Andrew Bolt: Albo must come clean on Brittany Higgins’ secret deal

It is astonishing that the Albanese government paid so much compensation over an alleged rape that isn’t proven.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese once campaigned against secret deals by politicians. “We need to have transparency,” he insisted.

So could he finally come clean on why his government paid Brittany Higgins up to $3m?

Oh, look! There’s the grateful Higgins sharing photos on Instagram of herself and fiance David Sharaz on their holiday last month at some resort in the Maldives.

And there’s Sharaz publicly thanking her for “the best Christmas present ever”. How kind to let taxpayers know how Higgins is faring after her handout, which was for – among other things – loss of future earnings.

But some taxpayers must surely wonder why Higgins was given so much of their cash, especially now that former Liberal defence minister Linda Reynolds has broken her silence.

Higgins became a multi-millionaire last year after claiming she’d been raped by a former Liberal staffer, Bruce Lehrmann, in Reynolds’ Parliament House office after a drunken night out.

From the start, it astonished me that the Albanese government paid so much (the exact amount is secret) and so quickly.

There are questions over why Higgins was given so much taxpayer cash. Picture: Gary Ramage

After all, Higgins’ rape claim is fiercely denied by Lehrmann and has never been proved.

Higgins didn’t even lodge a complaint with police for two years, and gave them such poor and inconsistent evidence that they advised the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions to drop the case.

When the DPP, Shane Drumgold, still took it to court, Higgins had some of her story proved false. The first trial was then aborted by jury misconduct, and Drumgold scrapped the retrial, claiming Higgins could die if she gave evidence again.

Be clear: I’m not saying Higgins wasn’t raped. Nobody but Higgins and Lehrmann could know.

But why has the government made taxpayers – not Lehrmann – pay compensation over an alleged rape that isn’t proven, and which Higgins now won’t help prove, either?

Here’s a possible clue. Higgins got her payout after claiming the former Morrison government was mean to her. Or as she put it in her claim, she was the victim of sexual harassment, sex discrimination, disability discrimination, negligence and victimisation.

Higgins got her payout after claiming the former Morrison government was mean to her. Picture: Gary Ramage

That’s what made Higgins gold for Albanese and Labor before the last election.

For years, they’d smeared the Liberals as sexist and anti-women, and here now was Higgins – a perfect symbol of the Morrison government’s misogyny.

How fantastic to have Higgins accuse her Liberal bosses – ministers Reynolds and Michaelia Cash – of being unsympathetic and making her feel she might lose her job if she went to police.

Never mind that both women denied it. Labor smelled blood, and Higgins helped them get it.

The trial heard a recording of Sharaz, Higgins’ boyfriend, saying the two of them wanted the rape allegation made public at the start of a parliamentary sitting week because a Labor “friend” would “probe and continue it”.

That “friend” turned out to be Katy Gallagher, now Albanese’s Finance Minister, who savaged Reynolds until the stressed defence minister had to check into hospital.

So you might conclude the Albanese government now has good reason to suppress how it co-operated with Higgins. It certainly has no interest in anyone questioning Higgins’ story of being raped and then betrayed by nasty Liberals.

What a coincidence! The government last year agreed after just one mediation session to hand Higgins a reported $3m. It even barred Reynolds from giving evidence, warning it would stop covering her legal fees and costs if she did.

But now we learn some of the things Reynolds might have said at that mediation that could have blown up that deal.

For one, she’s now told The Australian, Higgins had actually praised her as a great boss and given her flowers when Higgins left after the alleged rape to work for Cash instead.

What’s more, six days after the alleged rape, Reynolds’ chief of staff was praised by the Finance Department, responsible for parliamentary staff welfare, for her handling of Higgins.

Lauren Barons, the department’s assistant secretary, said “the steps you have taken are appropriate”, adding: “I understand you have discussed with her on several occasions that if she does choose to pursue a complaint … she would have the full and ongoing support of yourself and the minister.”

Reynolds said she’d also met Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins, who “was unable to advise me what more I could have done”.

So why did the Albanese government still hand Higgins up to $3m for an unproven rape and unproven cruelty from the Morrison government?

Can we have transparency, Prime Minister?