A former federal ministerial staffer plans to re-instigate a police complaint that she was raped in Parliament House in Canberra.
Key points:
- The ABC understands Brittany Higgins wishes to ask police to pursue her allegation of rape
- Ms Higgins says the attack happened in Minster Linda Reynolds' office by a colleague
- She said she felt she would lose her dream job if she returned home to Queensland after the alleged attack
Brittany Higgins alleged, on Channel Ten's The Project, she was raped by a male colleague in the office of the then-Defence Industry Minister, Linda Reynolds, after a night out in the weeks before the 2019 election was called.
Ms Higgins said she decided not to pursue a complaint with the police as she felt pressure that it would affect her job.
"We were already coming up against so many blocks and I realised my job was on the line. I didn't feel like I had a choice," she said.
"There is a strange culture of silence in the parties … The idea of speaking out on these sorts of issues, especially around an [election] campaign, is just like letting the team down, you are not a team player."
Ms Higgins said she was given the option of working in Western Australia, Senator Reynolds' home state, during the election campaign or going home to the Gold Coast.
But she claimed it was made clear that if she went home, her job would not be waiting for her after the election.
"This was my dream job, I had worked my entire life to get here. I wanted this future … So I went to WA," she said.
"I was a part of Minister Reynold's WA-based team, up in a hotel room, but we were sort of working seven days a week.
Ms Higgins has now resigned and is living away from Canberra.
"I think that resigning is the only thing I can personally do to say that I don't think anyone else should go through what I went through," she said.
The ABC has been told Ms Higgins plans to proceed further with the police investigation in the coming weeks, as well as starting formal complaint proceedings with the Department of Finance, which handles work-related complaints for ministerial staffers.
On Monday, Senator Reynolds told the Parliament she never forced Ms Higgins to choose between her job and making a complaint to police.
"My only priority throughout this matter was the welfare of my then staff member, and ensuring that she received the support that she needed," she said.
"That included ensuring that she was clear about the support available to her and her right to make a formal complaint to the Australian Federal Police, should she choose to do so.
"There was no indication from me at all that her job was at risk and in fact as I said earlier it was my suggestion to her that she talk to the AFP and I facilitated that first meeting to ensure that she understood she had that option available to her."
Ms Higgins also said that she was repeatedly denied access to CCTV from Parliament House from the night of the alleged assault, despite the fact another member of the staff had seen it.
"It went from the very front entrance of where the taxi would have stopped all the way through going through security all the way up to the suite," she said.
"I knew that one of my other colleagues had seen it … so it was the strange thing where it felt like everyone had all this information on my own assault and I didn't have any and I desperately wanted to see it.
"I asked at least half a dozen times to see that CCTV … it really hurt, it felt like a betrayal for them to withhold this one really small thing I needed just personally to process, to move on or just to understand what had happened to me."
A spokesperson for the Department of Parliamentary Services (DPS) said they have the vision on file ready to give to the police.
"The relevant security camera footage relating to this incident was viewed by the Australian Federal Police in April 2019 and has been stored on an ongoing basis at the direction of the Presiding Officers and with the agreement of the AFP for their access as required for any investigation," they said in a statement.
"DPS is not aware of any request from Ms Higgins to view or access CCTV footage."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiYmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIxLTAyLTE1L2JyaXR0YW55LWhpZ2dpbnMtcGFybGlhbWVudC1ob3VzZS1yYXBlLWFsbGVnYXRpb25zLzEzMTU3MTY40gEnaHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAuYWJjLm5ldC5hdS9hcnRpY2xlLzEzMTU3MTY4?oc=5
2021-02-15 12:18:00Z
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