Former senator Brian Burston has been left traumatised and anxious by false claims he sexually harassed female staff while in office, his defamation trial against Pauline Hanson has been told.
Mr Burston, who quit Ms Hanson’s One Nation to join United Australia Party, is taking Federal Court proceedings in Sydney over what he says are claims of sexual harassment made against him on social media, via text and on television.
Mr Burston argues the claims paint him as a sexual harasser, and someone who acted disgracefully and brought the senate into disrepute.
His legal team says the claims are entirely fabricated and that the events in question never happened.
Giving evidence on Monday, Mr Burston denied suggestions, arising from Ms Hanson’s defence, that he told a staffer he was a “softie” for a woman in distress, that she probably needed a “good f***”, or that it’ll be her “best f***” ever.
“Did you say anything like that?” Mr Burston’s counsel, Bruce McClintock SC, asked.
“No,” Mr Burston replied.
Asked how the claims made him feel, he said “it’s making me out to be a pervert”.
“It created a lot of anxiety and trauma, I have trouble sleeping at night,” he said at another point in his evidence, during which he at times choked back tears.
Mr Burston also rejected suggestions he made comments about a female staffer’s age or weight, or that he said “it’s good to have a good looking sheila in the office”.
He denied pressing a female staffer to have lunch with him, making comments about “sexy legs”, “perfect” sized breasts, or placing $100 between her breasts.
“Did you stare at her buttocks and lick your lips?” Mr McClintock asked.
“No,” the witness replied.
Earlier, the court was told that Ms Hanson and staffer James Ashby issued the “opening shot in the public warfare” against Mr Burston in an interview with journalist Ben Fordham after a breakdown in the politicians’ relationship over supporting the government’s corporate tax cut plans.
In the television interview played in court, Ms Hanson refers to Mr Burston “stabbing” her in the back, doing a “dummy spit” and not being happy at not at the top of a party ticket.
“This is what we would say is the initial attack,” Mr McClintock said.
The barrister said his client complained of three matters, with the first being a Facebook post from February 2019, allegedly prepared by Mr Ashby, that referred to an unnamed senator under investigation for sexual harassment.
The second matter in time, Mr McClintock said, was a text message sent to the former senator’s wife on Valentines Day, which was received the day after a dinner at Parliament House where Mr Burston and Mr Ashby were involved in an altercation.
The “mean and spiteful” text message alleged that Mr Burston was being investigated for sexual harassment of former female staffers, and that he considered his wife a “whingeing old bag”, the court was told.
The third matter related to a television interview given by Ms Hanson to journalist Deb Knight in March 2019.
Mr McClintock described the claims against his client as “unbelievably traumatic” and said they were about the worst thing that could be said “short of pedophilia”.
The trial continues on Tuesday.
