‘I didn’t want his sympathy’: Brittany Higgins says actions from the PM more important than words

Brittany Higgins says she was disappointed by Scott Morrison’s response to her allegation of rape by a colleague in Parliament House because she didn’t want his sympathy as a father, but action from him as the Prime Minister.

In a nationally televised address on Wednesday with Grace Tame, Ms Higgins took aim at Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s address last year in which he said his wife Jenny told him to imagine if it were his daughters.

Brittany Higgins addresses the media at the National Press Club. Credit: James Brickwood

“What bothered me most about the whole ‘imagine if it were our daughters’ spiel wasn’t that he necessarily needed his wife’s advice to help contextualise my rape in a way that mattered to him personally ... I didn’t want his sympathy as a father. I wanted him to use his power as Prime Minister.”

Ms Tame, the former Australian of the Year for her advocacy for victims of sexual abuse after she was groomed and sexually assaulted by her maths teacher, told the National Press Club about instances of the government using power imbalances and implored elected politicians to “respect the privilege and purpose of this power”.

She said that on August 17 last year she received a phone call from a senior member of a government-funded organisation asking her to promise not to say anything damning about the Prime Minister in the lead-up to the next Australian of the Year awards.

Grace Tame at the National Press Club. Credit: James Brickwood

“‘You are an influential person. He will have a fear,’ they said. And then I heard the words, ‘with an election coming soon’,” she recounted. “And then it crystallised, a fear – a fear for himself and no-one else, a fear he might lose his position or, more to the point, his power. Sound familiar to anyone?” she said. “Well, it does to me.”

Ms Tame said that after she criticised Mr Morrison’s comments about Ms Higgins, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet conducted a review into the National Australia Day Council, which she described as “a transparent intimidation tactic, designed to rattle the cage of an organisation whose funding it mostly comes from the federal government”.

Ms Higgins earlier said she spoke out publicly about her sexual assault because she did not want to be part of the Parliament’s culture of silence.

She said she made the decision “knowing that it would mean quitting my job and likely leaving Canberra, knowing it would mean subjecting myself to judgment, to vitriol, to political hit jobs and online hate”.

“I spoke out because I wanted the next generation of staffers to work in a better place. To take up a dream job like I did. And for it to live up to their hopes and not betray them,” she said.

Ms Higgins criticised the vagueness of the national action plan to end violence against women and closed her speech by affirming her faith in Australia and democracy.

“I know our country can do better for women and girls. I know our Parliament will be a better, stronger place if more women are ministers and members and senators and staffers. I know change is possible, and as long as there are people like Grace Tame and Rosie Batty ... I know that change is coming.”

She went on to thank Mr Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese for their apologies to Ms Higgins and other staff when the Parliament formally acknowledged the harm caused by bullying and sexual harassment and abuse.

“It was encouraging, and an important sentiment, but I am cognisant that, at this point in time, they are still only words,” she said.

“Actions are what matter, and what will be the true test of whether the government is committed to creating systemic change. Task forces are great. Codes of conduct are important. But only if it’s paired with institutional change.”

Ms Higgins said that without the implementation of the 28 recommendations of Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins’ review, “we will continue to see this toxic culture exist within our most powerful institution”.

Ms Tame labelled the federal government’s approach to social issues as “empty announcements, placatory platitudes, superficial last-minute acknowledgements, and carefully staged photo ops”.

She laid out three key asks: one was for the government to take the issue of abuse “in all its forms” more seriously, the second was for adequate, preventative funding to be actually implemented, “not just announced or committed to”. The third was for national, consistent structural change and resolving inadequate legal frameworks.

The federal government moved to make some initial employment protections for political staffers hours before Ms Tame and Ms Higgins gave their speeches.

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham introduced legislation on Wednesday morning to address some of the recommendations in the Jenkins’ review of the parliamentary workplace culture.

Her review was sparked by Ms Higgins making public nearly a year ago allegations a colleague raped her in Parliament House. The case is going to trial in June.

The review found a third of those surveyed had been sexually harassed and nearly two in five were bullied. One per cent had been sexually assaulted in their workplace.

On Tuesday, Mr Morrison and Mr Albanese apologised to Ms Higgins and other staff when Parliament returned for the first sitting of the year.

Ms Higgins and other former staffers who have spoken out were present to hear the apologies.

However, Ms Tame was sceptical about them, tweeting, “How about some proactive, preventative measures and not just these performative, last-minute Band-Aid electioneering stunts?”

Senator Birmingham said this criticism was unfair, given Ms Jenkins finished her report in the final weeks of Parliament sitting last year and the statements were made at the opening of Parliament for 2022.

“What you saw yesterday was, I think, a very sincere apology, and that call for further action and commitment to further action from the PM,” he said.

Mr Morrison will not attend the sold-out address by Ms Tame and Ms Higgins but Minister for Women Marise Payne confirmed on Wednesday morning she would go, as long as her meeting with the Lithuanian foreign minister runs on time.

Many of Ms Jenkins’ recommendations go to the unusual and often tenuous employment arrangements for political staff, with MPs having complete power to hire and fire people at whim.

The new legislation seeks to strengthen some employment rights of staffers and make clear that work health and safety laws and anti-discrimination measures apply to them.

The government wants it to pass this fortnight, with only a handful of sitting days scheduled before the election due in late May.

A comprehensive review of employment laws for staffers has also begun, which is expected to report in September.

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