Brittany Higgins has re-engaged with Australia’s federal police and is proceeding with a formal complaint about her alleged rape in Parliament House, while calling for a “truly independent investigation” and widespread reform to the way staffers are treated.
Late on Friday, Higgins released a statement confirming she was pressing ahead with a formal complaint about her alleged rape, something she says occurred “in what should be the safest building in Australia”. She had previously signalled to the Guardian that she intended to do so.
Higgins called for police to act swiftly. She wants the alleged perpetrator, a former colleague, to “face the full force of the law”.
“I expect a truly independent investigation into how my matter was handled inside the government, including offices where I worked, and other offices and parties that had knowledge of my circumstances,” Higgins said.
“I believe that getting to the bottom of what happened to me and how the system failed me is critical to creating a new framework for political staff that ensures genuine cultural change and restores the trust of staff.”
Referencing widespread appeals this week from MPs across the political spectrum, Higgins called for a broader review of the way staffers are treated in parliament, noting they have few protections, resources or confidential reporting mechanisms.
Higgins has told the prime minister’s office that she wants to have a voice in framing the scope and terms of reference for such a review.
“The prime minister has repeatedly told the parliament that I should be given ‘agency’ going forward,” she said. “I don’t believe that agency was provided to me over the past two years but I seize it now.”
“I was failed repeatedly, but I now have my voice, and I am determined to use to ensure that this is never allowed to happen to another member of staff again.”
Higgins’s statement comes as the scandal widened on Friday for Morrison’s office. Morrison has said his staff found out about the assault allegations last Friday, but new text messages suggest that a friend of Higgins got in touch with the prime minister’s office to alert them to the flawed handling of her case in early April 2019.
“He was mortified to hear about it and how things have been handled,” the friend wrote.
Morrison said he was articulating what staff had told him about when they were aware of the allegations. But he said Phil Gaetjens, the head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, would examine the text and what his office knew and when, as part of a broader inquiry into the matter.
“I would like to know, if there was anything different here, I would like to know,” Morrison said.
The Guardian has put a number of questions to the department about the scope of the Gaetjens inquiry, including whether the record checks would include private devices or communication via non-official channels, such as WhatsApp or Signal. At the time of publication, those questions had not been answered.
With the Higgins matter continuing to escalate, the government was also hit with new revelations that a senior staff member in Liberal MP Craig Kelly’s office continues to work in his role despite multiple young women – some as young as 16 – coming forward to NSW police to allege inappropriate behaviour in the workplace, including an instance of unwanted touching, and despite an apprehended violence order being granted in one case.
Meanwhile, the department with oversight of parliament has responded to revelations on Friday that it took two weeks to provide police with a security incident report concerning the matter.
Higgins told the Guardian that ACT police reported “pushback” from parliament as officers tried to secure critical information. The Guardian has been told that the incident report was withheld initially from the Australian federal police and was handed over only after police escalated their request.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Parliamentary Services disputed that it had been anything but cooperative.
“There was no reluctance by DPS in any of its dealings with the AFP,” she said. “All relevant reports of the incident were provided to the AFP at their request on 7 April 2019.”
The Guardian has also established that one of two references the alleged perpetrator received in the weeks after the attack came from a lobbyist who is now with Liberal-aligned firm Barton Deakin.
The referee said she had no idea about the alleged attack when she wrote the reference.
“At the time of providing a professional reference around April 2019, I had no knowledge of the alleged assault,” she told the Guardian. “I became aware of the alleged assault when it was reported in the press recently.”
The government is also continuing to refuse to say whether it provided the man with a termination payout, despite multiple requests for confirmation. The enterprise bargaining agreement for staff prevents payouts if staff resign or are sacked for serious misconduct.
The precise details of the staff member’s termination remain unclear.
The Department of Finance also refused to provide aggregated data for the number of termination payouts it made to political staffers in the month of March 2019, saying “releasing aggregate data when combined with publicly available information may reveal the identity of one or more individuals, contravening their privacy”.
Higgins said in her statement the week had been “very difficult and trying” for her, her partner, and her family.
“I would ask please that my privacy is respected as I now deal with the processes I have outlined in this statement. I do not intend to make any further public comment at this time.”
• If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au
