Full account Tracing the Brittany Higgins case

As more details emerge of how the government handled Brittany Higgins’ alleged rape, crossbenchers are calling for a permanent independent body to examine abuse accusations.

In Parliament House, the phones are ringing. Former staff recount, to those willing to listen, how they were bullied, sexually harassed and forced out of their jobs with no proper recourse.

Those receiving the calls, including independent MPs Zali Steggall and Helen Haines, and Centre Alliance’s Rebekha Sharkie, have told the government things need to change.

The three crossbench MPs are among those who want to dismantle what has been labelled a don’t-ask-don’t-tell culture that has long permeated the halls of Parliament House.

They believe the proposed independent inquiry into the parliamentary workplace is the way to do that.

Sharkie wants that inquiry to consider a mandatory reporting code inside the parliamentary precinct, so anyone witnessing bullying, harassment or evidence of sexual assault is legally obliged to speak up.

“I really think there’s merit in exploring that,” Sharkie tells The Saturday Paper.

“We expect it of childcare workers on the minimum wage.”

Steggall says there needs to be “a real flushing out of all of the experiences and all the stories”.

She, Sharkie and Haines have had calls from former staff across the political spectrum.

“And not only from staffers but people associated with coming to the building,” says Haines. “People who are associated with other groups, people who mix with MPs and their staff. So, if I’m thinking about a terms of reference then it needs to be broad reaching, so [it includes] anyone who has a professional reason to be in Canberra in the federal parliament.”

Steggall says that includes “the press gallery, young lobbyists for a not-for-profit organisation, bright-eyed, idealistic… Where would they go to with their complaint?”

A mandatory reporting code might have delivered a very different outcome for Brittany Higgins, a former ministerial staffer who alleges she was raped by a more senior colleague in the early hours of Saturday,

March 23, 2019, on the couch in the office of