Archer says the Treasurer is a “very good friend” and was“being pleasant” in the photo and asking her if she was OK. She also received a text after she crossed the floor from the Prime Minister’s office,saying Morrison “wanted to see[her] at 12.15″ but had replied,“I am not ready. I need a break.”
Archer says Frydenberg then suggested she come to his office. She thought it was for a one-on-one meeting but when she got there,she says he told her:“I am going to take you to the PM’s office”. She found herself ushered into the grandeur of that room,the centre of this country’s power,and seated opposite the three most powerful people in the country. Outnumbered and outplayed.
Archer has since rejected the notion the meeting was for “pastoral care”. But Morrison declared,using only her first name:“It was a very warm and friendly and supportive meeting. Bridget is a close friend and colleague and I wanted to ensure that she was supported. And I was pleased to be there with Senator Payne and Josh Frydenberg and to be there to support Bridget.”
This was the politics of control in full swing,churning at the highest level,with Morrison and Frydenberg at the centre and Marise Payne playing a passive role. Grace Tame,the Australian of the Year who like Archer is a child sex abuse survivor,and one of the greatest truth-tellers of our time,described her view of the whole scene on social media as “textbook coercive control”.
Workplace coercive control is typically not connected to physical abuse as it sometimes is in domestic violence situations. But it is still an abuse of power,in that it is used to diminish and limit a person’s autonomy,to undermine them,create fear or impose silence.Brittany Higgins has dealt with any number of coercive control actions from powerful forces for more than two years. Former Australia Post boss Christine Holgate experienced it too from various sources,culminating in a three-second blast when Morrison bellowed down the microphone in Parliament three words:She. Can. Go.
The same power-play used against Archer was used against me almost three years ago,when I quit the Liberal Party days after Morrison took over the leadership from Malcolm Turnbull.