‘It was a dream until it was a nightmare’: Richard Marles’ chief of staff alleges she was barred from her office

‘I’m still in shock’: Jo Tarnawsky, the chief of staff to deputy prime minister Richard Marles, claims she has not been face to face with her boss since 16 May. She says her employment situation has left her shattered. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

One of the Albanese government’s most senior female advisers, the deputy prime minister’s chief of staff, claims she has been barred from her office and had no direct engagement with her boss in five months, since she complained about colleagues’ undermining behaviour and he allegedly responded by telling her to find another job.

Richard Marles’ chief of staff, Jo Tarnawsky, alleges her boss effectively sacked her without warning in a phone call on 30 April, the day after they returned from a challenging but successful visit to Ukraine, for which she says he had credited her.