Higgins affair puts spotlight on Canberra insiders club

Brittany Higgins with her partner David Sharaz. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

The Brittany Higgins affair has opened to public gaze a deep insider’s view of how power and political advantage shape the behaviour and actions of those attracted to the workings of government. This extends to politicians, their staffers and advisers, and a media that can provide a vital ingredient to lubricate the process. No one escapes the Higgins affair untainted. It has dragged into its vortex the nation’s most senior politicians, staffers, the Australian Federal Police, ACT Director of Public Prosecutions, security staff at Parliament House, and national media identities who have had revealed to the public more than they would wish about how they go about their business.

The perceived plottings and cover-ups expose a culture of institutional protection and quest for advantage that has been allowed to override the best interests of justice and those who may become collateral damage along the way. On Saturday, The Weekend Australian reports claims by Scott Morrison’s director of operations, Fiona Brown, that she was made to take the fall for the Morrison government as it sought to deflect Labor’s accusations of a cover-up.

Throughout the Higgins ordeal, matters that should rightly be left to the police, the courts and medical services were routinely subverted for self-interest. Events have been twisted to put opponents in the worst possible light. Senior political figures on both sides of the House now stand accused of misleading parliament because contemporaneous notes and public recollections do not accord with their public accounts of what they did and when. Claims of cover-up on one side are matched by evidence of collusion on the other.

Ms Brown explains how senior figures in the Prime Minister’s Office failed to support her after she was wrongly accused by Ms Higgins of failing to help her, a claim that was weaponised by Labor to attack Mr Morrison. “It all becomes about the survival of the PM,” Ms Brown said. “You are invisible, marginalised, isolated … no one wanted to know.”

The facts emerging from the unproven claims by Ms Higgins that she was raped in Parliament House emphasise that many who work within the Canberra system believe themselves to be a special case. This extends to the working demands and quality of supervision, the access they have to powerful forces to help air their grievances, and the belief that appalling actions can be justified in the quest for notoriety or political advantage.

Figures of real power, extending to Anthony Albanese, Tanya Plibersek, Katy Gallagher and former prime minister Mr Morrison, must now confront fresh details about the actions they took as the rape allegations played out in parliament. According to leaked text messages, former prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull allowed themselves to become involved. Former defence minister Linda Reynolds and her senior staff, including Ms Brown, have been painted as uncaring to women despite claiming they recommended the action that events demanded, that the matter be referred to police.

It is possible one of the first actions of the new federal anti-corruption body will be to investigate the circumstances of a multimillion-dollar compensation payment made to Ms Higgins from a department overseen by Senator Gallagher. Senior Liberals, including Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, have backed the prospect of the matter being referred to the National Anti-Corruption Commission, which will become active in less than a month. The Coalition says it is planning to highlight the issue in question time when parliament resumes next week. Scrutiny is required in all quarters.

Some in the media have been shown as too willing to take sides and frustrate the process of justice. AFP senior constable Emma Frizzell told the Sofronoff inquiry she believed media involvement was “a tool driven by Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz, which is evident by the first engagement I had with them, whereby Ms Higgins advised she wished to see how the media played out prior to providing a statement”.

Those in the Canberra bubble must learn the same hard lesson as others, that justice must always sit above institutional or political concerns. The Catholic Church was forced to the realisation that victims deserve impartial, independent due process, just as those accused of crimes deserve a presumption of innocence and a fair hearing.

No one comes out of the Higgins affair unscathed. The public is entitled to be dismayed at the behaviour of those who have put themselves closest to the centre of national power.