One day after Scott Morrison formally acknowledged the harm caused to parliamentary staffers from sexual harassment and assault, Brittany Higgins and former Australian of the Year Grace Tame have delivered a powerful speech at the National Press Club.
The two women have propelled a national reckoning on sexual violence and abuse against women and children, something that has shaken the Morrison government and political class in Canberra over the past 12 months.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, along with many prominent members of the Coalition government chose not to attend the address. Senator Marise Payne, Senator Anne Ruston, Senator Jane Hume and Senator Simon Birmingham were in attendance.
Brittany Higgins began the address, speaking about her experience over the past year since deciding to go public with allegations she was raped by a colleague in parliament.
“I was raped on a couch in what I thought was the safest and most secure building in Australia,” Higgins began. “In a workplace that has a police and security presence 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The parliament of Australia is safe – it is secure – except if you’re a woman. If what happened to me can happen there, it can happen anywhere. And it does. It happens to women everywhere.”
“I spoke out because I wanted the next generation of staffers to work in a better place. To take up a dream job like I did. And for it to live up to their hopes and not betray them. And above all, I decided to speak out because I hoped it would make it easier for other women to speak out too.
“It’s become my whole life mantra right through the past 12 months – to make it easier for other women to speak.”
Higgins said she never wanted to be “a spokesperson or a standard-bearer”. “But I do know that it’s easier to share your story if you recognise something of it in someone else’s,” she said.
“I believe it will be easier for women to share their story if they see it makes a difference in the workplace, in our national life, and in our parliament. That’s what keeps me speaking out – my determination to drive change.”
Higgins referenced those comments made by Prime Minister Scott Morrison last year, where he said he’d spoken to his wife Jenny about her allegations, who told him “he had to think about this as a father”.
“I didn’t want his sympathy as a father,” Higgins said. “I wanted him to use his power as Prime Minister.”
“His words wouldn’t matter if his actions had measured up.”
Higgins referred to the draft National Action Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children, saying it was too vague and lofty.
Grace Tame also began by talking about her experiences of child sexual abuse.
“I was targeted, stalked, isolated, groomed, and repeatedly raped as a minor by a known serial paedophile,” Tame said.
“Child sexual abuse is the epitome of evil. It is also disturbingly common. Perpetrated not by monsters on the fringes of society, but by everyday citizens, hiding in plain sight. One in six boys and one in four girls is abused before their 18th birthday.
“We tend to think of child sexual abuse in terms of physical acts but in reality it is mostly invisible, characterised by calculated, insidious, systematic psychological manipulation that leaves its survivors with lasting internalised complex trauma.”
Tame also spoke about receiving a “threatening phone call” from a senior member of a government funded organisation in August, asking for her word that she would not say anything “damning” about the Prime Minister at the next Australian of the Year Awards.
“Then I heard the words, “with an election coming soon…” she said.
“And it crystallised a fear. Fear for himself and no one else, a fear he might lose his position or, more to the point, his power. Sound familiar to anyone? Well, it does to me. I remember standing in the shadow of a trusted authority figure, being threatened in just the same veiled way. I remember him saying, “I will lose my job if anyone hears about that, and you would not want that, would you?”.
“What I wanted in that moment is the same thing I want right now, and that is an end to the darkness, an end to sexual violence, safety, equity, respect, a better future for all of us – piece, a future driven by unity and truth.
“When we act with integrity, the tide rises with us.”
Grace Tame concluded with three key asks of the government.
“The first is for a government that takes the issue of abuse in all its forms seriously. The second is for the implementation of adequate funding for prevention education to stop these things before they even start. The third is for national, consistent, structural change,” she said.
If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit www.1800RESPECT.org.au
In an emergency, call 000.
Support is available for those who may be distressed by phoning Lifeline 13 11 14; Mensline 1300 789 978; Kids Helpline 1800 551 800; beyondblue 1300 224 636.