The ACT’s Attorney-General has been found to have breached the code of conduct for a parliamentarian over an anonymous text message she sent criticising former Canberra Liberals leader Elizabeth Lee.
Tara Cheyne sent a text message to ABC Radio Canberra’s Breakfast program in September that accused Ms Lee of being absent from the ACT Legislative Assembly.
“My own observation is Elizabeth was absent from the assembly for half of the year,” the text said.
“She’s only spoken a handful of times since.”
The author of the text only wanted to be referred to as “a Labor MLA”.
Ms Lee took a period of leave earlier this year, granted with the support of other members, on the advice of medical professionals.
Elizabeth Lee says she felt she had no choice but to publicly defend her decision to take leave following Tara Cheyne’s text. (ABC News: Toby Hunt)
In the assembly this morning, Ms Lee described the text message as the “lowest of blows” and said that Ms Cheyne’s actions “undermines the integrity of the entire assembly”.
Ms Lee said she felt she had no choice but to publicly defend her decision to take leave, which she said Ms Cheyne had used as a “political scoring point”.
“To make a disparaging comment about my personal leave that I took earlier this year … was hurtful, damaging and frankly dangerous,” Ms Lee said.
“It’s no secret that the events of last year following the election had a significant, traumatic impact on myself, my family and my staff.
“On the advice of my medical team and in consultation with my family and colleagues, I took a period of personal leave … to get the support that I needed.”
Complaint upheld by Commissioner for Standards
Ken Crispin ruled Tara Cheyne had breached the rules requiring legislative assembly members to be fair in political dealings. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
Ms Lee wrote to Chief Minister Andrew Barr about the text, who confirmed Ms Cheyne was the author.
She then made a complaint about the text to the Commissioner for Standards, Ken Crispin.
He found that Ms Cheyne had breached the rules requiring members to act at all times with integrity, honesty and diligence, and to be fair in political dealings.
In Mr Crispin’s report, he said Ms Cheyne had maintained her reference to Ms Lee’s absence from the legislative assembly was nothing more than stating what she believed was a fact.
“However, a breach of privacy is not excusable merely because the relevant statement is true,” Mr Crispin said.
“A sequence of statements that may be literally true may sometimes imply one of more propositions that are not true or otherwise inappropriate.
“Ms Cheyne’s statement left members of the public to assume Ms Lee had been guilty of an unwarranted dereliction of her duty to participate in the work of the assembly.”
Tara Cheyne’s text made reference to when Elizabeth Lee made a rude gesture towards a journalist following a tense press conference in October 2024. (ABC News: ABC News)
The text message also referenced Ms Lee being caught on camera making a rude gesture towards a journalist following a tense exchange during a press conference.
“I won’t claim to be an expert on Liberal strategies or tactics but here are some observations. Elizabeth was given a free run at the leadership over four years,” the text said.
“Elizabeth not affording Leanne a clear 12 months just seems like a continuation of the gesture she gave the journalist in this election. Petulant.”
Mr Crispin’s report stated that Ms Cheyne said writing the text message was an “impulsive decision”, and that she chose to send the message because “she was not confident that an interview would be confined to the issues she wanted to raise or that producers would screen what she had to say”.
“She said that the message had been written quickly with little thought given to the manner in which it was framed, though she maintained that it reflected her ‘reasonably held beliefs and observations’,” Mr Crispin said.
Mr Crispin said when read in isolation, Ms Cheyne’s explanation for sending the text “would seem to involve some degree of defensive rationalisation” but added that “Ms Cheyne did not attempt to defend it”.
Ms Cheyne told to apologise
In a letter Tara Cheyne apologised to Elizabeth Lee for the “foolish and rash” text message. (ABC News: Callum Flinn)
An assembly committee considered Mr Crispin’s report and recommended Ms Cheyne apologise to the assembly, which she did.
“I sincerely and unconditionally apologise to the assembly,” Ms Cheyne said.
Ms Cheyne had already apologised to Ms Lee in an earlier letter, in which she said “it was a foolish and rash action to take”.
“I most deeply regret the inference that there was any question about the purpose of your leave, or that I was calling it into question,” she said.
“I sincerely wish to clarify that it was never my intention.
“Nevertheless, I recognise and am deeply sorry for the distress, hurt, disappointment and concern that sentence has caused you.”
