Senator Michaelia Cash has denied that she knew of the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins more than a year before it became public in February 2021, agreeing it would be “political suicide” to have covered it up.
Cash was called to give evidence on Monday in the trial of Bruce Lehrmann, a former Coalition staffer accused of raping his colleague Higgins on the couch of their then boss, former defence industry minister Linda Reynolds, in Parliament House in March 2019. Lehrmann has has pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual intercourse without consent.
Higgins’ role was moved into the office of Cash, then skills minister, in the weeks following the alleged rape.
Higgins has told the court she had multiple conversations with Cash about the alleged rape from October 2019, during her employment there.
But Cash said she first learned of the alleged rape almost 18 months later, in February 2021, when Higgins told her “out of the blue” prior to resigning.
She said, in earlier conversations about the night, Higgins had told her only that she and another staffer had gotten drunk, come back to parliament, and that Higgins had fallen asleep in Reynolds’ office.
Prosecutor Shane Drumgold SC put it to Cash she had multiple “relatively detailed conversations” with Higgins about the sexual aspects of her complaint from about October 2019, when Cash’s office received an email from a journalist at the Canberra Times about the night.
“Not a sexual element, no,” Cash said. “The first time that she mentioned a sexual element was I think in the conversation on the 5th of February 2021.”
Drumgold put it to Cash that the alleged rape of one staffer by another would have been “politically embarrassing” for the then government.
“I’m putting to you that you’re denying that because it would be politically embarrassing for you?” Drumgold said.
Cash replied: “Absolutely not. I just don’t understand the line of questioning on political embarrassment. I don’t know how it could be politically embarrassing.”
Cash said she simply did not “understand a political connection to this”.
When asked if she understood what “plausible deniability” was, Cash said: “I’m not quite sure what you’re referring to, you’d need to put it into context.”
Later, the defence barrister, Steven Whybrow, suggested to Cash that it would have been “political suicide to try and cover up a sexual assault between two staff”.
Cash responded: “Correct, hence my confusion with the line of questioning.”
Cash also said her office had offered full support to Higgins when it became aware of the allegations.
Her chief of staff, Daniel Try, also gave evidence about his interactions with Higgins.
He said he had met with Higgins following the Canberra Times’ inquiry to Reynolds’ office in October 2019.
Try said that Higgins hadn’t disclosed the alleged rape at that time. Try said he thought it was a security breach only, but recognised it was “sensitive” so didn’t continue asking her about it.
Drumgold put it to Try that part of his role as chief of staff was to “protect against events that could have a negative political impact” on a politician.
“Well, I suppose in a general sense, yes.”
Drumgold accused Try of learning of all the details of the allegation in October 2019, but then seeking to protect Cash after learning of the Canberra Times’ inquiry.
“That’s not true at all, I was worried about Brittany,” Try responded.
The trial later heard from Samuel O’Connor, a state politician in Queensland parliament, who was friends with Higgins in 2019.
He said Higgins had disclosed the alleged rape to him in April 2019.
“I definitely remember her being concerned that this would define her, that she would be known for this instead of being good at her job,” O’Connor said.
The trial continues before chief justice, Lucy McCallum, in the ACT supreme court.
