Former Australian Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said she reassured Brittany Higgins about her employment and offered to accompany her to police after learning details of her rape allegation in February 2021. Higgins, a former Liberal Party staffer who worked in Cash's ministerial office from June 2019 until February 2021, maintained that she had disclosed the incident much earlier. The disagreement became a central question in the public examination of how Australian government officials responded to Higgins' account of being raped by former colleague Bruce Lehrmann at Parliament House in March 2019. Cash denied knowing the sexual nature of the incident before February 5, 2021, while Higgins testified that she had discussed it with Cash and senior staff in October 2019. Subsequent court proceedings established that Higgins was raped under the civil standard of proof, but did not establish that Cash participated in a political cover-up.
Who Is Michaelia Cash?
Michaelia Cash is an Australian Liberal Party politician who has represented Western Australia in the Senate since 2008.
During the Morrison government, she served as Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business before becoming Attorney-General and Minister for Industrial Relations in March 2021.
Cash became directly involved in the Brittany Higgins controversy because Higgins joined her ministerial staff after leaving the office of then-defence industry minister Linda Reynolds in 2019.
Her involvement later attracted scrutiny over when she learned about the alleged assault and what assistance she offered Higgins.
March 2019: Brittany Higgins Is Assaulted at Parliament House
On March 23, 2019, Brittany Higgins was raped by Bruce Lehrmann inside Linda Reynolds' ministerial office at Parliament House in Canberra.
Both Higgins and Lehrmann were political staff members working for Reynolds at the time.
Higgins initially contacted police about the incident but did not proceed with a formal criminal complaint in April 2019.
Following the May 2019 federal election, she transferred to Michaelia Cash's office, where she continued working until early 2021.
The circumstances surrounding the assault remained largely outside public view until Higgins disclosed her experience to the media in February 2021.
October 2019: The First Dispute Over What Cash Knew
The disagreement over Cash's knowledge centers on conversations that occurred in October 2019.
A journalist from The Canberra Times had contacted Reynolds' office seeking information about an incident involving political staff members earlier that year.
The inquiry was subsequently communicated to Cash's chief of staff, Daniel Try, prompting conversations with Higgins.
Cash acknowledged that she discussed the matter with Higgins but maintained that the alleged sexual assault was not disclosed to her during those conversations.
According to Cash, Higgins indicated that the earlier incident had been addressed and that she did not wish to pursue it further.
Higgins disputed that account. She later testified that she had informed Cash and Try about the sexual assault and discussed her dissatisfaction with how the incident had been handled.
During Federal Court proceedings in November 2023, Higgins also said Cash had assured her that the media inquiry would be handled and would not become a public controversy.
The competing accounts left an important factual disagreement about what information Cash possessed in October 2019.
February 5, 2021: Cash Says Higgins Disclosed the Rape
Cash maintained that she first learned the full nature of Higgins' allegation on February 5, 2021, after a journalist contacted her office seeking comment.
She said she subsequently spoke with Higgins, who disclosed details about the incident involving Lehrmann.
According to Cash, she assured Higgins that she could remain employed and that support would be available if she wished to pursue the matter.
Cash also offered to accompany Higgins to the Australian Federal Police and to help her raise the issue directly with then-prime minister Scott Morrison's office.
She maintained that Higgins declined those offers at the time and asked that her privacy be respected.
Cash further said she offered to relocate Higgins' employment position to Queensland and reluctantly accepted her resignation.
February 17, 2021: Michaelia Cash Addresses the Senate
On February 17, 2021, Cash publicly explained her response to Higgins' disclosure during proceedings in the Australian Senate.
She told senators that she wanted Higgins to remain in her job and had offered practical assistance, including support in approaching police.
Her statement came as Prime Minister Scott Morrison's government faced questions about how political offices handled sexual misconduct complaints involving parliamentary employees.
The central issue was whether the alleged assault had been known to senior government figures before Higgins made her experience public.
Cash maintained that earlier conversations in 2019 had not informed her of the alleged rape.
Brittany Higgins Says She Recorded Conversations With Cash
Further details emerged during Bruce Lehrmann's criminal trial in October 2022.
Higgins testified that she had secretly recorded a conversation with Cash in early 2021 and had also recorded a separate discussion with Daniel Try.
She said the recordings were intended to preserve evidence of what senior staff knew about the incident.
Higgins explained that she feared her account would be disputed because of the significant difference in political authority between herself and a cabinet minister.
She subsequently shared recordings with trusted contacts.
Cash also testified during the criminal trial on October 17, 2022. She again denied knowing about the sexual nature of the incident in October 2019.
Under questioning, Cash maintained that she had not attempted to prevent Higgins from approaching police or raising the allegation publicly.
The testimony demonstrated that the two women continued to provide conflicting accounts of their earlier conversations.
Federal Court Findings in the Brittany Higgins Case
The underlying rape allegation was examined in a separate civil defamation case brought by Bruce Lehrmann against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson.
On April 15, 2024, Federal Court Justice Michael Lee dismissed Lehrmann's claim after finding that the broadcaster had established the substantial truth of the central allegation.
The judge concluded, on the balance of probabilities, that Lehrmann had raped Higgins in Parliament House in March 2019.
That finding was made under the civil standard of proof, not the criminal standard requiring guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
Lehrmann's criminal trial in 2022 had ended without a verdict because of juror misconduct. Prosecutors subsequently discontinued the criminal proceedings.
On December 3, 2025, the Full Federal Court dismissed Lehrmann's appeal against the defamation judgment.
On April 9, 2026, the High Court of Australia refused his application for special leave to appeal, leaving the civil judgment undisturbed.
Lehrmann has denied raping Higgins and was not criminally convicted in the ACT proceedings.
Did Michaelia Cash Participate in a Political Cover-Up?
Higgins' testimony raised questions about whether Cash and other senior political staff had known about the assault well before its public disclosure.
Cash denied receiving the relevant details in 2019 and maintained that she had offered Higgins support once the allegation was explained to her.
The Federal Court's finding that Higgins was raped did not establish that Cash had deliberately concealed the allegation or prevented Higgins from reporting it.
In a separate defamation case involving Linda Reynolds, the Supreme Court of Western Australia found in August 2025 that certain social media statements made about Reynolds were defamatory.
Higgins discontinued her appeal against that ruling in October 2025.
Those proceedings concerned Reynolds' reputation and conduct, not a finding that Cash had engaged in wrongdoing.
Why Michaelia Cash's Statements Remain Significant
Cash's statements are important because they provide her account of how a senior government minister responded to an employee reporting a serious sexual assault.
She described offering employment reassurance, assistance with police reporting, and access to the Prime Minister's Office.
Higgins maintained that senior staff had received information much earlier, raising questions about the adequacy of the initial response and the handling of sensitive complaints within parliamentary workplaces.
The dispute remains a distinct issue from the Federal Court's finding that Higgins was raped. The judicial finding established the underlying assault under civil law but did not resolve every contested conversation between Higgins and Cash.
The case contributed to national scrutiny of workplace protections, complaint procedures, and institutional accountability within Australia's Parliament.
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