Scott Morrison backs external complaints body for Parliament sex assault victims after Brittany Higgins allegations

Mr Morrison and Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt on Sunday endorsed an external complaints handling process for parliamentarians and their staff.

“I think there is merit in that, but that is for the processes we put in place to actually consider those things and to make recommendations,” Mr Morrison told reporters after receiving his COVID-19 vaccine. “I really don’t want to prejudge any of this … [but] what we need to do is ensure that people are able in these circumstances to feel they can raise these issues.

“Even though people are saying you can, they need to feel that they can, and to do so in a discrete and private way, and so they can get the support they need. That is what I want to see happen.”

Ms Higgins says she was raped in March 2019 by another staff member in the office of then-defence industry minister Linda Reynolds, after security guards let them into the building late the previous night. She says she felt pressured afterwards to choose between her job and pursuing the matter with police.

Mr Hunt said there needed to be a “clear external structure” that would give people “total confidence” they have support.

Loading

“If there’s a general observation about Parliament, it is that the structures for independent assessment, for personal evolution, whether that’s around training or growth, are not necessarily there,” he said.

“Often young women will have fear or guilt, completely unfairly on them, and that’s what we have to change, and that’s what we’re determined to do, and that’s what we will do.”

Special Minister of State Simon Birmingham has been tasked with putting together a bipartisan review of Parliament House’s workplace culture, with details expected in days. Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins, her predecessor Elizabeth Broderick and former Democrats senator Natasha Stott-Despoja are among the people who have been suggested to lead the review.

Liberal MP Celia Hammond has been asked to examine how to improve Liberal Party culture, senior public servant Stephanie Foster is examining how to build a new structure to handle complaints, and Mr Morrison’s department chief Phil Gaetjens has been asked to look at what and when staff in the Prime Minister’s office knew of the 2019 incident.

Labor’s spokeswoman for women, Tanya Plibersek, said the federal government had let Ms Higgins down.

“Her initial statements, her follow-up statements all say that she felt as though she had to choose between seeking justice and keeping her job,” Ms Plibersek said.

“No one should be made to feel like that. If they’ve been a victim of a serious crime at work, to be made to feel that if they pursue justice they’re risking their job is appalling.”