Former magistrate to review Ashley sexual harassment case; complainant meets with Premier

Alysha, who did not provide her last name, met with Premier Peter Gutwein for over two hours on Wednesday, and fainted in Parliament House due to the stress of the ongoing situation, requiring an ambulance to attend.

Following the meeting, Mr Gutwein released a statement confirming they discussed the workplace sexual harassment and bullying Alysha experienced at Ashley.

"What I heard concerns me greatly and I advised Alysha that I will immediately commence an independent review of the internal process, which has been recently concluded," he said.

Former magistrate Melanie Bartlett will conduct the review into Alysha's case, Mr Gutwein confirmed.

"Ms Bartlett is highly regarded, having made a significant contribution to the justice system in Tasmania, not only in her role as Magistrate but also as a member of the Mental Health Tribunal, the Guardianship and Administration Board, the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal and the Legal Aid Commission," he said.

"She also held the offices of president and vice-president of the Law Society.

"The government will ensure that appropriate support is available to anyone impacted by this matter.

"I wish to thank Alysha for taking the time to meet with me this morning, and I acknowledge how difficult it was for her to speak about these matters."

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Her initial complaint centred on an incident in late 2019 when she was first appointed at Ashley, in which a colleague was claimed to have referred to Alysha's appearance as a "Japanese f*** doll" to other senior colleagues.

The resulting 22-month investigation looked into whether a breach of the State Service Code of Conduct occurred. Alysha was not informed of the outcome despite repeated requests, only for it to be publicly disclosed during budget estimates this week.

She said she went public with her concerns - itself a possible breach of the Code of Conduct - to highlight failures in the process and to protect other women who she said were "petrified" to make similar complaints after seeing how her matter was handled.

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"It is not fair that any women feels like extraordinary measures need to be taken to have their concerns heard, and adequately responded to," Alysha said.

"I am the perfect example of why we do.

"I resent that I have had to choose between doing what is right for the community and for women, and doing what would present far less risk to myself and to my family."

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