Proving my adage that the dogs of political scandal are indiscriminate pack-hunters, the Brittany Higgins whirlwind continues to wreak havoc all round in the trailer park of Canberra politics. Anthony Albanese’s government is getting a mauling that shows no sign of letting up as the parliamentary sitting week begins.
But the Coalition — or at least, one of its better-known backbenchers — still risks copping a nasty bite in the goolies. Right now, though, they’re enjoying watching the government running for its life.
Peter Dutton’s Senate team will focus its question time attacks throughout the week on [Finance Minister Katy Gallagher] after she conceded knowing about the rape allegations days before Ms Higgins went public, despite telling the parliament in 2021 that “no one had any knowledge”.
Gallagher refused to talk to the press when she flew into Canberra, but Labor are hunkering down behind an unconvincing “politician’s excuse”.
Senator Gallagher is claiming she did not mislead the Senate because she was “responding to an assertion that was being made by minister (Linda) Reynolds at the time that we had known about this for weeks and had made a decision to weaponise it”.
“I didn’t steal it, yer Honour. I just borrowed it wivvout askin’ permission.”
That’s their excuse, and they’re sticking to it.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has again defended Finance Minister Katy Gallagher against allegations she misled parliament about her knowledge of Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations before they were made public.
“She’s been really clear that she was responding to Senator Linda Reynolds saying that Katy had known for weeks about this and that she and Labor were trying to weaponise these allegations,” Ms Plibersek told Channel 7.“Both of those things are completely untrue.”
The Australian
One of the few people to emerge from the cesspit of Canberra and the muck of the Higgins allegations is one woman who’s been relentlessly cast as a villain by the MeToo harpies.
Fiona Brown feels betrayed. First by Brittany Higgins. Then by her own party. Then, most painfully, by a man she respected greatly: the former prime minister of Australia, Scott Morrison.
Unlike nearly everyone else involved in the sordid affair, Brown rightly kept out of the public circus in order to let the proper administration of justice take place without interference.
When the politics of the rape claim and the cover-up allegation rocked the Morrison government, she remained quiet. Though she was targeted in parliament and in the media for months on end, she didn’t speak up.
She assured police that she would not speak to the media as she didn’t want to undermine a prosecution. They thanked her for that co-operation with the prosecutorial process.
Of course, “proper administration of justice” is a sad joke once high-stakes politics comes into play. Being ethical has only made Brown an easy target for the mendacious and unscrupulous.
The Big Lie about Brown is that she “failed to support a rape victim”. In fact, Higgins never even made the suggestion of that, when called in Brown’s office after security reported the late-night access. But Brown could tell something was up.
“I told [Bruce Lehrmann] I was disappointed he didn’t disclose after-hours access to me because, of course, I’d seen him earlier. He’d said that that was wrong and he apologised.”
Lehrmann left the office immediately. “And then I took a few deep breaths and called Brittany in. I think she knew something was afoot, because when she walks in, she’s all very ha ha, and then she sees the paperwork on my desk.”
What Higgins was telling Brown was in contradiction of what security reported. But she denied any sexual activity.
“I said: ‘Is everything all right? Has something happened?’”
“No, I’m responsible for what I drink and my actions,” she recalls Higgins saying. “So I took a lot of comfort from what she was saying. She’d been on a night out. There was no allegation.
It was only days later that, as she was leaving Brown’s office after returning signed paperwork that Higgins dropped a bombshell.
“And then she’s walking out the door and she just pivots around and says, ‘Oh, I remember him on top of me.’”
Even then, Higgins declined to make a complaint, over Brown’s urging. The other villain of the media narrative, then-Defense Minister Linda Reynolds, was even more forceful about reporting the alleged rape, contrary to Higgins’ assertions.
Reynolds rang Brown and told her go to the police to make a report. Brown thought that was untenable: “Am I supposed to go and accuse a young man of a criminal offence without the female telling me she was raped?”
But Brown’s biggest allegation of betrayal is one that will blow back on at least one now-minor Coalition MP.
Three days after Higgins’ Project interview, following Question Time in Parliament, Brown says then-PM Scott Morrison sought her out.
“He has never sat down or even walked by and had a proper discussion with me after the issue exploded,” Brown says — and now, he’s suddenly stopping by to ask how she is. Then, she says, Morrison said something peculiar.
“And then the only thing he says in relation to this matter ever is: ‘We’ve spoken.’ That’s it.
“‘We’ve spoken, haven’t we’.” And then he walked off.
The why of the peculiar exchange only became apparent to Brown when she read that day’s Hansard.
In Question Time, Morrison had stated that:
“I have had these conversations with the member of staff. I’m happy to indicate I have had conversations about the support provided by the member of my staff now. I have discussed with her those matters.”
The Australian
In other words, his unexpected stopping-by with Brown after that statement was only so much arse-covering. The clear implication of Brown’s encounter is that Morrison misled Parliament.
The sword of scandal has two edges, indeed.