Brittany Higgins warns of #MeToo backlash and urges Labor to ‘transform’ how Australia handles sexual assault

Brittany Higgins says the Albanese government has a ‘once in a generation opportunity not just to tinker, but to transform how sexual assault is handled in Australia’. Photograph: Jane Fitzgerald

Brittany Higgins has warned of an orchestrated “backlash” to the #MeToo movement in her first speech since returning to public life.

During her keynote address to the fourth Conversations That Matter event in Geelong on Thursday, Higgins also urged the Albanese government to use its election mandate to “transform how sexual assault is handled in Australia”.