Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Finance (Senator Birmingham) and the Minister for Defence (Senator Reynolds) to questions without notice asked by Senators Ciccone and Gallagher today relating to industrial relations laws and to allegations concerning ministerial staff.

The Minister for Defence came into this chamber today not on her own initiative but in response to a question asked of her. Do you know what? It's two years too late. She apologises to Ms Higgins for her treatment by herself and her office two years later. Minister, nice words saying the right thing now do not compensate nor forgive two years of doing nothing. Minister Reynolds's apology might be more believable if something—anything!—had been done at any stage to support Ms Higgins following her disclosure. But nothing was done then, and nothing is being done now. Has anyone from this government reached out to Ms Higgins to offer any support? The defence minister said she could see the trauma and hurt to Ms Higgins in the TV interview, but has anyone followed up with her? Has anyone, in any agency, reached out to see if any support can be provided now by her former employer? I doubt it.

Today, the defence minister of Australia, in responding to allegations of a rape occurring on her couch, in her office, hides behind the excuse of a possible police investigation to deny this chamber and Ms Higgins answers that should be provided now. Senator Reynolds, the defence minister of Australia, is accountable to this chamber and, through us, to the people of Australia for her conduct as a minister. The question Senator Reynolds refuses to answer goes directly to her conduct: to what she knew, to when she knew it, to what she did and to the steps she took as a minister to deal with allegations about a serious crime occurring in her office. We will continue to hold this minister to account. This is not some minor political inconvenience; this is about what happens in one of the most senior offices in this country. A full statement outlining exactly what the minister knew, when she knew it and what was done—none of which is subject to a police investigation, to our understanding—is the minimum amount of information this minister should be providing to this chamber.

Some of what the defence minister has said to date in this chamber simply does not add up. She would have us believe that she didn't know the details of what is alleged to have occurred on her couch in her office, but, at the same time, she facilitated the police involvement and terminated the alleged rapist. She would have us believe that some six days elapsed from Ms Higgins's disclosure to the minister's chief of staff before the minister met with Ms Higgins and that, at that meeting, which brought Ms Higgins back to the scene of the alleged rape, the minister was still unaware of any details about the incident.

The minister would have the chamber believe that, despite many others knowing of the incident, including a number of agencies and her chief of staff, who had met with and received a full disclosure from Ms Higgins, she didn't know any of the details, which then leads one to ask: did she not ask? Did she not wonder why one of her close advisers had all of a sudden disappeared? Did she not ask her chief of staff whether she had been given an account of what had occurred? Did she not wonder, coming into her office, why she was meeting with a young woman—just her and the chief of staff? Why was she having that meeting? Seriously, something like this was happening in your own office and no-one said anything—nothing—to you? It's simply unbelievable. The only other explanation, aside from the Senate not being given accurate information to date, is that the minister was therefore wilfully negligent in her duties as a minister and as an employer.

Today we saw the Prime Minister lay the groundwork to distance himself from this, first in the media conference and then in question time. An apology two years too late is not going to make this go away. We need to get the story straight from this minister. She needs to stop avoiding questions and hiding behind investigations. She needs to take responsibility for what happened to Ms Higgins and take responsibility for her position as a minister. (Time expired)

Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Something that can never be taken for granted is the right to work in a safe environment, whether that be on a building site, on a cattle station or even in a parliamentary office. Workplace reform, especially for women, has come a long way, but more needs to be done to ensure that all people, both men and women, feel comfortable and empowered to take action should the worst occur. It is impossible not to sympathise with Brittany Higgins and others who have endured the double blow of being involved in an incident and then not feeling supported by those who could do something about it. Yet I feel deeply uncomfortable. The opposition has raised this issue and pursued this issue. In the way that the opposition has ensured that this has played out, it has ensured that there will be other complainants who will now potentially be considering whether or not they want to be publicly discussed. Brittany's colleagues and managers certainly acted with good intentions, and Brittany herself has acknowledged the support she received, but processes can always be improved, and they will be.

I refer to the Prime Minister's statement today in the first question in the other place, in which he referred to the process that has been put in place and said that this government will review our processes and our culture. He embraced the suggestion from the Leader of the Opposition and thanked him for the suggestion and the spirit in which it was put forward. But, as he said:

… all of us agree that in the important work we all do here, whether it's members of this place, senators in the other place or our staff, we all come here because we want to make a contribution to our country and we should be able to do that in a safe environment for everyone who is here.

He welcomes that suggestion, so the government will continue along the process that the Prime Minister has outlined today. He's keen to get that moving, and we will. But it is important that every party and everyone who is in this place embrace that same process. The Prime Minister has encouraged the Leader of the Opposition to pursue a similar exercise amongst his colleagues, and I think that, as a government, an opposition and a cross bench, we would all do well to review our own cultures and come together to share those notes and ensure that the process is as productive as possible.

The government has already aimed to provide Ms Higgins with agency and aimed to provide support to make decisions in her interest and respect her privacy. The investigations into her experience are underway. I'm confident that the system in place to deal with serious allegations will be improved once a full review is completed, because having a safe, inclusive and supportive workplace is something everyone, not just one political party or one office, should strive for.

Our workplace has many elements that are not unique—a significant amount of travel and time away from home. But what is unique is the number of late nights and weekends that are worked. This is not unique to any side of politics, and I welcome the PM's review and hope that both sides will take advantage of this concept to look deeply into our own cultures. As a previous small business operator I too know of the challenges of managing people, because we are, in all of our glorious, technicolour differences, interesting and challenging, and I know that we all embrace the challenge of ensuring a safe culture and a safe environment for our employees.

Today the Minister for Defence has stood in this place and apologised to Ms Higgins and made a very comprehensive statement. But I do want to note that Brittany's statement concluded with this:

I ask for my privacy to now be respected as I begin to emotionally recover from this difficult period and wish to make no further comment.

I would suggest that we would all be served by allowing the process to proceed and ensure that this does not happen again in this place.

Question agreed to.