AFP warns MPs over delays in reporting crimes; Peter Dutton describes rape claims as ‘he said, she said’

Australia’s top cop has sent a stern letter to MPs, as Peter Dutton revealed when he told the Prime Minister’s office of Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations. The alleged rape of Brittany Higgins in parliament has brought the process for reporting crimes into sharp focus. Australian Federal Police commissioner Reece Kershaw sent a letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday, warning MPs of the risks of failing to report crimes. “I cannot state strongly enough the importance of timely referrals of allegations of criminal conduct,” he wrote. “Failure to report alleged criminal behaviour in this manner, or choosing to communicate or disseminate allegations via other means, such as through the media or third parties, risks prejudicing and subsequent police investigation.” Former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins alleged she was raped in 2019 by a colleague in the parliamentary office of her then-boss Linda Reynolds. Senator Reynolds said she encouraged Ms Higgins to go to the police when she learned of the alleged crime, as does Ms Higgins’ subsequent boss Michaelia Cash. But the government is facing scrutiny over its internal reporting mechanisms, with revelations Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton knew of the allegation four days before the Prime Minister said he knew. Mr Dutton joined a group including Ms Reynolds, Ms Cash, House Speaker Tony Smith, and Senate President Scott Ryan, who knew about the alleged rape before Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Former Special Minister State Alex Hawke was also contacted over the termination of the male staffer. It emerged on Thursday that Mr Dutton told the Prime Minister’s office about the alleged sexual assault on February 12, but his staff kept Mr Morrison in the dark. This was the same day News.com.au approached the Prime Minister’s office for comment on the incident, and confirmed the story would be published on Monday, February 15. Mr Morrison maintains that he was not aware of the alleged rape until the story emerged. Mr Dutton told News.com.au he made the call not to tell Mr Morrison directly and described the alleged sexual assault as a “he said, she said” affair. “I took a decision that I wasn’t going to disclose that to the Prime Minister. I think that was the right decision,’’ he told News.com.au “And when the media inquiries came in, we provided information, not to his office about the detail, the detail of the allegation, it was at a higher level, which is the basis on which I was briefed by the AFP Commissioner, more in terms of process, as the commissioner advised me at the time. “And there are other matters, unrelated to this, obviously, that I was briefed on during that discussion with the commissioner on the 11th. “And I wasn’t provided with the ‘she said/he said’ details of the allegation. It was at a higher level.” Mr Morrison said on Wednesday he would have approached the situation in the same way as his ministers had he been informed earlier. “My action would have been the same as those ministers’ actions. That is to say: has the matter been drawn to the attention of the police?” he said. “The answer to that question was, yes, it had.” Two other women have subsequently claimed they were also raped by the man, with one of the alleged attacks occurring last year. Mr Kershaw warned failing to report crimes could embolden a perpetrator to taint evidence or even strike again. “Any delay in reporting criminal conduct can result in the loss of key evidence, continuation of the offending and/or reoffending by the alleged perpetrator,” he said. “It also has the very real potential to compromise the rights of victims and other parties to the alleged offences. “By not adhering to this process, there is a real risk that any alternative actions by individuals may lead to obstructing, preventing, perverting or defeating the course of justice or the administration of law.” Mr Morrison passed Mr Kershaw’s letter on to House Speaker Tony Smith and Senate President Scott Ryan, telling them MPs must understand their duty to provide “compassionate support” to victims seeking to come forward. “These are serious and traumatic events for anyone to deal with … It is important that members, senators and their staff feel fully empowered and supported to take the actions recommended by the commissioner,” he wrote. Both letters were circulated to MPs via parliament’s sergeant-at-arms. Ms Higgins on Wednesday filed an official complaint over the alleged rape to the AFP, which was investigating the matter. Mr Morrison stressed his confidence in law enforcement’s ability to appropriately handle the case. “They are best place as a result of their experience and training to deal with the acute sensitivity of these issues on those reporting these matters,” he wrote. POLICE INVESTIGATING HIGGINS’ RAPE CLAIM An alleged sexual assault in Parliament House is being formally investigated by police. ACT Policing confirmed on Wednesday night it had “received a report about an alleged assault at Parliament House in March 2019” and is investigating. “No other formal reports associated with this matter have been made,” the statement said “ACT Policing encourages members of the public to report any form of assault committed against them. “All such reports will be appropriately considered and victims will be supported via ACT Policing’s Victims of Crime team and dedicated specialist support services.” The statement said “no additional comment will be made during the investigation”. Former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins visited a police station on Wednesday to report she was allegedly raped by a male colleague in the office of Defence Minister Linda Reynolds in March 2019. Ms Reynolds was admitted to hospital and cancelled a highly anticipated appearance at the National Press Club in the wake of the Parliament House rape allegation scandal. The Defence Minister was set to face a grilling from journalists yesterday over her handling of Brittany Higgins’ rape claim. Ms Higgins, a former staffer to Ms Reynolds, alleged she was raped in the Minister’s office by a colleague in 2019. A statement from Ms Reynolds said she would take a period of medical leave. “This follows advice from her cardiologist relating to a pre-existing medical condition,” the statement read. “As a precautionary measure, Minister Reynolds has this morning been admitted to a Canberra Hospital.” Prime Minister Scott Morrison phoned Ms Reynolds to “express his concern and sympathy, and wish her a quick recovery”. Health Minister Greg Hunt denied the revelation was an attempt to dodge the Press Club grilling. “Linda was desperate to appear before the national Press Club today, desperate to appear,” he said. “And it was only on the strongest medical advice that she took the reluctant decision not to do it.” Ms Reynolds has faced a week on intense scrutiny over the rape allegation, after failing to disclose the information to the prime minister. She has consistently cited Ms Higgins’ privacy to dodge questions over her timeline of events. She broke down in the Senate question time on Friday, asking to take an unrelated question on notice. Mr Hunt said on Wednesday Ms Reynolds was “a good person” and called on reporters to show “compassion … (and) focus on the needs of others”. “We have to remind ourselves that this is the most intense, arguably, environment in Australia,” he said. “There are many intense environments, and all of us need to be aware of the pressures and pains, the impact of each of us on each other. “She is a good person and so she needs our support. She has our support.” Ms Reynolds has also been under pressure over the Future Submarines contract and the Federal Government’s failure to announce its decision on whether the Collins Class submarine maintenance would remain in South Australia or move to Western Australia. She was expected to hold high-level talks with Naval Group global boss Pierre Eric Pommellet over the Future Submarines this afternoon. The minister criticised Naval Group for failing to lock into the Future Submarines contract its agreement to spend at least 60 per cent of the contract value in Australia. “I am frustrated and I am very disappointed that Naval Group have yet been unable to finalise this contract with Defence,” Senator Reynolds told Question Time in response to a question from Labor senator Penny Wong. She said the 60 per cent agreement would “not be done at the expense of Australian jobs and Australian industry”. Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne will act on her behalf until she returns to work. FIFTH WOMAN COMES FORWARD A fifth woman has come forward to make claims against the man at the centre of the Parliament House rape allegations. The woman, a former intern, told news.com.au that seven years ago the man invited her to a Nationals senator’s office at Parliament House. She said that while the interactions she had with the man were consensual, she frequently felt “pressured” to have sex. News.com.au has seen messages from the man referring to “the couch” in the senator’s office where he worked at the time. “The thing that really makes me feel sick about this is because … I distinctly remember a time when he also took me to his Senator’s office after hours,’’ the former intern told news.com.au. “Nothing ‘rapey’ happened. But that makes me feel really ill. I feel like he wanted to [take me there] because he wanted to show off his power. He was obviously much more important than I was. “When we were on the couch he started kissing me. I stopped and I went home afterwards.” The woman said she was not alleging sexual assault or rape, but she did feel pressured, and said another friend who also had interactions with the man did too. “She also said she had felt pressured by him. She didn’t tell me exactly what happened but last night she was crying on the phone,’’ she said. “He was very, very ambitious. When I met him he was already interning for a Nationals MP. “It was basically all he would ever talk about. He was one of those people who would go and watch question time every single day it was on. “I would describe him as someone who was sure he would one day become a Prime Minister of Australia. He was like (the MP) is going to make sure that I take his seat one day.” The woman said she first met the man at drinks and then went back to his house. “We kissed that night,’’ she said. “I was very drunk and he was totally sober. I never felt weird about that but there were other instances where he definitely pressured me. We never had proper sex. “There was one time I kept saying, ‘No, I am really tired, I don’t want to do anything’ and he kept being like, ‘Oh, come on. Come on.’ “I went to take a shower and he came into the shower. He wouldn’t take no for an answer. At one point he just said, ‘You know, you are staying at my apartment.’ “I knew it wasn’t right. You know, you have a feeling that it’s not right? But I didn’t do anything about it. I never said anything.” FOURTH WOMAN MAKES CLAIMS ABOUT EX-LIB STAFFER A fourth woman has claimed she was the target of inappropriate advances by the same man allegedly involved in the Brittany Higgins scandal. The woman made a report at a police station on Sunday according to Four Corners. She alleges the man stroked her thigh under the table at Canberra’s popular Public Bar in 2017. It comes after a third woman has alleged that she was sexually assaulted by the same former Morrison government adviser accused of the 2019 rape of a female colleague in Parliament House. According to an exclusive report in The Australian, the woman – a Liberal Party volunteer during the 2016 election campaign – alleged she was sexually assaulted after a night drinking with the then political staffer. The woman, who claims the assault happened five years ago, spoke on condition of anonymity and reportedly supported her allegations with a statutory declaration. She told The Australian that she was not long out of school when she joined campaign volunteers just days before the election. The woman said that the former male staffer had bought several rounds of “double strength” vodkas and three tequila shots for the woman over the course of a night. She says she had never been drunk before and told the former staffer she was going to call an Uber and go home. According to her account published in The Australian, the then staffer told her his hotel was “around the comer” and he could “look after me”. She claims they then went back to his room where she passed out. She alleges that she woke up, with her button-up blouse opened and her jeans pushed down and the staffer “lying on top of me” although she can’t be clear as to whether he was “conscious or sleeping”. She left the room and went to the hotel lobby toilet and noticed “I was bleeding”, before going home. “I believe his actions on the night of 29 June and the morning of 30 June constitute sexual assault, because he performed or tried to perform sexual acts on me while I was severely intoxicated and unable to provide valid and informed consent,’’ she told The Australian. The woman — who was a virgin at the time — said she did not go to police or tell friends or family because she was “severely embarrassed”. “I felt dirty and ashamed and I didn’t want to tell anyone,’’ she told The Australian. “I later realised I was so drunk, I was not able to give any consent. “Hearing Brittany Higgins’ story, it was so eerily similar, it made me think this person has a pattern of behaviour.’’ PM ‘SICKENED’ BY ALLEGATIONS The Weekend Australian also reported on Saturday that another woman alleged she had been sexually assaulted by the former government staffer. Mr Morrison said he was “sickened” and “upset” by the bombshell that a second Liberal staffer claimed she was raped by the same man allegedly involved in the Brittany Higgins scandal. Mr Morrison said he became aware of the second incident, claimed to have occurred at the woman’s home, only through the media. “These events truly do sicken me, as they should anyone,” Mr Morrison said. “I don’t know who she is, nor do we need to know who she is. That is a very distressing event.” Mr Morrison said there was “significant work” to be done about the culture at Parliament House. “We have a problem in the parliament and the workplace culture that exists there,” he said. “This has been a challenging issue for many, many years. I think we would be naive to think it’s not a challenge that other workplaces face all around the country. But I agree the parliament should be setting the standard.” Ms Higgins claims she was raped in March 2019 by a fellow staff member in the office of their boss, then Defence Minister Linda Reynolds. She said she had to discuss the issue with Senator Reynolds later in the same room, compounding her anguish. The Minister did not report it to the Prime Minister, who says he retains confidence in Senator Reynolds. The man left the job soon after. Reports state the second woman met the alleged rapist while working on the 2016 federal election campaign, and that they had stayed in touch in the years since, including after he left Reynolds’ office. The second woman claims they met up last year for dinner and, after the former staffer bought her several drinks, the pair went to her home, where she was allegedly raped. “If this (the Brittany Higgins incident) had been properly dealt with by the government in 2019 this would not have happened to me,’’ she told The Australian newspaper. But Mr Morrison said the government could not “force” someone to have a matter investigated by police. “At all times the ministers who had knowledge of the incident that took place at Parliament House … sought to have the matter taken up and investigated by the police,” Mr Morrison said. “They very much welcome the fact that is now occurring.” Ms Higgins last Friday announced she had re-engaged with Australian Federal Police and would proceed with a formal rape complaint. She is expected to make a formal statement to police on Wednesday, the same day as Senator Reynolds is scheduled to speak at the National Press Club in Canberra. “I want a comprehensive police investigation into what happened to me in March 2019 and for my perpetrator to face the full force of the law,” she said. Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese accused the PM of treating the issue as a political, not a criminal, matter. He said Ms Higgins was “made to feel there would be consequences for her career if she pursued this matter”. “Violence against women and children is a scourge, it is prevalent in all areas of society, but the parliament of Australia should be setting an example,” Mr Albanese said.