Brittany Higgins’ alleged rape in parliament was a devastating, incomprehensible and appalling act, former foreign affairs minister Marise Payne has told a defamation trial.
Senator Linda Reynolds is suing her former staffer Higgins, claiming her reputation was damaged by a series of social media posts containing mistruths -including that she mishandled the response to the rape allegation.
Payne told the Perth court she was “significantly concerned” by Higgins’ alleged sexual assault and her allegations against Senator Reynolds after it was reported by media in 2021.
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“Concern as a senior member of the government, concern that such alleged events might have taken place in the parliamentary workplace, and concern that a young woman who had been part of the staffing team,” she told the West Australian Supreme Court on Tuesday.
“It was almost incomprehensible to me that such an appalling act could have taken place in our federal parliament … absolutely devastating for the individual concerned.”
Payne said she was also worried for Senator Reynolds by Higgins’ allegations about the Morrison government’s response to the 2019 incident.
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“(Senator Reynolds) had a long-standing reputation for her interest in and support of women’s participation in the political process … any issues which raised questions about her commitment and her level of commitment in that way would obviously be concerning for her,” she said.
“The serious nature of the allegations made about the events of some years prior would be enormously distressing to hear.”
Payne said her friend and colleague of 30 years was put under an “enormous amount of pressure” in the Senate chamber in the following days.
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“A level of pressure that they have rarely seen before or since … and I found that she was so distressed and so upset by the assertions being made about her that she was struggling to represent and to respond to those questions as she previously would have been able to,” she said.
“It is very hard to describe the pressure of the parliamentary chamber and the question time environment when you are specifically and aggressively targeted by your political opponents in that way.
“Knowing that some of the material was being misrepresented, in her view, made it even more difficult.”
Payne said the stress was so great that Senator Reynolds experienced “physical trauma … a combination of shaking and what I regarded as elevated breathing”.
“That was most unusual for the woman that I had known for three decades,” she said.
Payne said she became “very concerned” about the senator’s “well-being and the state of her health and the impact that (the political) attacks were having on her”.
“It was deeply disturbing, deeply troubling to see your friend and colleague and appear in such a situation, and I think that was the overwhelming view of the majority of our friends and colleagues across the coalition party rooms,” she said.
She said Senator Reynolds experienced at times “depths of great despair about what had been asserted” and it impacted her emotionally, mentally, and physically.
Payne also said she was disappointed the senator was not appointed to a shadow portfolio after the Liberal Party lost the 2022 federal election.
“I strongly support the involvement of capable women in possible roles in the Liberal Party and have for a long time since February 2021,” she said.
Brittany Higgins, who is defending the defamation claim, was expected to testify at the trial. But her lawyer Rachael Young on Monday said she would not be attending due to her medical conditions and because she didn’t need to.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
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