Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

In relation to Ms Higgins's very distressing claims of sexual assault and rape: as Minister Reynolds informed the Senate at the commencement, it has always been the intent of the government to support her and to enable her to make whatever decisions she chooses to make, and that continues to be the position of the government. It's for those reasons that Minister Reynolds and her then chief of staff facilitated meetings for Ms Higgins with the police in early 2019, and indeed why Parliamentary Services and others provided police with access to the CCTV footage within this building.

In relation to the claims in the first part of the senator's question, I have no awareness of any such activity being undertaken.