Brittany Higgins alleged rape: Scott Morrison’s ‘dad of daughters’ response slammed

Scott Morrison said his role as a dad guided his response to Brittany Higgins’ alleged rape - but it’s a comment that has left many fuming.

Some are unhappy with Scott Morrison’s remark that his role as a dad guided his response to Brittany Higgins’ alleged rape, saying it shouldn’t take that to prompt action. Picture: Gary Ramage/NCA NewsWire

This morning, during a personal apology to Brittany Higgins over her alleged rape at Parliament House, a “shattered” Scott Morrison revealed his role as a father of two daughters – and a conversation with his wife – prompted him to take stronger action.

An investigation into workplace culture at Parliament House will now be established, the Prime Minister told reporters, after news.com.au broke the explosive story about Ms Higgins’ alleged rape there in 2019.

“Jenny and I spoke last night, and she said to me, ‘You have to think about this as a father first. What would you want to happen if it were our girls?’” Mr Morrison said of the issue.

“Jenny has a way of clarifying things. Always has. And so, as I’ve reflected on that overnight and listened to Brittany and what she had to say, there are a couple of things here we need to address.”

The PM was then asked, by 10 News’ Tegan George, why it took looking at Ms Higgins’ alleged rape “as a husband and a father” for the conversation to “really hit home”.

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Prime Minister Scott Morrison with his wife, Jenny, their daughters Lily and Abbey, and his mother, Marion. Picture: Kym Smith

Brittany Higgins alleges she was raped at Parliament House by a colleague, but claims she felt she had to choose between going to the police and keeping her job.

Ms Higgins with Scott Morrison.

“Shouldn’t you have thought about it as a human being? What happens if men don’t have a wife and children, would they reach the same compassionate conclusion?” George said.

Mr Morrison responded that he couldn’t “follow the question you’re putting” because “in my own experience being a husband and a father is central to me, my human being”.

“Didn’t you think yesterday, as a leader of this country, that it was time …” George questioned, before the PM cut her off.

“I did and said so yesterday. In reflecting on what she said last night, I hadn’t seen her account until it had occurred last night, I didn’t get to see it because I had events and other things that I was dealing with until late last night,” he said.

“And I had the opportunity at that point to see, I discussed it with Jenny, she had seen it. And we discussed it. That’s how we deal with these things. I think Australians know that I’m pretty honest about these matters, and I seek to deal with them in as humanly a way as possible, and my family helps inform that as I suspect it does most people.”

This 👇 was my question to @ScottMorrisonMP (& his answer) following the remark his wife Jenny told him to think about what he would want for their daughters if they were in Brittany Higgins' position. @10NewsFirst @Studio10au #auspol pic.twitter.com/wHvX9K2VhU

— Tegan George (@tegangeorge) February 15, 2021

George’s question is one many women were no doubt thinking – and have often thought – when situations like these occur, only for powerful men to invoke the “daughter defence”, one that’s been used throughout history to “excuse a host of bad behaviour”, historian Barbara Berg told The New York Times

In the US, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and, most recently, Representative Ted Yoho have all invoked an explanation much like Mr Morrison’s.

“Men have often pointed to their relationships with and love for some women – especially wives and daughters – to combat claims that they have mistreated other women,” scholar at Rutgers University’s Centre for American Women and Politics, Kelly Dittmar, said.

“We have seen this both inside and outside of politics, especially when men are subject to accusations of sexual harassment and assault.”

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Once again, traumatised women only have agency as a stand-in for someone else's daughter.

You should not have to be a father of girls to think about what needs to change.

It's a massive part of the problem.

— Amy Remeikis (@AmyRemeikis) February 15, 2021

Not this argument again. Being a father is not, and has never been, a reason or the reason to believe women.

A reminder of what I have said about this before... https://t.co/u9MnyslIue https://t.co/n4zFtJQVZX

— Dr Kirstin Ferguson (@kirstinferguson) February 15, 2021

Women deserve to be safe not because they can be imagined as a daughter, wife, etc, but because they are simply a human

— Elyse Popplewell (@ElysePopplewell) February 15, 2021

The men who can only relate to women via the women they are in fact related to (as a husband & father et al) reveal their own sexism & narcissism. They cannot see women as people in their own right, only through some connection to him!

— Jane Caro (@JaneCaro) February 15, 2021

Really sick of men only being able to empathise with the experiences of women because they’re the “father of daughters”. How about you just listen and have a human reaction without needing to be able to directly relate it to your life, Scott Morrison?

— Wenlei Ma (@WenleiMa) February 16, 2021

It is surprising, Dr Kirstin Ferguson wrote in The Sydney Morning Herald, “how many men still use their qualifications as a father as a reason for good behaviour – or as a shield”.

After calling his fellow Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a “f***ing bitch” on the steps of the US Capitol last July, Mr Yoho denied that he swore, writing in a statement that “having been married for 45 years with two daughters, I’m very cognisant of language”.

In a powerful response on the floor of Congress the following day, Ms Ocasio-Cortez said that while she wasn’t seeking an apology from Mr Yoho, “what I do have issue with is using women, our wives and daughters, as shields and excuses for poor behaviour”.

“Mr Yoho mentioned that he has a wife and two daughters … I am two years younger than Mr Yoho’s youngest daughter. I am someone’s daughter too.”

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“Women know the fact of whether a man is a father or a husband is most definitely not a predictor of whether a man will abuse women, stand up for women or commit to gender equality. And nor should it be. Men should respect women because it is the right thing to do,” Dr Ferguson wrote.

Mr Morrison said today he hoped “Brittany’s call is a wake-up call for all of us”.

But the “wake-up call” the PM and other powerful men may need first is that, as The Guardian’s Amy Remeikis pointed out today, “You should not have to be a father of girls to think about what needs to change.”