A female Liberal MP who had explicit photos of her leaked by a male political rival says they are great mates, as NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet insists "no one is perfect".
Liberal MP Peter Poulos leaked intimate Penthouse modelling photos of Robyn Preston to fellow party members about five years ago.
The photos were sent via email when they were locked in a bitter preselection battle for the seat of Hawkesbury, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Ms Preston was eventually endorsed as the Liberal candidate, winning the upper house seat at the 2019 election.
Mr Perrottet labelled Mr Poulos' actions "incredibly inappropriate" after talking with the MP to remind him of his responsibilities.
However, Mr Poulous has retained his place on the Liberal ticket at the upcoming election.
"People make mistakes," the premier told reporters when asked about Mr Poulos on Wednesday.
"No one is perfect. I've made a number of mistakes in life.
"The main thing is when you do (make mistakes), you stand up, you take responsibility for it, you apologise.
"That's what Peter has done."
Ms Preston appeared with the premier, telling reporters she and Mr Poulos were good friends and she no longer wished to speak about the incident.
"This is something that's been brought up for decades now and I wish that we would respect the the opportunity to put it to bed," she said.
"Peter rang me and personally apologised and he was very remorseful.
"Peter and I are great mates.
"We have been in the party and we have a great following as friends we support each other along the way in our journey in politics."
Labor's upper house leader Penny Sharpe says Mr Poulos' behaviour was unacceptable and it was up to the Liberal Party to deal with it.
"If the question is whether he's sharing inappropriate images of a female member of parliament, of course that's inappropriate and should not be tolerated," Ms Sharpe said.
Mr Poulos was contacted for comment.
Brittany Higgins, who alleges she was raped by a colleague while working at Parliament House in Canberra, issued a blunt response to the reports.
"The more things change the more they stay the same," she said.
Former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann was charged with raping Ms Higgins in 2019. He denies the allegations.
A second rape trial was abandoned after the first was derailed by juror misconduct, with prosecutors raising concerns about the risk to Ms Higgins' health.
Mr Lehrmann has since launched defamation proceedings against several media outlets.
Australian Associated Press
