The Liberal staffer alleged to have raped Brittany Higgins in 2019 did not have his employment terminated until 10 days after he left the office of the then defence industry minister Linda Reynolds.
The official termination date has surfaced in answers to questions on notice and supplied by the Department of Finance after the last Senate estimates round in late March.
Both Higgins and the alleged perpetrator worked for Reynolds at the time of the alleged assault. Higgins says she was raped by her colleague at Parliament House in the early hours of the morning on 23 March 2019.
During the last Senate estimates round in March, officials from the Department of Finance were asked by the shadow finance minister, Katy Gallagher, to identify the day the staffer alleged to have perpetrated the sexual assault was sacked from his position as an adviser to Reynolds.
Officials told the estimates hearing they did not have the termination date to hand, but in response to a question on notice, replied: “I can confirm the employment of the individual in question was terminated on 5 April 2019 on the grounds of serious misconduct.”
Higgins and her then more senior colleague attended a social event in Canberra on the night the sexual assault is alleged to have occurred. The two left together, returning to Parliament House late at night, and entered the building in the early hours of the morning, signed in by security.
The rape is alleged to have occurred on a couch in Reynolds’ office. The alleged perpetrator and Higgins were both interviewed by Reynolds’ chief of staff on Tuesday 26 March – three days after the incident.
Previously, it had been understood that the male adviser was sacked immediately after the interview with Reynolds’ then chief of staff on 26 March 2019. Reynolds has said previously the reason for that termination was a security breach.
Higgins has recalled previously that her colleague packed up his desk and left shortly after that discussion. The government has said previously the male staffer was sacked for a security breach.
In responses to other questions on notice from the Greens senators Sarah Hanson-Young and Larissa Waters, the Department of Finance confirmed that it was advised by the Department of Parliamentary Services on 23 March 2019 “that two staff had accessed minister Reynolds’ office after-hours and, while in the office, may have consumed alcohol”.
Finance has also confirmed that it advised the then special minister of state’s office “of the after-hours access on 26 March 2019 following advice from the Department of Parliamentary Services”. The portfolio minister at that time was Alex Hawke.
Higgins says she first reported her recollection that she was sexually assaulted to Reynolds’ chief of staff during the discussion on 26 March 2019, and spoke subsequently to federal police at Parliament House command.
On Monday 1 April, Higgins met her boss, Reynolds, and the minister’s chief of staff to discuss the alleged incident.
Reynolds then met with the Australian federal police to convey Higgins’ allegation of sexual assault on 4 April – the day before the male staffer was terminated for serious misconduct.
Scott Morrison has insisted he and his office were unaware of the sexual assault allegation until February 2021.
The prime minister repeated this on the ABC in an interview last week: “The security breach, we were aware of the security breach but not of any alleged assault … my office did not become aware of that until the 12th of February and I became aware of it on the 15th of February.”
Morrison has been asked to explain the nature of the security breach that led to the dismissal of Higgins’ former colleague, after Nikola Anderson, the Parliament House security guard who signed in Higgins and the man who is alleged to have raped her, told the ABC earlier this year she wasn’t sure what the security breach was that would have triggered the termination, given the two staff were pass-holders.
“What was the security breach? Because the night that we were on shift, there was no security breach,” Anderson told the Four Corners program in March.
“Their pass enables them to be where they want to be within Parliament House. If they hadn’t worked for that minister, that would be a different story because we wouldn’t have allowed them entry because it’s not their office, they have no business being in there. But because these two people worked for minister Reynolds, they were allowed access in there, which is why we granted it.”
Morrison told the ABC last week the adviser was sacked because “there was an escalation of the caution on this individual” because of the alleged mishandling of classified documents while he was employed in the Reynolds’ office.
The prime minister said “that final breach” – presumably meaning the after-hours access to the Reynolds ministerial suite – “was the one that led to [his] dismissal”.
“There were sanctions and warnings put in place and then the individual was eventually dismissed for that final breach,” the prime minister said. “What I am telling you is the individual was sacked.”
Higgins has reported the alleged assault to the AFP. Morrison has also asked his department head, Phil Gaetjens, to examine whether there was any contact between Higgins and members of his staff about the sexual assault before February this year.
Morrison’s chief of staff is also investigating whether any members of staff engaged in negative backgrounding about Higgins or her partner after the story was broken by news.com.au in February.
