Raw personal pain of ex-Lib staffer Brittany Higgins lost in the cold reality of politics

It has taken just days for the shock of Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations to wear off and be almost entirely replaced.

Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese during Question Time. Picture: Getty Images

It has taken only a few days for the shock and shattering reaction of the revelation of claims of a serious sexual assault taking place on a couch in a minister’s parliamentary office to wear off and be almost entirely replaced with raw politics.

It also literally became an insider story about the corridors of power and the “toxic atmosphere” of the culture inside the Canberra bubble.

This is not to belittle or demean the seriousness of the issue but to make an assessment of how quickly the politics of a personal trauma could shift from a central concern about the welfare of a young woman to the central question: “When did Scott Morrison know?”

While the Prime Minister made an unqualified statement to parliament about his personal knowledge at the start of the week, as well as several apologies and announcements of new inquiries and counselling procedures, by the end of the week Labor was accusing him of “not telling the truth”, “having no credibility” and misleading parliament.

In four days the emphasis for blame, having briefly alighted on Defence Minister Linda Reynolds, shifted to Morrison and whether he had lied and misled the parliament. This became the central political point after a week of classic tactics to establish a trail of blame and responsibility whenever there is a serious scandal.

The aim is to keep the government off balance and to pull at the administrative thread with questions about “who knew what when?” to build a road of responsibility to the leader.

At the start of the week the personal disclosure of former Liberal ministerial staffer Brittany Higgins of an alleged rape by another Liberal staffer in the office of then defence industry minister Reynolds, in March 2019, and her subsequent trauma and dissatisfaction at the way she was treated by her employers immediately grabbed full media and political attention.

As details of an alcohol-fuelled incident in parliament emerged, including the sacking of the male Liberal ministerial staffer for security breaches in relation to the minister’s office and alarm among security guards, parliamentary staff and police about the circumstances of the incident, there was political and public outcry.

The was also concern about how Higgins had been treated by her employers, Reynolds, and later Employment Minister Michaelia Cash, as well as the extent to which the Prime Minister’s Office had been involved and any personal knowledge of Morrison himself.

Morrison and colleagues appeared to be caught short by the revelations, uncertain of timelines of events and not fully aware of the potential for the issue to dominate the public debate.

Labor leapt on the issue and Anthony Albanese asked Morrison when he and/or his office knew. Morrison’s response was that he only became aware of it Monday, and his office the previous Friday. Facing a barrage of media criticism, including questioning his humanity, and an avalanche of Labor public comments about the toxic culture of Parliament House, the Liberal Party’s problems with women, the need to believe victims and covering up the claims, Morrison also had to face Higgins’ independent series of interviews and statements, assisted by a former employee of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Liberal party staffer Brittany Higgins with her former boss Steven Ciobo.

When Higgins accused Morrison of “victim-blaming rhetoric” and complained about the fears and frustrations she felt, he accepted the criticism, apologised for how she felt and offered even more inquiries and counselling for parliamentary staff and politicians.

As the government tried to steer the political debate back to the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines next week, its determination to face down the monopolistic bullying of Facebook, a fall in the unemployment rate to 6.4 per cent, the creation of 59,000 new full-time jobs in January and return to underemployment levels of two years before the pandemic, every public appearance was dragged back to the sexual assault claims.

On Friday Morrison, when asked if he had misled parliament, a capital crime in parliamentary terms, categorically denied it and said: “I can tell you I knew about it on Monday and, frankly, it shattered me. It absolutely shattered me … that was deeply distressing, as I’m sure it was for everybody when they were first confronted with this news.”

Mind you, Morrison had carefully used the escape phrase “as I am advised” in relation to when his staff knew of the sexual assault claim as distinct from the simultaneous security breach. Any staffer who has not given the right advice will find themselves under the next ACT bus to Woden.

Earlier on Friday, in the culmination of the week’s political strategy, both the Opposition Leader and his deputy, Richard Marles, accused Morrison of being contradicted by reports in The Australian of exchanges between Liberal staffers and of not telling the truth.

Albanese said: “It’s not credible that the Prime Minister continues to say that his office only found out about it this week. And the dissembling nature of his answers before the parliament are not good enough.” Marles said: “Scott’s reaction to all of this during the week has been hopeless. I mean, he’s obviously not telling the truth, in that what Scott’s trying to do, which is exactly what Brittany was alleging occurred two years ago, is to minimise the political impact of this.”

Therein lies the nub of the argument: Morrison, said Marles, was trying to minimise the political impact of the revelations just as Labor was trying to maximise the political impact. In this political context, it is worth noting that while Labor has made the central question on when did Morrison know and whether he’s misled parliament, no real consideration has been given to what it means if Morrison knew earlier about an alleged assault. Nor has there been any suggestion as to what he would have been able to do differently given Higgins refused offers to go to the federal police. Late on Friday, she decided she would make a formal complaint.

For all the genuine concern expressed about the young former Liberal staffer, the talk of the toxic culture of parliament, the new plans for help and feelings of personal guilt, it has once more come down to raw politics and business as usual for all sides.