(Photo : Getty Images/Diego Fedele)
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - FEBRUARY 12: Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks at a news conference at the CSL facility on February 12, 2021 in Melbourne, Australia. Pharmaceutical company CSL is manufacturing Australia's Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison made an apology on Tuesday to a former government staffer who alleged she was raped by a colleague in Parliament House two years ago. Morrison vowed a probing into the alleged rape and the culture inside Australia's political capital, one day after the former staff member divulged her story to the media.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison Apologizes in Rape Scandal
The former Australian government staffer stated that she was raped in a minister's office in parliament and failed by her bosses after coming forward, which prompted the apology. According to Brittany Higgins, she was allegedly sexually assaulted by a male colleague in now-Defence Minister Linda Reynolds' office in 2019. The incident followed a night out drinking with conservative Liberal Party colleagues.
Higgins has thanked PM Morrison for his apology over the way her rape allegation was overseen. She remarked a review into the culture within Parliament House is "long overdue." Higgins told Channel 10's "The Project" that she was sexually assaulted in the early hours of March 23, 2019, reported 9 News.
The accused anonymous man was sacked for a security contravention in taking Higgins into the minister's office and leaving her there on a couch following an evening of heavy drinking. Higgins, who was Reynolds' media adviser, remarked she decided not to carry out a police complaint at the time due to feeling pressurized that doing so would affect her employment, reported Yahoo News. She called for a review that goes beyond the government's initial response, which is into the laws that govern ministerial workplaces.
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The Australian prime minister initiated two new processes on Tuesday to improve the overseeing of complaints inside the Coalition and within politics more broadly. According to Higgins, "A clear path forward is now required -- and that includes a comprehensive review to the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act to ensure adequate protections for staff. There needs to be an independent reporting mechanism for staff where they can confidently and safely make complaints -- similar to processes in many other workplaces in Australia and abroad," reported ABC.
After she reported the incident to a superior, she was asked to attend a formal employment meeting in the same room the alleged crime transpired. She was then aged 24 and a few months into her "dream job." Therefore, Higgins described feeling forced to decide between her career and filing a report to the police.
The revelation follows a series of claims regarding the mistreatment of women in Australian politics in the past few years. These include harassment, bullying, and sexual misconduct. In the incident, Higgins reportedly attempted to go home, but the anonymous colleague insisted on going to the Parliament House in a taxi to "pick something up," where she passed out on a couch.
She reportedly woke up to find her colleague on top of her "mid-rape." Once she repeatedly asked him to stop, he did not. She has not publicly identified her alleged rapist.
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