Extract from The Guardian
Scott Morrison’s office says ‘due to a previous role’ the adviser was aware of the departure of the staffer involved in the security breach
Last modified on Mon 22 Feb 2021 20.16 AEDT
Scott Morrison’s office has acknowledged another current prime ministerial adviser knew about the employment termination of a staff member in Linda Reynolds’ office alleged to have raped Brittany Higgins in 2019 because of their “previous role”.
Morrison has repeatedly said his office first became aware of the rape allegation on 12 February. But one of the prime minister’s current staffers, Fiona Brown, knew about the allegation because she managed Higgins in the aftermath when working as chief of staff to Reynolds.
Brown worked for Morrison before she worked for Reynolds, who was the defence industry minister at the time, then returned to Morrison’s office after the 2019 election.
Guardian Australia has now confirmed a second staffer currently employed in the prime minister’s office knew details about the termination of Higgins’ former colleague because that senior staffer was employed formerly as an adviser to Alex Hawke when Hawke was special minister of state.
In response to questions from Guardian Australia, a spokesperson for Morrison said: “Due to a previous role, the adviser was aware of the termination of the staffer involved in the security breach in Linda Reynolds’ office in March 2019.”
Morrison’s spokesperson acknowledged the adviser had “advised the PMO about that termination process”. Advice about the termination of the staffer, the prime minister’s spokesperson said, was provided to the Morrison office when he worked for Hawke.
It remains unclear – because the government has declined to answer questions about it – whether the staffer alleged to have assaulted Higgins left the government with a termination payout.
Confirmation that another current member of Morrison’s office had some knowledge of the controversy came as the prime minister declined to say whether he would release a looming report from his departmental head, Phil Gaetjens, examining any contact between members of his office and Higgins – a former Liberal staffer.
As Morrison hedged on releasing the Gaetjens report, the ABC reported a fourth woman had come forward to Canberra police over the weekend with a new inappropriate touching claim against the same government staffer alleged to have assaulted Higgins and two other women.
In question time on Monday, the Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, asked the prime minister whether he would guarantee the report by the secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet “and his former chief of staff Philip Gaetjens” would be made public as soon as it is received.
Albanese also asked whether Morrison’s department head would interview the prime minister “and anyone in the prime minister’s office who may have had contact related to the reported sexual assault”.
Morrison stepped around the specifics of the question. “The secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet is undertaking his inquiries and he’s undertaking those with the relevant members of my office, and I’m looking forward to receiving his report,” the prime minister said.
“I’m looking forward to receiving his report, as I am also looking forward to receiving the recommendations that would come from the deputy secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and I look forward to reporting further on those matters at that time.”
In response to persistent questions from Labor about whether it was now “beyond belief” that the Morrison office was unaware of the assault claims until 12 February, the prime minister repeated his earlier advice that he had been made aware of the allegations on 15 February “and my staff became aware of these matters of the sexual assault on 12 February”.
Late last week, new text messages were reported by the Australian suggesting that a friend of Higgins got in touch with the prime minister’s office to alert them to the flawed handling of her case in early April 2019.
After the texts emerged, and after Higgins said that one of Morrison’s senior political advisers, Yaron Finkelstein, had also “checked in” with her at the time the ABC’s Four Corners program aired an investigation of Parliament House culture in 2020, Morrison said Gaetjens needed to audit staff communications.
Morrison said last week the advice from his staff was they were made aware of the assault allegation on 12 February, but he said: “I would like to know, if there was anything different here, I would like to know.”
As well as Brown possessing detailed knowledge, and Monday’s confirmation that another adviser had direct knowledge of the termination arrangements covering the alleged perpetrator, the government has acknowledged that Morrison’s chief of staff, John Kunkel, and another parliamentary adviser, Daniel Wong, were involved at the time the alleged perpetrator was dismissed by Reynolds for a security breach after accessing the ministerial office after hours.
But the government had said previously that neither Kunkel nor Wong were aware of the sexual assault allegation.
The finance minister, Simon Birmingham, meanwhile, faced questions in the Senate about how he had handled separate allegations of assault from Chelsey Potter, a young staffer who had worked in his office.
Writing in the Adelaide-based publication InDaily, Potter said: “There was never a check-in. No offer of support, either professional or personal. To this day, [Birmingham] hasn’t even bothered to ascertain my version of events.”
Birmingham told the Senate he first became aware of Potter’s allegations when journalists from the Sydney Morning Herald approached his office. He said Potter had also approached him between the first contact by the media and publication of the story.
He said he told Potter he was unable to speak to her at that time, but recommended support services, like 1800 RESPECT. Birmingham said he hoped the independent review sparked by the Higgins matter would improve understanding about how to deal with episodes like this.
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