A political brawl over Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations has spilled into both houses of parliament, as Finance Minister Katy Gallagher and former prime minister Scott Morrison defend their conduct.
Pressure has been mounting on Senator Gallagher, who has denied she misled parliament in 2021 about being aware of the allegations before they were made public.
Mr Morrison also made an explanation about his knowledge of the matter and reiterated he first became aware of the alleged assault the same day the media reports were published.
Ms Higgins alleged she was raped by fellow Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann inside the Parliament House office of then-minister Linda Reynolds in 2019, a claim he has always denied.
Mr Lehrmann’s trial was derailed because of juror misconduct and prosecutors did not seek a retrial, citing concern for Ms Higgins’ mental health.
Mr Morrison insisted Senator Reynolds’ office, including chief of staff Fiona Brown, had supported Ms Higgins by helping her refer the matter to police.
“Allegations of sexual violence against women should be addressed in our justice system (and) they should not be cynically prosecuted in the public square for politics, as is sadly and increasingly being revealed in relation to these issues,” he told parliament on Tuesday.
Mr Morrison admitted he had made a mistake by telling parliament in 2021 he had spoken to Ms Brown about the allegation Ms Higgins’ job had been threatened.
Ms Brown told the Weekend Australian newspaper this was not true.
“While I believe my response to be accurate at the time, I cannot obviously fully discount that (Ms Brown’s) recollection of those events, now, were the more accurate,” Mr Morrison said.
“It was an extremely busy week and there were many other issues I was addressing as prime minister at the time, most significantly COVID-19 and the advancement of AUKUS.”
Senator Gallagher, who made a statement to the Senate at the same time as Mr Morrison, rejected claims she had misled the parliament.
The minister said she was guided by Ms Higgins’ bravery in speaking up about an alleged incident in her workplace and took aim at how the then-government handled the matter.
“At a time when she needed their support the most, she should have been dealt with as a human being, not a problem that needed managing,” Senator Gallagher said.
“The response shouldn’t have been calculated by the political needs of the coalition government, it should have been met with compassion and support and it wasn’t.”
Questions over Senator Gallagher’s conduct were raised after leaked text messages between Ms Higgins and her partner David Sharaz emerged last week, suggesting the pair strategised with her, then in opposition, about how to break the story.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton told a coalition partyroom meeting it was an “open and shut case” the now-minister had misled the Senate.
“It is increasingly clear that a group of Labor operatives conspired to maximise an allegation, it was absolutely brazen,” Mr Dutton said.
But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese dismissed the opposition’s suggestions Labor had questions to answer as a bizarre conspiracy theory.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young described the treatment of the allegations as disgusting and blasted the “politicking, the mudslinging and the hypocrisy”.
“The people trying to score political points out of this should be ashamed of themselves,” she said.
The Greens will not facilitate any political game-playing on the allegations, and the senator said there were “serious questions” to be asked about how the messages had publicly leaked.
– AAP
