receiver,” he added.
Although the formal complaint was dismissed, he reported the alleged “harassment” to the police. Besides, he believes this complaint was a politically motivated attempt to discredit him. He said he did not know whether the complaint had been lodged by another member of the Legislative Assembly or by someone who was not a member of the body.
“I don’t know why there’s so much concern and so much interest in this matter when, in recent days, one of the most damning reports in the history of self-government has been handed down, involving serious corruption findings that went to the deputy chief minister’s office, that led to her resignation, that cost taxpayers nearly a million dollars more than the original tender,” Parton said. “I guess it’s not a great surprise, when we are landing attacks on the government, see graffiti and other attacks being made on me.”
