The Liberals' Chiaka Barry has denied showing Opposition Leader Mark Parton a copy of a complaint about his behaviour in budget estimates, contradicting Mr Parton's earlier statement and leaving a parliamentary committee unclear on how the complaint was handled.
Mr Parton earlier this month admitted taking a photograph from his chair in a budget estimates hearing and sending a text message that said "f--- my job is boring", and later apologised to the estimates committee for breaking the rules on taking photographs.
Speaker Jeremy Hanson and Ms Barry, the chair of the budget estimates committee, were emailed a complaint that Mr Parton had sent the text to a sex worker while he was in the committee. Mr Parton strenuously denied texting a sex worker.
A spokesman for Mr Parton on August 7 told The Canberra Times the Opposition Leader was shown the full details of the complaint and the anonymous email by Ms Barry.
"After a brief discussion with the Speaker, the Chair of the Estimates Committee believed that it would be beneficial for Mr Parton to see the full details of the complaint and showed Mr Parton the email at some stage after 10am," the spokesman said.
But the budget estimates report released on Friday revealed Ms Barry had told the committee on August 12 she did not show Mr Parton the complaint.
"The committee was not provided with a copy of the complaint until 19 August 2026. Standing order 241(b) states that committee documents should not be disclosed to a person who is not a committee member or Assembly employee unless authorised by the Assembly or the committee," the report said.
Mr Hanson has previously told The Canberra Times he did not provide a full copy of the complaint to Mr Parton but had told the Opposition Leader he had received it.
The committee asked Mr Parton on August 20 who had provided him with the complaint email.
"The visiting member responded without answering the question on 24 August 2026. The committee made another request for this information on 25 August 2026 and at the time when this report was adopted the visiting member had not responded," the committee's report said.
The budget estimates committee found the complaint may have been shared without its authorisation, which would have been a breach of the standing orders.
The report also noted Ms Barry abstained from the committee's decision to write to Mr Parton about the issue and was not present at the meeting where the committee agreed to the final version of the budget estimates report.
