PM Morrison’s office knew of alleged rape within fortnight, court told
Then-PM Scott Morrison’s office knew of the alleged rape of former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins less than two weeks after the incident, a court has heard.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Scott Morrison’s office was made aware of the alleged rape of former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins less than two weeks after the incident, a court has heard.
Bruce Lehrmann is accused of raping Ms Higgins in Linda Reynold’s ministerial office at Parliament House after drinking with work colleagues in March 2019.
He has pleaded not guilty to sexual intercourse without her consent and being reckless to her consent.
On Wednesday, the court heard ex-boyfriend Ben Dillaway had informed a member of the then-prime minister’s office in hopes to speed up her access to support services.
“This was at a stage where, from my recollection, she was struggling significantly, wasn’t coping very well with things,” he told the court.
“She’d tried to see a psychiatrist and the wait was two months or three months or something and I said, ‘Let me discreetly go speak to someone in the Prime Minister’s office because surely this can move things along, or surely this will get you the help you need’.”
Mr Dillaway, also a former Liberal staffer, told the court he spoke to Julian Leembruggen about the incident on 03 April 2019 with Ms Higgins permission.
“I reassured her many times that she would not lose her job. That she was a victim here and she had nothing to be worried about,” he said.
Last week, Ms Higgins told the court while she “trusted and really adored” her ex she “didn’t entirely trust him”.
“He was … a senior media adviser to a Liberal cabinet minister. So I didn’t entirely trust him, that it wouldn’t get back to one of his best friends, which is Julian Leembruggen, who was in the prime minister’s office,” she said.
“So absolutely I disclosed some things to him, but I didn’t 100 per cent trust that, you know, all of my thoughts and feelings weren’t exactly going to get exactly straight back to, like, Liberal CHQ right before the election
The court has previously heard that then-chief of staff Fiona Brown told Ms Higgins in the days after the incident she would have to advise the PMO of “these sorts of things” after asking her to re-sign a staff code of conduct.
“I was advised to take her through what those obligations were again … as I was doing that I said to her, ‘‘I’ll need you to have a look at this and just see if we understand, you know, why it’s serious,’ and at that point, you know, these sorts of things, if it’s of a really serious nature, I would advise the Prime Minister’s Office,” she told the court on Tuesday.
“She said she understood and that she would take that away (to sign).”
Last week, Ms Higgins told the court it was at this meeting that she disclosed the alleged sexual assault to Ms Brown.
The court heard two days later Ms Higgins had observed two other PMO staff – John Kunkle and Daniel Wong – “coming in and out” of the office prior to her second meeting with Ms Brown.
“At this point …. Fiona’s personal demeanour towards me had changed a lot,” she said.
“It was very apparent that the election stuff was like ramping up and I think … they wanted to also then start to deal with this in a different way so it wasn‘t sort of about my wellbeing.”
‘SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET: MICHAELIA CASH STAFFERS TOLD OF RAPE ALLEGATION
Staffers to former minister Michaelia Cash have told a jury Brittany Higgins, by the end of 2019, had divulged the “skeleton in her closet”: an allegation she had been raped by Bruce Lehrmann months earlier.
Lehrmann, 27, has denied he had sexual intercourse with Ms Higgins, without her consent and being reckless to her consent, on March 23, 2019, in the office of their boss, Senator Linda Reynolds.
Much of the case has been devoted to questions, asked of Ms Higgins and other witnesses, about the exact moment she disclosed the alleged rape to colleagues in Senator Reynolds’ office.
Three staff from Ms Reynolds’ office have told the jury Ms Higgins claimed she had been assaulted by Lehrmann within days of the alleged crime, as did her former boyfriend.
Ms Higgins moved to Senator Cash’s office, to work as a media advisor, in mid-2019.
Two staffers from Senator Cash’s office took the stand on Thursday where they, too, revealed Ms Higgins disclosed the alleged rape in similar terms to what the jury has already heard from Senator Reynolds’ office.
Regina Camara, a senior advisor to Senator Cash, told the jury she invited Ms Higgins to have coffee at a Parliament House cafe after noticing the new recruit was “a bit down, not very well”.
“ (Ms Higgins) mentioned to me an incident that had happened to her earlier that year in Linda Reynolds’
Office,” Ms Camara told the court.
“And she mentioned she had been out with some friends drinking and she got a lift with an advisor from her office.”
Ms Camara said Ms Higgins said she had been “assaulted” and Ms Camara recalled “being upset for her”.
“I asked her ‘is there anything I can do? Were you supported at the time by Minister Reynolds’ office?’” Ms Camara told the court.
The advisor said Ms Higgins replied “yes”.
Another staffer in Senator Cash’s office, Robert Bower, told the court Ms Higgins disclosed the alleged rape to him at a Christmas party in either late November, or early December, 2019.
“The issue of skeletons in the closet came up, as part of that discussion, Britt asked me if I had any,” Mr Bower told the court.
“I said I was in the Young Liberal Movement, so I was cognisant that there were a few people who … maybe had grudges against me.”
“And it was in that context, and following that, she asked if I knew Bruce Lehrmann.”
Mr Bower said he and Ms Higgins were standing in a courtyard with upwards of 80 people around and she appeared “uncomfortable and shaken” as she told him the allegation.
“It was then that Brittany told me that (Lehrmann) had assaulted her when they worked together in Minister Reynolds’ office,” he told the jury on Thursday.
“ (Ms Higgins) was stressed, she was anxious … She mentioned that she was worried that there was a story that might come out about it.”
Senator Reynolds and Senator Cash are both expected to give evidence next week after a revised witness list was released by the court on Thursday afternoon.
‘NOTORIOUS POLLIE’ LEFT LEHRMANN ‘MENTALLY SCARRED’
A top-ranking politician was “notorious for treating her staff poorly”, Bruce Lehrmann told police, with a jury hearing party politics in Canberra left the accused man “mentally scarred”.
Lehrmann, 27, pleaded not guilty to sexual intercourse with Brittany Higgins, without her consent and being reckless to her consent, in the ACT Supreme Court.
A voluntary interview, between Lehrmann and police, was played to the jury in court on Monday.
It contained Lehrmann’s account of March 23, 2019, the evening the Crown alleges he sexually assaulted Ms Higgins.
Lehrmann totally refuted the allegation put to him by police in the 2021 interview.
The jury watched as Lehrmann told police politics was “ruthless” and claimed some ministers do not treat their staffers well — identifying his own former boss.
“I know there’s been a lot of talk about the treatment of
women but, more broadly, the culture was horrendous,” he told officers.
Lehrmann claimed some ministers do not treat their staffers well.
“It’s very mentally scarring,” he told police.
“Bridget McKenzie was notorious for treating her staff poorly, me included, on a personal level.”
Lehrmann told the officers he had decided to leave politics behind after six years in Canberra before the allegations against him had emerged.
“I was there to receive advice from departments and put out good policy, not stuff around … A lot of people used it for party political things,” he said.
His allegations come after Ms Higgins, in her own evidence, said the Liberal Party had pressured her to not pursue her rape allegations against Lehrmann.
Ms Higgins said it was made clear to her that her job was on the line after a meeting with her boss, Minister Linda Reynolds, and her chief of staff.
Originally published as PM Morrison’s office knew of alleged rape within fortnight, court told
New Muslim candidate’s surprise response to October 7
Local pharmacist Ahmed Ouf has announced himself as an independent candidate for the historically safe federal Labor seat of Blaxland, held by Education Minister Jason Clare. Hear what he stands for.
Huge queues for fuel as monster blackout pushes town to brink
Schools have been closed, mine workers stood down and the local hospital shifted to emergency mode as Broken Hill continues to wait for the lights to come back on.