Former prime minister Scott Morrison first learnt about the allegation Brittany Higgins was raped through The Project, telling a court he thought it was “absolutely outrageous” for a minister to call a vulnerable female staff member a “lying cow”.
Mr Morrison made the comments during his evidence in the defamation trial between his former defence minister senator Linda Reynolds and Ms Higgins on Tuesday.
During questioning by Ms Higgins’ defence lawyer, Mr Morrison told the court he publicly rebuffed the senator’s “lying cow” comment because it was unacceptable for a minister to make the comment about anyone.
Mr Morrison found Senator Reynolds’ comment extremely out of character.
Senator Reynolds is suing Ms Higgins and her husband David Sharaz over social media posts the couple made in 2022 and 2023.
The posts were critical of Senator Reynolds’ handling of Ms Higgins’ allegation she was raped in Parliament House in 2019 by her then colleague Mr Lehrmann.
He was charged with rape and faced trial in 2022, but the trial was aborted due to juror misconduct.
The charge was dropped and Mr Lehrmann continues to maintain his innocence.
Mr Morrison told the court during his evidence that he first found out about Ms Higgins’ allegations through The Project.
While Mr Morrison said he was initially disappointed he had not been told about the incident in the senator’s office, he later learnt that Senator Reynolds chose not to tell out of confidence she entered into with Ms Higgins.
“That was the dilemma,” he said.
Mr Morrison told the court that allegations of sexual assault and the way it had been handled were two separate but very important issues.
After learning about the incident, he ordered reviews into workplace processes and culture at Parliament House to improve practices that were in place.
He said it was not OK that Ms Higgins felt unsupported and that was never in dispute or an issue.
“I never saw that as a failure of Senator Reynolds but a failure for each of them,” he said.
The trial continues on Wednesday with the senator’s former media adviser Nicole Hamer expected to take the witness stand.
Last week, the senator told the court there was an altercation between the group that led to Ms Hamer sending a resignation letter to Senator Reynolds that she later revoked.
It happened on the day Senator Reynolds was sworn in as the minister for defence industry after Steven Ciobo resigned.