Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Birmingham. This morning Peter van Onselen revealed that, in response to Ms Higgins going public about her alleged rape in Minister Reynolds's office:

The Prime Minister's office has been backgrounding that her … now partner has a vendetta or a gripe … against the government …

Mr Peter van Onselen labelled the tactics of the Prime Minister's office 'grubby'. Does the minister agree that backgrounding against Ms Higgins to delegitimise her experience would be grubby, and does the Morrison government accept that Ms Higgins's claims of rape and her experience of feeling pressured not to report it should be believed?