Updated Bruce Lehrmann Pt2 * Reynolds Defamation Trial Current

[Kurve]

Here is PART 1

Historical Rape Allegation Against Fmr AG Christian Porter
The Alexander Matters matters

Just a reminder, this is the crime board and we need to be aware that there will be victims of crime either watching this thread or engaging in here from time to time. A degree of respect in all discussions is expected.

LINK TO TIMELINE
CJS INQUIRY
FINAL REPORT – BOARD OF INQUIRY – CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
Joint media statement – Chief Minister and Attorney-General



FIONA BROWN - AFFIDAVIT

 

[BFew]

Can you post the link to this source please? I don't recall seeing it.

Kurve See here and below from your post last week.

 

[Underarrest_]

Higgins didn't say she was r*ped for 2 years!

Is this right? Or she didn’t do a report?
Genuine question

 

[Festerz]

It would be a duty of care maybe found in the WHS policy the same as the conduct paperwork waiting on the table for B for a security breach.

An interesting part of the way in which Ministers' offices regard themselves as being outside the rules that apply to the rest of government (and society) can be found in the statement of security guard Nikola Anderson when explaining why she and her colleague let Lehrmann and Higgins into Parliament House after hours, despite Ms Higgins displaying obvious signs of heavy intoxication.

Not sure of the exact wording used, but Ms Anderson made it clear that APH security staff believed they were not to interfere with the after hours entry of authorised Ministerial staff into Parliament House.

Also interesting was the reaction of her colleague security guard Mark Fairweather when Bruce Lehrmann rushed out of the building leaving his female colleague with whom he entered alone:

“As a man walked past me. I said... ‘Oi, Are you coming back?’ . He said ‘No’, I observed that he said this hastily.”

“I wanted to ask him questions about the woman because I wanted to secure the suite.”

When Nikola Anderson was sent to do a welfare check about 90 minutes later and reported to Fairweather that she had found Ms Higgins 'naked and she had her you-know-what showing,‘’

Mr Fairweather said he then said, “I f**king knew it. That’s f**king typical. stating under oath in his affidavit to the Federal Court that:

“I had a thought when the man and the woman were going up to the suite that they may not have been going up to the suite to work. When Anderson told me that she found her naked I thought they had had sex or had been drinking rather than working."

This is the culture that pervaded Parliament House in 2019. And the fact that the APH Security services felt powerless to intervene when they suspected a sexual encounter involving a heavily intoxicated woman was about to take place is damning. It was that culture which enabled the rape of Ms Higgins and one of the reasons for the large compensation payment awarded to her by the Solicitor General.

It was a workplace standard and culture that not only breached prevailing WHS laws but was also an unsafe workplace for many young women (and men), as was subsequently revealed in the Jenkins' Report.

 

[BFew]

Do these idiot tweeters realise they are only helping Reynolds cause?

No.
Linda taking the case to defamation court is the direct catalyst for all the additional promotion and publicity.
Think you need to reassess whether your chicken came before your egg matey.

 

[BFew]

Higgins could have just admitted she lied and avoided all this.

Lied about what?

 

[Kurve]

Higgins didn't say she was r*ped for 2 years!

That's not true.

 

[Kurve]

Is this right? Or she didn’t do a report?
Genuine question

No it's not correct and has been removed.

Edit: Now restored given there are engagements against it

 

[Kurve]

Calm down! It was a legit question.

You're the one whose shouting

Irrespective, Reynolds and Higgins were in each other's pocket in Perth and seemed to have a good time based on the photos and Higgins' texts (which contradict The Project / Maiden articles). How does anyone know their interactions?

One photo where she's out to dinner sitting next to Reynolds does not prove they were in each other's pockets the whole time, when she had sick days over the time she was there and expressed anger and disappointment to trusted friends.

 

[big_e]

Just for the record, the incident occurred on the night of 22/23 March 2019, she gave an informal statement to the Federal Police at Parliament House on 27 March 2019 and was formally interviewed by the AFP on 1 April 2019.

 

[Festerz]

Just for the record, the incident occurred on the night of 22/23 March 2019, she gave an informal statement to the Federal Police at Parliament House on 27 March 2019 and was formally interviewed by the AFP on 1 April 2019.

Yep.

It says something about attitudes to sexual assault in this country doesn’t it, when after three high profile court cases and a fourth currently underway, the independently verified statement and experiences of the rape survivor are falsely represented and/or ignored.

Can’t work out if it’s blatant misogyny or wilful victim blaming ignorance. Most probably both in this case and an indicator of just how far we have to go in combatting toxic attitudes towards sexual assault and domestic violence in Australia.

 

[Underarrest_]

A few facts of clarification.

Not sure where you work or have worked but my guess is that it is nowhere near a working relationship with a Ministerial Office.

Because I have - working adjacent to (but not for) both Liberal and Labor Premiers and Ministers in SA and a couple of Federal Government Ministers in various segments of my career.

The people who are employed in these offices are, in the main, employed on separate term contracts that tie them to the term of office of the political party that employs them with a new contract being negotiated at the commencement of each new term of office. They are political staffers NOT public servants and they (mostly) seek and are able to gain employment within the office of Ministers because of their alignment to the Minister that employs them and/or the political party that is in government. Loyalty to the party and the Minister they serve is the key requirement here - measured in terms of keeping highly sensitive and political information and negotiations secret and being expected to work very long and unusual hours at the behest of their Minister.

As a result of this, and the fact the number of staff in each Ministerial Office is relatively small (less than a dozen in terms of Reynolds' Parliamentary Office iirc), a very close and personal bond is usually present between staff and their Minister.

It is nothing like working in a 'Top Fortune 500 company' (lol) or government department but more like a family business I guess. Hence my question about Minister Reynolds' personally following up on the welfare of one of her staffers after an alleged sexcual assault is not out of the ordinary at all. In fact it would be expected.

It also explains why Ms Higgins had a heightened sense of awareness about how the revelation of her rape might affect her relationship with her Minister and her future employment prospects, particularly with a Federal election looming.

I hope that explains the relevance of my questions about Senator Reynolds' behaviour subsequent to being informed of the rape allegations.

It is a context that is imho critical to understanding Ms Higgins state of mind following her rape.

EDIT: The unique characteristics of working within Ministerial offices and the culture it creates, including an expectation of keeping quiet when it comes to matters of personal impropriety and why the extensive allegations of sexual assault and bullying within Parliamentary workplaces have previously gone unreported, gets a thorough and harsh going over in the 2021 Jenkins' Report of Parliamentary Workplaces that was commissioned by Scott Morrison after the allegations of Ms Higgins rape surfaced in the media.

Set the Standard: Report on the Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces (2021)

Conducted by the Australian Human Rights Commission and led by the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, the Review was asked to make recommendations to ensure that Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces are safe and respectful and that the nation’s Parliament reflects best practice in prevention and...

humanrights.gov.au

Excellent report.

 

[Kurve]

I don't think I have even commented on the pyschiatrist reports and neither has Figjam to my knowledge. I'm not sure of their relevance either for what its worth.

You might be correct here, I was equating the psychiatric reports as equally irrelevant to this defamation trial as Lee's findings/reports in a previous trial.

 

[FIGJAM]

You're the one whose shouting

Are you getting me confused with someone else? This is the post you quoted:

I'm sorry, but would this be a normal requirement for any boss?

 

[Kurve]

Are you getting me confused with someone else? This is the post you quoted:

I wasn't addressing that.

 

[campbell]

Yep.

It says something about attitudes to sexual assault in this country doesn’t it, when after three high profile court cases and a fourth currently underway, the independently verified statement and experiences of the rape survivor are falsely represented and/or ignored.

Can’t work out if it’s blatant misogyny or wilful victim blaming ignorance. Most probably both in this case and an indicator of just how far we have to go in combatting toxic attitudes towards sexual assault and domestic violence in Australia.

Imo, its varied.

A lot do not believe anyone is r*ped. They believe the women lie.
Maybe due to feeling empathy for the male.

 

[GrayRanga]

An interesting part of the way in which Ministers' offices regard themselves as being outside the rules that apply to the rest of government (and society) can be found in the statement of security guard Nikola Anderson when explaining why she and her colleague let Lehrmann and Higgins into Parliament House after hours, despite Ms Higgins displaying obvious signs of heavy intoxication.

Not sure of the exact wording used, but Ms Anderson made it clear that APH security staff believed they were not to interfere with the after hours entry of authorised Ministerial staff into Parliament House.

Also interesting was the reaction of her colleague security guard Mark Fairweather when Bruce Lehrmann rushed out of the building leaving his female colleague with whom he entered alone:

“As a man walked past me. I said... ‘Oi, Are you coming back?’ . He said ‘No’, I observed that he said this hastily.”

“I wanted to ask him questions about the woman because I wanted to secure the suite.”

When Nikola Anderson was sent to do a welfare check about 90 minutes later and reported to Fairweather that she had found Ms Higgins 'naked and she had her you-know-what showing,‘’

Mr Fairweather said he then said, “I f**king knew it. That’s f**king typical. stating under oath in his affidavit to the Federal Court that:

“I had a thought when the man and the woman were going up to the suite that they may not have been going up to the suite to work. When Anderson told me that she found her naked I thought they had had sex or had been drinking rather than working."

This is the culture that pervaded Parliament House in 2019. And the fact that the APH Security services felt powerless to intervene when they suspected a sexual encounter involving a heavily intoxicated woman was about to take place is damning. It was that culture which enabled the rape of Ms Higgins and one of the reasons for the large compensation payment awarded to her by the Solicitor General.

It was a workplace standard and culture that not only breached prevailing WHS laws but was also an unsafe workplace for many young women (and men), as was subsequently revealed in the Jenkins' Report.

Thank you for these posts, it is really positive to read something that is well reasoned with personal experience and knowledge to back it up rather than reading people's half formed opinions based on the "vibe".

 

[jason_recliner]

A few facts of clarification.

Not sure where you work or have worked but my guess is that it is nowhere near a working relationship with a Ministerial Office. Be thankful for that.

Because I have - working adjacent to (but not for) both Liberal and Labor Premiers and Ministers in SA and a couple of Federal Government Ministers in various segments of my career.

The people who are employed in these offices are, in the main, employed on separate term contracts that tie them to the term of office of the political party that employs them with a new contract being negotiated at the commencement of each new term of office. They are political staffers NOT public servants and they (mostly) seek and are able to gain employment within the office of Ministers because of their alignment to the Minister that employs them and/or the political party that is in government. Loyalty to the party and the Minister they serve is the key requirement here - measured in terms of keeping highly sensitive and political information and negotiations secret and being expected to work very long and unusual hours at the behest of their Minister.

As a result of this, and the fact the number of staff in each Ministerial Office is relatively small (less than a dozen in terms of Reynolds' Parliamentary Office iirc), a very close and personal bond is usually present between staff and their Minister.

It is nothing like working in a 'Fortune 500 company' (lol) or government department but more like a family business I guess. Hence my question about Minister Reynolds' personally following up on the welfare of one of her staffers after an alleged sexcual assault is not out of the ordinary at all. In fact it would be expected.

It also explains why Ms Higgins had a heightened sense of awareness about how the revelation of her rape might affect her relationship with her Minister and her future employment prospects, particularly with a Federal election looming.

I hope that explains the relevance of my questions about Senator Reynolds' behaviour subsequent to being informed of the rape allegations.

It is a context that is imho critical to understanding Ms Higgins state of mind following her rape.

EDIT: The unique characteristics of working within Ministerial offices and the culture it creates, including an expectation of keeping quiet when it comes to matters of personal impropriety and why the extensive allegations of sexual assault and bullying within Parliamentary workplaces have previously gone unreported, gets a thorough and harsh going over in the 2021 Jenkins' Report of Parliamentary Workplaces that was commissioned by Scott Morrison after the allegations of Ms Higgins rape surfaced in the media.

Set the Standard: Report on the Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces (2021)

Conducted by the Australian Human Rights Commission and led by the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, the Review was asked to make recommendations to ensure that Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces are safe and respectful and that the nation’s Parliament reflects best practice in prevention and...

humanrights.gov.au

Thanks, that's very useful insight. Condolences on working in SA - I've also done time there. Can you advise, please:

Who is the employer/organisation/body corporate paying Higgins and other advisors? Is it the Minister? Does he/she have an ABN? And each Minister leases a workplace (part of PH) from the owner of PH (presumably the Commonwealth)? Does the Commonwealth employ Ministers, advisors, and other PH staff? And owns the workplace?

Thanks

 

[Festerz]

Thanks, that's very useful insight. Condolences on working in SA - I've also done time there. Can you advise, please:

Who is the employer/organisation/body corporate paying Higgins and other advisors? Is it the Minister? Does he/she have an ABN? And each Minister leases a workplace (part of PH) from the owner of PH (presumably the Commonwealth)? Does the Commonwealth employ Ministers, advisors, and other PH staff? And owns the workplace?

Thanks

Cheers.

Done some piece work contract stuff for Ministers but have never been employed as a Ministerial staffer or a pay administrator so I can't speak from experience other than to say that (apart from a few exceptions) Ministerial staff are paid out of consolidated revenue just like permanent public servants. As are the salaries and expenses of Ministers.

The employment and pay details are normally handled out of the Dept of Finance, again just like public servants, albeit according to separate statutes and EB agreements applicable to them. It's not something that Ministers or even their CoS get involved with. The workplaces are Commonwealth workplaces just like the buildings where public servants work.

Tightening up some of these workplace agreements and giving better HR support to Ministerial and Parliamentary workplaces is one of the things covered in the Jenkins' Report I linked earlier.

This document is basic but sets out the general operating conditions pretty clearly with links to more detailed stuff.

https://www.apsc.gov.au/publication/operating-environment-ministerial-office#:~:text=Ministerial%20staff%20are%20employed%20under,of%20the%20House%20of%20Representatives.

(Edit: I could tell some stories of appalling work place bullying I observed first hand by Ministers and their senior staff of younger employees but for self preservation reasons I won't. .).

 

[campbell]

Cheers.

Done some piece work contract stuff for Ministers but have never been employed as a Ministerial staffer or a pay administrator so I can't speak from experience other than to say that (apart from a few exceptions) Ministerial staff are paid out of consolidated revenue just like permanent public servants. As are the salaries and expenses of Ministers.

The employment and pay details are normally handled out of the Dept of Finance, again just like public servants, albeit according to separate statutes and EB agreements applicable to them. It's not something that Ministers or even their CoS get involved with. The workplaces are Commonwealth workplaces just like the buildings where public servants work.

Tightening up some of these workplace agreements and giving better HR support to Ministerial and Parliamentary workplaces is one of the things covered in the Jenkins' Report I linked earlier.

This document is basic but sets out the general operating conditions pretty clearly with links to more detailed stuff.

https://www.apsc.gov.au/publication/operating-environment-ministerial-office#:~:text=Ministerial%20staff%20are%20employed%20under,of%20the%20House%20of%20Representatives.

(Edit: I could tell some stories of appalling work place bullying I observed first hand by Ministers and their senior staff of younger employees but for self preservation reasons I won't. .).

They are Federal Government employment contract.

 

[Percel]

Thanks, that's very useful insight. Condolences on working in SA - I've also done time there. Can you advise, please:

Who is the employer/organisation/body corporate paying Higgins and other advisors? Is it the Minister? Does he/she have an ABN? And each Minister leases a workplace (part of PH) from the owner of PH (presumably the Commonwealth)? Does the Commonwealth employ Ministers, advisors, and other PH staff? And owns the workplace?

Thanks

Fortune 500 is up there with the best in this thread

 

[Festerz]

I consider their value is to the NACC (if admissable).

The same NACC that refused to take any action on the multiple referrals from the RoboDebt Royal Commission?

You're getting sucked in by the headline seeking showboating of Reynolds' dodgy lawyer, mate.

 

[Festerz]

Fortune 500 is up there with the best in this thread

I see Costco comes in at No. 11 in the Fortune 500.

I sure hope the folks who work at my local Costco warehouse are pleased with that.

 

[BFew]

I see Costco comes in at No. 11 in the Fortune 500.

I sure hope the folks who work at my local Costco warehouse are pleased with that.

I'll be saying "Hi Figjam" to all my Amazon home delivery drivers, and the customer service reps whenever I call or visit an Apple store.

 

[Kurve]

The same NACC that refused to take any action on the multiple referrals from the RoboDebt Royal Commission?

You're getting sucked in by the headline seeking showboating of Reynolds' dodgy lawyer, mate.

Yep, I've read legal opinion elsewhere that the referral to the NACC will go nowhere.

 

[Festerz]

I'll be saying "Hi Figjam" to all my Amazon home delivery drivers, and the customer service reps whenever I call or visit an Apple store.

There should be a badge. 'I work in a Top 500 company'.

Although to be honest the guys who work at the furnace end of these Fortune 500 multi-nationals are the ones that deserve all the credit. And they couldn't give a flying feck about Fortune 500 BS.