Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I take statements made to this House extremely seriously—especially by ministers and, indeed, Prime Ministers—and am fully aware of the responsibility of members in this regard. I have always shown great care to ensure that any statements I have made to this House have been accurate to the best of my knowledge and recollection at the time, and where I have been in error or where errors are brought to my attention I have always taken the opportunity to enter this House at the first opportunity to correct the record. This is our obligation as members.

Last Saturday, the Weekend Australian reported comments by Ms Brown, a former member of my staff as Prime Minister, regarding the accuracy of an answer to a question I gave as Prime Minister on Thursday 18 February 2021, more than two years ago. Following the publication of the article in the Weekend Australian on Saturday, I took the opportunity to review and inform myself once again of the events of that week, as the Weekend Australian article was the first occasion I had been made aware that Ms Brown had a different account of the events that I referred to in my response to a question in the House on Thursday 18 February 2021. I am therefore now pleased to take this first opportunity to address and clarify these matters here to this House.

I became aware of the incident involving Ms Higgins on Monday 15 February 2021. Over the course of that week I received numerous briefings and participated in numerous meetings on what was known about those events to assist me to address the issues appropriately in this House. These briefings included information drawn from discussions held between members of my senior staff and Ms Brown. There were also many corridor conversations within my office—as opposed to the corridors of this place more broadly—that occurred that week, and I note that Ms Brown's office was located directly outside my own.

It was an extremely busy week, and there were many other issues I was addressing as Prime Minister at the time, most significantly COVID-19 and the advancement of AUKUS. Over the course of that week I responded to, I believe, 14 questions from the then Leader of the Opposition and the member for Sydney on the Higgins matter. On the Thursday, just before 3 pm, I responded to a further question addressing these matters on that day. The question was from the then Leader of the Opposition and asked whether I'd raised a statement with the staff member in my office—that is, Ms Brown—that Ms Higgins had alleged in a statement that Ms Brown had 'continually made her feel as if her ongoing employment would be jeopardised if she proceeded any further with the matter. In my response I confirmed that I had raised the matter with the member of my staff, and that was my recollection at the time. I preceded this by noting that 'there had been many conversations over the course of that week in relation to these issues'. In my response, I noted:

… the Australian Human Rights Commission says if an employer suspects that a criminal incident has occurred the individual should be advised to report the matter to the police, and that is indeed what the minister—

that is, Senator Reynolds—

did at the time—

obviously, supported by her office. I said:

The minister arranged for Brittany to have that meeting with the AFP, and that occurred on 1 April.

I responded:

Everyone here—

and by implication that included Ms Brown—

tried to do the right thing. They took advice and followed the advice, and they sought to provide that support.

Last Saturday, I had the opportunity to discuss these matters directly with Ms Brown regarding her recollection of these events, for the first time, and I appreciate the opportunity to have had this discussion with Ms Brown. While my recollection differed from that of Ms Brown, given that there have now been more than two years that have passed and given the considerable activity of that week and the presence of Ms Brown's contemporaneous note, while I believed my response to be accurate at the time, I cannot, obviously, fully discount that her recollection of those events now is the more accurate. However, I reject absolutely any suggestion of deliberate intent in any such possible inaccuracy in my response, and I am pleased to have taken the first opportunity available to me to clarify these matters to the House. The lack of any such deliberate intent is borne out by the fact that, regardless of whether an exchange between me and Ms Brown had occurred prior to my providing my response in the House, my answer regarding Ms Brown's conduct in relation to Ms Higgins and dealing with the allegation made in relation to Ms Brown's conduct had been informed by detailed discussions with Ms Brown and members of my office who were advising me on those matters.

It was and remains my strong view that Ms Brown did all she could to provide support to Ms Higgins at that time and that, most importantly, Senator Reynolds's office had sought to ensure these issues were dealt with through the justice system in supporting references to be made to the police while at the same time respecting Ms Higgins's wishes for confidentiality and thereby supporting her agency. Allegations of sexual violence against women should be addressed in our justice system. They should not be cynically prosecuted in the public square for politics, as has sadly and increasingly been revealed in relation to these issues.