James Ashby has arrived at the NSW Supreme Court where he has been ordered to hammer out his sexual harassment dispute with his former boss Peter Slipper.
Justice Steven Rares on Tuesday directed the pair to mediate 'face to face' in an effort to resolve Mr Ashby's sexual harassment case against Mr Slipper.
Mr Ashby declined to comment to waiting media as he entered the court on Wednesday morning.
The mediation process later got underway, with Mr Slipper understood to have entered the court earlier on Wednesday morning.
A 'person of authority' from the Commonwealth is also taking part in the mediation process after it failed to finalise its settlement with Mr Ashby.
Last week, the federal government announced it had settled its case with Mr Ashby for $50,000 and a pledge to provide training for MPs and parliamentary staff to prevent sexual harassment, but the settlement hit some difficulties on Wednesday.
As well as the original sexual harassment case and the Commonwealth settlement, the parties will also negotiate on Mr Slipper's application to throw out the case as an abuse of process.
If the parties fail to reach a settlement, the matter will return to the Federal Court on Thursday.
