This was published 3 years ago
Brittany Higgins makes surprise appearance at Women’s March 4 Justice
Former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins says for two years she felt people only cared about her accusation a colleague raped her because it happened in Parliament House.
Ms Higgins made a surprise appearance at the March 4 Justice rally outside Parliament House in Canberra to call for leaders on both sides of politics to “stop avoiding the subject and side-stepping accountability” for sexual harassment and abuse in politics and the wider community.
Brittany Higgins surprised demonstrators at the Canberra march. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
“I was raped inside Parliament House by a colleague, and for so long it felt like the people around me only cared because of what happened and what it might mean for them,” she told the crowd of more than 5000.
“These are the people making our laws and governing the country.
“If they aren’t committed to addressing these issues in their own offices, what confidence can the women of Australia have that they will be proactive in addressing this issue in the broader community?”
She said there was a “confronting sense of banality” and horrible acceptance of sexual violence against women in Australia that had to change.
“We are here because it is unfathomable that we are still having to fight this same stale, tired fight,” she said.
Ms Higgins sparked a national conversation about sexual harassment and abuse when she went public a month ago with her allegations a colleague raped her in March 2019 in the office of their then-boss Senator Linda Reynolds. She said on Monday she felt at the time she wasn’t treated as a person who had experienced a life-changing traumatic event but a political problem.
Senator Reynolds, now the Defence Minister, went on medical leave for a pre-existing heart condition 10 days after the story broke.
Since then, friends of a woman who alleged Attorney-General Christian Porter raped her in 1988 when he was 17 and she was 16 sent details of those allegations to several MPs, including Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Mr Porter, who is on mental health leave, strongly denies the allegations.
He has now launched defamation action against the ABC for its initial story about the letter from friends.