There was a security breach in Linda Reynolds’ office prior to the alleged rape.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
A departmental liaison officer then reported the security breach to the minister’s chief of staff and the Department of Defence the next day. Ms Higgins alleges she was sexually assaulted by the man two days later,on the night of March 22,on the couch of the Minister’s office in Parliament House.
Appearing in a Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday,Defence assistant secretary Katherine Jones also revealed that there was no security breach recorded in relation to the night of the alleged rape.
Senator Reynolds has previously suggested there was “unauthorised access” to her office on the night of the alleged assault on March 22. But Ms Jones confirmed only one security breach was recorded to the department inside Senator Reynolds’ office in 2019 and that was the earlier incident on March 19.
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Asked whether the access on the night of March 22 was a security breach,she said:“From the perspective of Defence,no.”
A security guard who was working on the night of the alleged assault,Nikola Anderson,this weekquestioned the Morrison government’s apparent assertion that there had been any kind of security breach on that night.
“What was the security breach? ... These two people worked for Minister Reynolds,they were allowed access in there,which is why we granted it,” Ms Anderson told the ABC’sFour Corners program.