Scott Morrison offers support as Liberals call for Linda Reynolds’ resignation over Brittany Higgins’ assault

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is standing by the embattled Linda Reynolds despite calls from within his own party for her to resign over her handling of an alleged rape in her Parliament House office. Senator Reynolds, the Defence Minister, faced questions for a fourth day yesterday over the alleged 2019 rape of former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins. Ms Higgins revealed her horrific abuse on Monday and later said she felt as though her employment would be in peril if she pursued her alleged attacker. She said she was assaulted on Senator Reynolds’ couch despite repeatedly telling her attacker to stop. It has since been revealed the West Australian senator took six days to talk to Ms Higgins about the incident and the first meeting was held in the same room in which the alleged attack occurred. Senator Reynolds maintains she was not aware Ms Higgins had been raped when that first meeting took place. During question time yesterday, Senator Reynolds broke down in tears as she offered Ms Higgins a second apology. “This was a difficult, complex, and it was a highly sensitive matter,” she said in a statement to the Senate chamber. “To me, Brittany’s welfare and her right to privacy were paramount to me. “For my part, I am deeply sorry that Brittany felt unsupported at the time of the incident, and in ... the years that followed. “I’m also deeply sorry that some of my actions, and my handling of this matter, added to Brittany’s distress.” She also said the three separate reviews of Parliament’s workplace culture had to be able to take place free of politics. “It is now incumbent on all of us in this place to lead the independent processes ... consider these matters,” she said. “My hope now is that we can address this very serious issue as a Parliament, away from the politics.” Senator Reynolds knew about the alleged rape for more than two years but did not inform the Prime Minister. Mr Morrison has publicly admonished her for this and senior Cabinet colleagues are distancing themselves from Senator Reynolds. But The West Australian understands after her emotional address to the chamber, Mr Morrison spoke directly to the minister to express his support. Even so, Senator Reynolds’ colleagues yesterday said it was “probably inevitable” she would need to resign. “The blood is in the water and sharks are circling,” one said. Another said: “We can’t have a minister in charge of Defence after the Brereton Review when there is a cloud surrounding her own conduct.” Communications Minister Paul Fletcher conceded he would have taken a different approach to her handling of the rape claim. “Should there be an allegation of sexual assault in my office, obviously the way I handle it would be informed by the processes and the procedures that we’re now developing,” he told ABC radio.