More women make assault claims

MORE women have come forward to make complaints about the former federal government staffer who allegedly raped a colleague in Parliament House.

But Scott Morrison is refusing to say if he will release the findings of an investigation into what his advisers knew about the shocking incident involving Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins two years ago in the office of then-defence industry minister Linda Reynolds. On Monday, another woman alleged the adviser who allegedly raped Ms Higgins had sexually assaulted her after a night of drinking during the 2016 election campaign.

The woman, who was a Coalition volunteer, told The Australian the man bought her several drinks and she vomited in a nightclub bathroom before he took her back to his hotel.

She alleged she woke up with the staffer “lying on top” of her, and she was bleeding.

Another woman told the ABC the alleged perpetrator was “really sleazy”, accusing him of stroking her thigh while they drank with colleagues at a Canberra bar in 2017.

Labor frontbencher Michelle Rowland said it was “deeply disturbing” that there appeared to be “an alleged serial rapist on the loose in the ministerial wing of Parliament House”, as she and her colleagues cast doubt over the Prime Minister’s claim he did not learn of Ms Higgins’s allegations until last Monday.

Ms Higgins is expected to make a formal statement to Australian Federal Police on Wednesday after deciding to pursue criminal charges against the alleged perpetrator.