Premier's staffer stands down over email leak

A sexual harassment scandal at Sydney's Star Casino has reached the office of the New South Wales Premier and claimed its first political casualty.

The Premier's senior media adviser, Peter Grimshaw, has been forced to stand down without pay.

It has been revealed that he passed on confidential information to his girlfriend, a senior executive at the casino and one of the women who lodged a sexual harassment complaint against the casino's managing director, Sid Vaikunta.

Mr Vaikunta was sacked four weeks ago, but denies the allegations.

Emails and text messages between Mr Grimshaw and his girlfriend have been leaked to the media, forcing Premier Barry O'Farrell to act.

"I asked this morning my director general to investigate whether there had been any breaches of the code of conduct for ministerial staff," he said.

"I informed Mr Grimshaw of my decision; he agreed to stand down without pay subject to that inquiry."

The Australian newspaper's New South Wales political reporter, Imre Salusinszky, says the email exchange proved there was intent to hurt Mr Vaikunta.

But he also says the exchange was a way for Mr Grimshaw to show he wielded some influence over the Premier.

"The emails and texts that Mr Grimshaw and his girlfriend exchanged from November onward, both before and after she made a sexual harassment allegation against him, show two people very intent on looking for ways to damage Mr Vaikunta," he said.

"Mr Grimshaw forwarded to his girlfriend emails from the Premier in order to show, as it were, that he had the Premier's ear and that his advice was highly regarded by the Premier.

"There was nothing specifically about the casino in the forwarded emails, but the fact of forwarding them appears to be a clear breach of the code of conduct for ministerial staff."

Conflict of interest

The latest instalment has also put the spotlight on the Minister for Gaming, George Souris, and his adviser, and the communications they had with Peter Grimshaw.

"[Mr Grimshaw] was quite proactive again and had several communications with the Minister for Gaming and the staff of the Minister for Gaming, the minister in charge of the casino, to ensure that his girlfriend's name was not made public," Mr Salusinszky said.

"Now this too may be of interest to the inquiry given that it appears to be a conflict of interest.

"In other words, Mr Grimshaw was using his influence within government, not to achieve a policy outcome, but to achieve a personal outcome."

He says by any measure, these exchanges cannot be explained away.

"Both should have been much more careful about using their work resources, their work phones, their work emails to correspond on this matter," he said.

"In addition, the forwarding of the emails has nothing to do with Star or the sexual harassment allegations. It's simply a failure in public administration 101. When you're working for the Premier, what happens in the Premier's office stays in the Premier's Office."

NSW Labor leader John Robertson says the situation is unacceptable.

"We've got the communications director in the Premier's office, stood down, referred to ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption). We've got a minister who has withheld critical information from the Premier," he said.

"We cannot have a situation to continue where a senior minister in this government and his adviser are allowed to continue on the payroll while there are a serious number of questions that need to be answered by these people."

Source: ABC News, 5 March 2013