Liberal Senator Michaelia Cash has denied that allegations one of her staff members had sexually assaulted another would have been “politically embarrassing” while giving evidence in the trial of Bruce Lehrmann today.
Mr Lehrmann is accused of raping Brittany Higgins inside Parliament House after a drunken night out with colleagues.
He has pleaded not guilty.
Ms Higgins worked for Senator Cash from June 2019 until February 2021.
This morning in court, Senator Cash said she was not told about the “sexual element” of the alleged assault until February 2021, when Ms Higgins tried to resign.
“Not a sexual element, no,” Senator Cash said.
Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold asked Senator Cash if she was aware of the alleged incident earlier than she had said.
“The question is, I’m putting to you that you were aware, you were fully aware in October 2019 that Brittany Higgins had made an allegation that she was sexually assaulted by Bruce Lehrmann,” he said.
“I can’t accept that,” Senator Cash said.
“I don’t accept that.”
Mr Drumgold asked Senator Cash if it would be a political issue for her party if the allegations were to be released publicly.
“Absolutely not… I don’t know how it could be politically embarrassing,” she responded.
Mr Drumgold also asked Senator Cash if she denied any knowledge of the event in court.
“Are you familiar with the term plausible deniability?” Mr Drumgold asked.
“I’m not quite sure what you’re referring to,” Senator Cash responded.
“Plausible deniability with regard to an allegation of sexual assault by one staff member against another staff member in a government minister’s office,” he said.
“I do apologise, I don’t understand what you’re trying to ask me,” Senator Cash said.
“I’m suggesting that you were aware of what Ms Higgins alleged during the course of her employment with you.” Mr Drumgold said.
Senator Cash denied that she had heard of the alleged sexual assault earlier than February 5, 2021, and said she had offered support to Ms Higgins to go to the police.
‘I was surprised she was upset’
Senator Cash’s chief of staff Daniel Try also appeared as a witness in court today.
Mr Try was asked if one of the duties of a political chief of staff was to protect against political fallout.
He said it was, but he did not know about Ms Higgins’s alleged sexual assault until early 2021.
“This was an event I didn’t have any knowledge of at that time,” he said.
He told the court he was called by then defence minister Linda Reynolds in October of 2019 after a media enquiry had been made about the alleged rape.
“Linda Reynolds called me — she basically said she was about to send someone around from her office to talk to Brittany because there had been a media enquiry about an incident that happened in Linda’s office when Brittany worked for her,” he said.
“It really came out of the blue.
“You usually don’t have a minister from another office calling you directly.”
When asked what Senator Reynolds told Mr Try, he said the conversation was vague.
“Didn’t go into detail but said it wasn’t Brittany’s fault, basically — looking back it seems she was careful not to go into detail,” he said.
However, Mr Try maintained that he did not know about the alleged assault until early 2021 when Ms Higgins told him in a meeting in his office.
“In this particular circumstance, I was actually quite surprised that she was so upset — I don’t think I’d ever seen Brittany cry so much before.”
‘A super f****d up thing that happened’
Queensland politician and friend of Ms Higgins’s, Sam O’Connor, was also called to the stand.
He told the court Ms Higgins told him about the alleged assault in April 2019, and it made him “very angry”.
“I think she described it as a ‘super f****d up thing that happened,” he told the court.
Mr O’Connor said he had discussed with Ms Higgins what allegedly happened on that night many times after she first told him.
“I definitely remember her being concerned that this would define her, that she would be known for this instead of being good at her job,” he said.
The trial has entered its third week.
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