Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Finance (Senator Birmingham) and the Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business (Senator Cash) to questions without notice asked by Senators Gallagher and Keneally today.

I rise to take note of these answers more in sorrow than in anger. This has been a harrowing week for members of parliament, for parliamentary staff, for ministerial staff, for female journalists, for women across Australia. The idea that, in this day and age, in this building, an alleged rape can occur in the Minister for Defence's office, on the Minister for Defence's couch—this is meant to be a safe building. This is meant to be a safe workplace. Every workplace should be a safe workplace. But we're the Parliament of Australia. We should set a higher standard. There have been points in the last 10 days where I have not been able to believe that I or any other member has been saying the words that we've been saying—an alleged rape of a young woman, a ministerial staffer, by another ministerial staffer on the couch of the defence minister's office.

What compounds this situation, this horror for Ms Higgins, the victim of this alleged rape, and for every other woman who has had an experience like this or supported a friend or relative in the aftermath of an experience like this—because, let's be blunt, these kinds of experiences are all too common—what compounds the trauma of having to relive it or be triggered by this story being told over and over is to feel that you are not supported. Ms Higgins, in her own words, felt pressured to choose between seeking justice from the police or keeping her job.

When we turn to how this matter has been handled since Ms Higgins so bravely stood up and told her story to the nation because she could find no other way to get healing and justice, what has been so extraordinary is that the Minister for Defence—and I wish her all the best in her current medical situation and in her recovery—in the last 10 days has misled this chamber on multiple occasions. She has said things about Ms Higgins that are not true. Ms Higgins has been forced to come back and go on the record to put forward her version of events. When we look at the conduct of ministerial officers and ministerial staff, we now have evidence that three, and possibly four, members of the Prime Minister's staff knew about this some two years ago. We have a Prime Minister who says his staff didn't now about it until last week. We have a Prime Minister who seems to be the one person in this building who had no idea about an alleged rape in the office of his Minister for Defence. Today we found out that the Minister for Home Affairs, Peter Dutton, knew. We know that Minister Cash knew. We know, though we don't know exactly when, Minister Reynolds knew.

My heart goes out to Ms Higgins. Let me be clear: our pursuit of this matter is not just on behalf of Brittany Higgins; it's on behalf of every woman who comes to work in this parliament, or in any other workplace in Australia, who deserves to have confidence that she can be safe in doing her job and be supported if something occurs and get healing and justice. So the questions we ask, and will continue to ask, will be to that end.