"I'm here today because I believe deeply in parliamentary accountability and transparency," Mallard told the committee. Addressing the committee chair, National MP Barbara Kuriger, Mallard said: "I rang you to offer to appear before the committee because I felt it was important to put on record an apology and offer some context and clarifications around recent events." Mallard made the accusation after the Debbie Francis report into bullying and harassment at Parliament was made public in May last year. He was commenting on a sexual assault accusation in the report. The report did not identify the accused offender, which Mallard said was integral to the review, but he did acknowledge at the time that he knew who the offender was and that the staffer had been stood down.