Labour was warned it had a major problem before summer camp scandal

Before the summer camp scandal and the latest claims, Labour was warned it had a major problem.

The Labour Council was told two years ago that there was a troubling culture of bullying, sexual harassment within the party.

A witness to the latest Labour sexual harassment investigation told the council in a late-2017 written submission that instances of sexual assault happened in the party and reporting the behaviour was extremely difficult.

The witness, a 21-year-old woman, is also a Labour Party member. The submission came before the Labour summer camp scandal.

The allegations made against a member of the Labour leadership office by several members of the party led to President Nigel Haworth resigning over his handling of the issue and serious questions being asked of Ardern and those close to her.

The written submission came in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal in the United States and made direct reference to that.

While there was obviously no way Labour could have known what was to come, the witness said the party was warned about its culture, and should have seen the summer camp incident as proof of the need to act.

"They could have said, we're going to deal with the wider problem we know we have, because here is a specific instance that proves it."

The woman, who Stuff has agreed not to name, sent the submission to then-General Secretary Andrew Kirton, Haworth and Assistant General Secretary Dianna Lacy.

The submission itself describes "a troubling culture of bullying, and of sexual harassment and assault" within the Labour Party.

"Instances of sexual harassment, and of sexual assault, happen in our party. They don't often come to light, usually because the survivor leaves the party, but also because those survivors who stay have no official means of reporting such behaviour.

"This allows abusers to continue in the party.

"Having an unpublicised, intimidating process for reporting sexual assault and harassment in our party is costing us talented members. I believe our party needs to take steps to combat this culture, and to allow a mechanism for survivors of abuse and assault to come forward."

Stuff understands the submission was tabled at the Labour Council in November 2017.

Stuff understands it was then passed to a smaller group of high-level members of the Labour Council.

When contacted by Stuff, a member of that group, Amanda Hill, said she did not work on the issue in the months between November and the next council meeting in February.

She said she could not recall what had been said at the February meeting, or whether the submission was discussed.

The submission's author was later asked to give evidence to a three-person panel about her experiences with the man accused of harassing up to 12 people. The man worked for Parliamentary Service in the office of the Labour leader.

She does not claim to have been sexually harassed by the individual.

The panel was made up of party members Simon Mitchell, a lawyer, Christchurch-based Tracey McLellan, who has previously worked for MPs Ruth Dyson and Megan Woods, and Honey Heemi, of Labour's Māori Council. It held interviews in March and in July it recommended no disciplinary action be taken. The council accepted that recommendation.

The party has since agreed to review the panel's process, and after complaints from witnesses and the party members who made the complaints, has set up an appeals process.

Labour leader Jacinda Ardern has since made clear she thinks the party "isn't equipped" to deal with sexual assault complaints internally.

Despite repeated approaches for comment, Haworth and Lacy did not respond. Kirton declined to comment and referred questions to Labour.

HOW TO REPORT

In the submission, the woman tells Labour her understanding of the current process was that survivors had to approach Andrew Kirton with their concerns.

She says approaching someone in such a powerful role is intimidating when speaking about assault or harassment. It was also "logistically inaccessible" as new members may not know how to contact Kirton.

This system remains partially in place. An email sent to members of the party by Ardern on Thursday morning asked that if anyone had anything they wanted to say about the complaints currently in the media they should contact current General Secretary Andre Anderson, whose email address was provided.

Ardern's email address was also provided.

The party has published more detailed sexual harassment policies and complaints processes on its website, however.

The submission makes several suggestions for change, noting the UK Labour Party had recently created an online platform for survivors to anonymously report harassment, but concludes the small size of the New Zealand party would not allow for anonymity.

Instead, it suggests a member of the NZ Council be empowered to act as a survivor advocate.

The Labour Party began a review of its harassment and bullying processes in 2018, after barrister Maria Austen delivered her report into the handling of the Young Labour summer camp sexual assault allegations.

A 21-year-old man was originally charged with five counts of indecent assault after the summer camp incident, but pleaded guilty in the Auckland District Court on September 2 to two amended charges of assault. All other charges were dismissed.

The Opposition has pointed to the fact that Ardern positioned Labour as the party of the #metoo movement.

Last year she told the United Nations General Assembly in New York that "#metoo must become #wetoo. We are all in this together".'