Scott Morrison’s evidence yesterday to the defamation action brought by Liberal senator Linda Reynolds against rape victim Brittany Higgins stands as one of the more offensive moments in a career that, while he was in politics, was marked by mendacity and deception. It represents nothing less than an attempt to rewrite the history of his government’s utterly inept and malignant response to Higgins’ revelation that she was sexually assaulted by fellow Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann.
According to Morrison’s testimony, he and Reynolds were the victims of “the weaponising of this issue for political purposes to discredit both Senator Reynolds … and the government, and by extension myself”; the idea that there was a cover-up of the issue “was completely and utterly false, without any foundation” and Reynolds and her office “had done everything they possibly could within the processes they had to support Ms Higgins”.
This is a man who was prime minister, the most powerful man in the country at the time, portraying himself as the victim of a woman who was sexually assaulted inside his own ministerial wing, and of the media scrutiny of the standards of conduct within his government.
It pays to recount what is on the public record about Linda Reynolds’ conduct. Higgins was made to attend Reynolds’ office — Reynolds was minister for defence, one of the most powerful positions of public office in the country — where the rape occurred, to discuss the attack. Reynolds called Higgins a “lying cow” in front of her staff when Higgins publicly revealed her ordeal. Reynolds misled the Senate over her meetings with the Australian Federal Police on the matter. Reynolds unreservedly apologised to Higgins in February 2021 for “the fact that she felt unsupported in her time working here”. Reynolds now also admits she deleted text messages between herself and Lehrmann’s barrister and leaked confidential documents from the current government to the media.
And what of the conduct of Morrison, who claims he was the victim of the “weaponising”, and his office? We know Morrison’s office backgrounded journalists in an attempt to discredit Higgins’ partner. We know Morrison used a flurry of reviews to try to evade the political fallout from Higgins’ revelations and those relating to the conduct of his own staff. Contrary to Morrison’s claim, the fact of there being a cover-up is a matter of public record, with Morrison lying to Parliament about the so-called “Gaetjens review” being suspended indefinitely (allegedly on the basis of Australian Federal Police advice).
If Morrison wants to talk about “weaponising”, he could reflect on what his friends at The Australian have done to Higgins using text messages provided to Lehrmann’s legal team that found their way to right-wing journalists, or the now years-long campaign of vilification run against Higgins by that newspaper and by Sky News. That campaign, which barely paused for a moment when Lehrmann was found on the balance of probabilities by the Federal Court to have raped Higgins, is an ongoing example of exemplary punishment designed to signal to anyone, especially women, who might threaten to embarrass the conservative side of politics that their lives will be destroyed.
Morrison has a history of claiming victimhood when others have paid a far worse price for his actions. Recall that he claimed the robodebt royal commission was a “political lynching” of himself, despite its finding he’d allowed cabinet to be misled and knew perfectly well that income averaging formed part of the whole scheme. That Morrison continues to think what’s been done to Brittany Higgins is really about him, even as the campaign against Higgins continues to wreck her life, is a staggering indictment of the man’s self-obsession.
He seriously claims that when he was the nation’s prime minister, and, in his own eyes, God’s chosen leader, a rape victim and some journalists rode roughshod over his government and brought him low. What terrible luck Morrison seems to have had throughout his public life to so often be the victim of the evil machinations of so many others.
How sick are you of Scott Morrison’s sob stories? Let us know your thoughts by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.
