A fourth woman has levelled sexual assault allegations at the sacked Liberal Party staffer who is accused of raping Brittany Higgins inside Parliament House.
Ms Higgins claims she was raped by a male colleague inside Defence Minister Linda Reynolds’ office in 2019 when she was just 24, but felt pressured to stay silent in order to keep her dream job.
Two more women accused the former government worker of rape after Ms Higgins went public last week, and now a fourth alleged victim has taken her story to Canberra police on Sunday.
The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the ABC the ‘really sleazy’ alleged rapist stroked her thigh on a night out in 2017.
Brittany Higgins (pictured) went public last week with the allegation she was raped by a male colleague inside Defence Minister Linda Reynolds’ office in 2019
Ms Higgins’ claim, which will be formally stated to police on Wednesday, opened the floodgates for others to share their stories.
The latest woman to come forward was with colleagues at Canberra’s Public Bar in 2017 when the alleged rapist touched her thigh uninvited.
She said it was not the first or last time she received unwanted advances from male colleagues.
‘By that time, I was just so used to sexual harassment I just brushed it off,’ she said.
After speaking to officers from the local police station on Sunday afternoon, the woman said she received a call from the Australian Federal Police’s Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Team.
They asked her to make a formal statement with them later this week, she said.
The third woman said she was assaulted while working as a coalition volunteer during the 2016 election campaign.
She was barely out of school at the time of the attack, which allegedly occurred after a night out drinking with the then-political staffer.
During the night out, she claims he bought her several rounds of ‘double strength’ vodkas and three tequila shots.
Scott Morrison also believes the culture within Parliament House has to change as he and his government remain under scrutiny over the handling of the matter. Pictured with Ms Higgins
The boozy night prompted the young volunteer, who had never been drunk before, to vomit in the nightclub bathroom.
When everybody else had left, the woman said she told him she was going to catch an Uber home, and he suggested they go back to his hotel room ‘around the corner’ instead, and he would ‘look after her’, she told The Australian.
After they arrived, she passed out while laying on his bed and allegedly woke up with her clothes undone and the staffer allegedly lying on top of her.
The woman, who was a virgin, said she was uncertain as to whether he was conscious or sleeping, but she bolted from the room into the hotel lobby toilet, where she discovered she was ‘bleeding’.
Feeling embarrassed and ashamed, the woman made her way home and did not tell police, her family or friends.
‘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 whilst I was severely intoxicated and unable to provide valid and informed consent,’ 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.’
Minister for Defence Linda Reynolds is seen during Question Time in the Senate chamber at Parliament House in Canberra last week, after Ms Higgins’ allegations were made public
Pictured: Brittany Higgins
Ms Higgins’ bombshell allegations have rocked Canberra as the Morrison Government plunges into damage control and calls mount for systematic reform of working conditions for parliamentary staffers.
As Ms Reynolds and the Prime Minister’s Office spent the past few days grappling with the political crisis, a second woman came forward to claim the same man assaulted her in 2020 after they went out for a meal and drinks.
An independent review into the workplace culture in Parliament and the Coalition has been launched, as Ms Higgins prepares to make a statement to the Australian Federal Police later this week.
Mr Morrison’s office has come under scrutiny after claiming it was not aware of the rape allegations until last week, sparking questions about why Senator Reynold’s office had failed to pass on the information.
Senator Reynolds has known about the alleged rape for more than two years but did not inform the prime minister to respect Ms Higgins’ privacy and welfare.
Ms Higgins accused Mr Morrison of using ‘victim-blaming language’ during his response to the revelations, with the Prime Minister later apologising to the former Coalition staffer.
Until recently Ms Higgins worked for Employment Minister Michaela Cash (together in Parliament’s Great Hall)
On Saturday, after another woman spoke out, Mr Morrison said he was ‘sickened’ and that the incident is ‘very distressing’.
‘These events truly do sicken me,’ he said.
‘I think we have a problem in the parliament and the workplace culture that exists there that we must continue to improve.’
The second woman was allegedly assaulted by the same man in late 2020.
The woman argued that if the government had adequately dealt with the incident involving Ms Higgins in 2019, her assault would never have occurred.
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