More serious matters, a reference to Ms Higgins’ case, would be handled by the police “god forbid that should ever happen again”.

Loading

“I am the son of a police officer, I know that’s where those issues need to be dealt with and where justice needs to be done, when it comes to those most serious matters,” Mr Morrison told the staffers.

In an acknowledgement of the deep disquiet in Coalition ranks, he concluded: “I have no doubt you are sceptical and you want to see this stuff work before you believe - that’s fair enough, that’s totally fair enough.

“So we will get on and address this, we will get on and make these changes, I ask you to work with us as we do that.”

Mr McCormack’s short address to staff was even more pointed.

“Whether you have been here for five minutes or whether you have been here for 15 or 25 years, you are valued. If you have been let down by the system, by your member, by your senator, by me, I say I am sorry,” he said. “If you haven’t felt supported, at any time, over any matter, I’m sorry.”

The speeches came just hours after a teary Prime Minister highlighted the “rubbish and this crap” that women have had to put up with in politics, and more broadly.

The Sun-Herald and The Sunday Age spoke to eight staffers who attended the meeting and all agreed to speak on condition of anonymity.

The uniform view was that morale had plummeted in government ranks over the last six weeks as it was battered by the wave of revelations and scandals, but that Mr Morrison and Mr McCormack’s addresses were heartfelt and welcome, although long overdue.

One veteran Coalition staffer observed: “[With Kevin] Rudd and [Julia] Gillard, it took three years of work to take them down. We’ve taken ourselves down in six weeks.”

Another staffer said Senator Payne should have addressed, or at least attended, the meeting and that “this should have happened weeks ago”.

A third said it was strange a meeting about sexism, bullying and workplace culture had been addressed by “three blokes” and that it was clear “the penny had finally dropped that this was an issue”.

“They should have had someone from the [Prime Minister’s office] who is a senior woman, but they don’t have someone,” they said.

A fourth staffer said the address was “actually really reassuring and nice. We were told how much we were appreciated. I expected it would be confrontational ... I was prepared to be pissed off but I wasn’t. I thought they would read the riot act.”

Loading

A fifth source, recently departed from government for the private sector, said that Coalition staff wanted to leave and some had started looking for jobs outside Parliament.

A cabinet reshuffle is expected as soon as Monday, with Peter Dutton tipped to take the Defence portfolio and potentially the job of Leader of the House from Mr Porter, Stuart Robert to move into Mr Dutton’s former portfolio of Home Affairs and Linda Reynolds to move from Defence to Mr Robert’s post as minister for government services.

Senator Michaelia Cash is tipped to take over as attorney-general and industrial relations minister from Mr Porter, while he would take her employment portfolio, removing him as first law officer while he pursues a defamation action against the ABC.