Australian PM apologises for how government handled staffer’s rape claim after talking to his wife

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison 

Credit: Mick Tsikas/AAP Image via AP

Scott Morrison, the Australian prime minister, has apologised to a former ministerial staffer for the way his party handled her allegations of rape by a colleague, one day after the case became publicly known.

When Brittany Higgins went public with her allegations on Monday, claiming she was raped in Parliament House and accusing her manages of badly handling the aftermath, Mr Morrison expressed dismay over the details of the case. 

On Tuesday, he apologised to Ms Higgins for the way his party had handled the matter and announced a review of workplace culture, and a new external complaints process.

Mr Morrison said he made those decisions after a conversation with his wife, Jenny. 

“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?’” he said, adding that he wanted to ensure “any young woman working in this place is as safe as possible, as I would want for my own daughters”.  

Political staffer, Brittany Higgins, then 24, has alleged she was raped by a colleague inside Australia's Parliament House 

Credit: Instagram 

10 News reporter Tegan George asked him why it had taken 24 hours and a discussion with his wife to conclude that further action was necessary.

“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?… Don’t you think yesterday as the leader of this country… that you had to take charge?” she asked.

The prime minister claimed that being a husband and father was “central” to him being a human being and so he couldn’t “follow the question”.

Members of parliament for the Labor Party and the Greens also raised concerns about the Liberal Party leader’s delayed response and his alleged reliance on his wife’s counsel to eventually take action.

Ms Higgins, who worked for two Federal Ministers from Western Australia, said she did not receive appropriate support from key figures in the government and that the man she claims attacked her had faced no consequences since the alleged assault in March 2019.

Mr Morrison told reporters yesterday that his office only became aware of the alleged assault last week. However, Ms Higgins maintains that Mr Morrison’s principal private secretary, Yaron Finkelstein, called her late last year to discuss the matter.y

The prime minister has said phone records and other files showed Mr Finkelstein did not call her. 

Australian author and long-time Federal politics reporter George Megalogenis wrote on social media in response: “Sorry, real leaders don’t play the father card on day two of a story like this. He either got it yesterday, or he probably never will.”