AUSTRALIA PM MORRISON APOLOGISES FOR CULTURE OF ABUSE, HARASSMENT IN PARLIAMENT

Tue 08 February 2022:

On Tuesday, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison apologized to victims of workplace harassment.

Addressing lawmakers, Scott Morrison apologised directly to former staffer Brittany Higgins who said she was raped by a male colleague in a minister’s office in 2019.

AUSTRALIA PM APOLOGISES TO ADVISER WHO ALLEGES SHE WAS RAPED IN PARLIAMENT

Higgins stated that she felt compelled to choose between disclosing her charges to the authorities and continuing her job.

“I’m sorry to Ms Higgins for the terrible things that took place here,” Morrison said describing a decades-long culture of abuse in the corridors of power.

“But I am sorry for far more than that — for all of those who came before Ms Higgins and endured the same.”

“Over many decades, an ecosystem, a culture, was perpetuated where bullying, abuse, harassment, and in some cases even violence, became normalised,” he said.

The apology marked a rocky start to an election year for Morrison and came as anti-vaccination protesters gathered outside parliament and his conservative party faced ructions over a religious freedom bill.

Listening from the public gallery, Higgins became visibly emotional during the speeches.

According to BBC, Brittany Higgins said she had been raped in the office of Defence Minister Linda Reynolds in March 2019 by someone who also worked for Morrison’s ruling Liberal party. She said that she had feared losing her job after the incident, and had little support from her bosses.

She sat between three fellow former staffers who have gone public with their own allegations, and two women’s rights advocates.

Higgins will speak Wednesday at the National Press Club alongside sexual abuse survivor Grace Tame, who was the 2021 Australian of the Year.

Tame dismissed the prime minister’s apology. “How about some proactive, preventative measures and not just these performative, last-minute bandaid electioneering stunts?” she tweeted Tuesday.

How about some proactive, preventative measures and not just these performative, last-minute bandaid electioneering stunts?

— Grace Tame (@TamePunk) February 8, 2022

An election must be held by May, leaving few parliament sitting days before the federal budget is delivered in March, which is likely to trigger the start of the official campaign.

Morrison’s personal integrity has been under attack with damaging leaks, including by Higgins, of historical text messages from state and Coalition partner leaders, including some labelling him a “liar”.

Morrison has also been criticized by voters for his handling of the coronavirus outbreak, according to polls.

Australia’s government announced on Monday that, after two years, it will reopen its borders to foreign travel on February 21, boosting business and tourism.

During COVID-19, the military was also dispatched to aid aged care facilities that were experiencing staffing shortages.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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