Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Minister Birmingham. I refer to today's reports of an alleged rape of a young Liberal staffer that happened in this building. The PMO provided support to Minister Reynolds's office in relation to this incident. The government, in a recently issued statement, says that it 'regrets in any way if Ms Higgins felt unsupported through this process'. Ms Higgins has said she did feel unsupported. She was interviewed in the room she was raped in, she didn't access the Employee Assistance Program, she felt she was discouraged from reporting the rape to police and she was shunted from office to office. And no-one in the government or the minister's office has apologised to her yet. Now the minister seems to have a confused recollection of whether she even understood there was a rape allegation that had been disclosed. What action will you take to ensure that her experience is not repeated? When will the safety of women be put ahead of political interests?