Now,a day after meeting Prime Minister Scott Morrison – and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese – in Sydney’s Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices,Ms Higgins pauses for a moment to gather her thoughts when asked about the enormity of being thrust into the national spotlight.
“It has been surreal,it has been devastating and like I said in the meeting[with the Prime Minister] this has altered my life forever. It will have a life-long impact on my trajectory,about where I will go and what I will do. That’s a privilege and it’s also very sad,” she tellsThe Sun-Herald andThe Sunday Age.
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“I was so isolated and disempowered and I felt fundamentally alone in the shame of this horrible event. Now I’ve come to terms with it and I’m able to speak about it and that’s been quite healing.”
Possessed of a preternatural poise and courage beyond her years – an idea Ms Higgins dismisses,declaring “I’m quite normal” – she expresses careful disappointment about the lack of concrete outcomes arising from her meeting with the Prime Minister and the not-quite apology in a room in which three lawyers,including a neutral observer,were present.
Mr Morrison thanked Ms Higgins for her service to the Liberal Party in government but,as she puts it,both parties danced around the specifics of the alleged rape – and who knew what,when,and in which offices – because of the delicate legal situation and ongoing investigation.
“At the start of the meeting he made a concession that he was sorry for my feelings,but it was a qualified apology. It doesn’t really mean much.[But] I don’t think he can apologise for the conduct of the Minister,of the office and so,within the confines of our limited conversation. That was as far as he could go or as far he was willing to go,” she says.