Background and allegation On 15 February 2021,
Liberal Party junior staffer Brittany Higgins alleged to two media outlets,
news.com.au and
The Project, that she was raped in the early hours of 23 March 2019 in then-
Defence Industry Minister Senator
Linda Reynolds' office in the ministerial wing of
Parliament House by a colleague, later named as
Bruce Lehrmann, after security guards admitted the pair into the building. waking to find her skirt around her waist. In contrast, Lehrmann told police that he and Higgins returned to Parliament House because he needed to pick up his keys, and as Higgins indicated she also needed to return to the office he offered to share his
Uber ride. Higgins was later found naked, inebriated and disoriented in the early hours of the morning in the minister's office. with Reynolds consequently terminating Lehrmann's employment formally on 5 April 2019. On 1 April 2019, Reynolds called Higgins to her office to discuss Higgins' late-night entry into the office, which Reynolds "believed to be a security breach [...] describing the decision of two staff to come into the office at 1:40am as 'highly unusual' and not appropriate". Higgins went to the police after the alleged rape, but dropped the complaint in April 2019, fearful the report would result in termination of her employment. Eventually Higgins transferred to work for
Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business Minister Michaelia Cash for a year before resigning a month before going public with her allegations. including in a meeting on 1 April 2019". However, "Brown disputes Higgins' timeline", In late February 2021 it emerged that
Scott Ryan knew about the security incident on 27 March 2019, and
Tony Smith found out about it on 8 April 2019. Ryan, who was Senate President at the time, and Smith, who was Speaker, were jointly responsible for security in Parliament House at the time and only became aware of Higgins and the alleged sexual assault on Friday 12 February 2021,
Peter Dutton, Home Affairs Minister at the time, also knew about the allegation on 11 February 2021 but sought no further action, nor did he alert the prime minister. The prime minister's office seemed to have known details on Friday 12 February 2021 when it first got questions from news.com.au, but staff did not tell the prime minister until Monday 15 February 2021.
Response to allegation Reynolds publicly apologised to Higgins, as did Morrison. Morrison also announced two investigations into the workplace culture at Parliament House. Over the following weeks, three more women alleged they had been sexually harassed or assaulted by the same man, still not publicly named at the time, between 2016 and 2020. One woman alleged on 20 February 2021 she was raped in 2020 by the man after the pair had dinner and drinks. the accused was stood aside from his job at a large corporation where he had worked from July 2020. On 4 March, it was reported that Reynolds had referred to Higgins as a "lying cow" after the initial media reports. Reynolds did not deny using the slur against Higgins, but said it was not about the rape allegation itself, but about reports of the level of support provided. Higgins threatened legal action against Reynolds. Reynolds and Higgins later reached a settlement in a defamation claim under which Reynolds apologised and agreed to pay damages to Higgins, which Higgins intended to donate to a sexual assault support group in the Canberra area. Reynolds was pressured to reveal what she had known about the incident. On 16 February, Morrison publicly rebuked Reynolds for not telling him of the incident at the time. Reynolds was due to address the
National Press Club on 24 February, but that morning she cancelled the address and was admitted to
Canberra Hospital. It was announced that she had taken medical leave related to a pre-existing condition. Reynolds continued to be on medical leave until 2 April on the advice of her cardiologist, and was not questioned during that time in or outside Parliament on the circumstances or of her knowledge of the alleged rape. Reynolds's sick leave was initially for two weeks, but on the weekend before she would have returned to work, she was advised by her cardiologist to extend her medical leave to 2 April 2021, a total of six weeks. Labor senator
Kristina Keneally called for Reynolds to resign, saying "Is the Minister of defence, Linda Reynolds, trying to pretend she is (on one hand) well enough to continue as Defence Minister, but not well enough on the other to front up and answer to questions in parliament and the (Senate) estimates?" Keneally also called for an independent investigation into allegations against Porter. On 30 April, Higgins met with Morrison and said she had a "frank and honest" discussion with him. Higgins said the pair also talked about reforming the legislation under which staffers are hired, known as the Members of Parliament (Staff) or MoPS Act. On 22 May 2021, the ABC's
Four Corners reported,
Legal proceedings The man accused of the rape, Bruce Lehrmann, appeared by telephone at the
Magistrates Court of the Australian Capital Territory on 5 November 2021 and pleaded not guilty. He was committed for trial in the
Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory. In April 2022 the defence team for the accused applied to have his trial halted indefinitely as Morrison's apology to Higgins "imputed the accused with guilt of the offence or at least implicitly assumed the truthfulness of the complaint", The judge dismissed the application, saying that a jury member being aware of pre-trial publicity "is not of itself problematic". Higgins made a complaint against the
Australian Federal Police for unlawfully giving Lehrmann's defence team protected evidence, including counselling notes and video recordings. The trial was further delayed in June 2022 following the judge warning that the line between allegation and a finding of guilt had been "obliterated" in an acceptance speech by
Lisa Wilkinson at the
Logie Awards of 2022 and in commentary following the speech. The trial of Lehrmann began on 4 October 2022. It concluded on 19 October, and the jury retired to consider its verdict. On 27 October, the trial was abandoned after it was discovered that a juror had conducted private research and taken their findings into the jury room. Lehrmann's lawyer said "We have brought [Higgins'] comments to the attention of the court and the Australian Federal Police ... as to whether the complainant's statements might amount to a
contempt of court or offences against the ACT Criminal Code". although a senior barrister soon after said it remained to be seen if the case is retried, given the extent of comments by politicians and media personalities now making Lehrmann virtually untriable. In December 2022 the case was dropped by
Shane Drumgold, the Director of Public Prosecutions, stating it was "no longer in the public interest to pursue a prosecution" after receiving evidence "that the ongoing trauma associated with this prosecution presents a significant and unacceptable risk to the life of the complainant". On 3 December 2022 it emerged that police assessed the evidence as insufficient to prosecute, and "expressed a number of concerns about the case". The accused "consistently maintained his innocence and the case against him was not proven", On 4 December 2022, it was reported that both Higgins and Lehrmann were considering compensation claims. Higgins reportedly intended to sue Reynolds, Cash and the Commonwealth for about A$3 million. On 13 December, Higgins and the Commonwealth reached agreement and Higgins was awarded an undisclosed sum in compensation. This was later disclosed as being $2.3M, and was negotiated in controversial circumstances with the Federal Attorney General specifically excluding Senators Reynolds and Cash and former staffer Fiona Brown from appearing or providing any evidence for the mediation.
The Guardian reported on 8 December that a letter sent in November by Drumgold to the ACT police chief asked for a public enquiry into the case to look at "both political and police conduct". The letter also alleged that police investigators were 'clearly aligned with the successful defence of this matter". The
Australian Federal Police Association published a statement calling the allegations a "smear" and unproven while also calling for an investigation into the case. In January 2023, Reynolds commenced defamation proceedings against Higgins' partner over two
tweets that he made. On 26 October 2023, it was revealed that, in December 2022, Lehrmann was charged with two counts of rape in an unrelated matter that allegedly occurred in
Toowoomba in October 2021. He is awaiting trial on that matter. Lehrmann's identity had been the subject of a suppression order in the interim. In 2023, Lehrmann sued Lisa Wilkinson and
Network Ten for defamation over the interview with Higgins which aired on The Project in 2021. Lehrmann told the court that Wilkinson destroyed his right to a "fair criminal trial". Lehrmann claimed in court that he felt isolated and ostracised after Higgins' interview on The Project. He said "I became severely isolated," and admitted to a private hospital suffering emotional distress. The defamation case was judged in favour of Network Ten on 15 April 2024, with Justice Michael Lee concluding that there was "substantial truth" to the allegation that Lehrmann raped Higgins. ==1988 rape allegation against Christian Porter==