Key Points
- Brittany Higgins has broken down while watching CCTV footage of herself at a parliament security checkpoint.
- The former Liberal Party staffer was delivering testimony in court for a second day as part of the trial.
Warning: The story below contains references to allegations of rape.
Brittany Higgins has told a court she is not ashamed of going public with details of her alleged rape before reopening her complaint with the police.
Ms Higgins is being cross-examined in the ACT Supreme Court criminal trial of Bruce Lehrmann, who has pleaded not guilty to sexual intercourse without consent.
Defence lawyer Steven Whybrow put to Ms Higgins she told the media about her alleged rape two years after it occurred because she wanted to damage the Liberal Party.
Ms Higgins said she wanted changes to address systemic problems about the treatment of women in Parliament House.
"I loved my party, I loved the Liberal Party," she said on Thursday.
Former Liberal Party staffer Bruce Lehrmann is accused of raping a colleague Brittany Higgins at Parliament House in 2019. He denies having sex with her and has pleaded not guilty. Source: AAP / MICK TSIKAS
She decided to go down two avenues to address the issues by talking to the media and to the police about her allegations.
"I stand by my choice. I'm not ashamed of that," she said.
Ms Higgins said once she had spoken to journalists Samantha Maiden and Lisa Wilkinson about her allegations the story became outside of her control.
"It became not even about me or my story, it became about them (the journalists)," she said.
"Once I'd given an on-the-record interview … it was out of my control … it was up to them."
Lisa Wilkinson was one of two journalists Brittany Higgins initially spoke to about her rape allegations. Source: AAP / BIANCA DE MARCHI
Ms Higgins originally wrote it for the police but it was given to particular journalists when she and her partner David Sharaz were overwhelmed with media inquiries.
She said those journalists then circulated the dossier to others, which was a "breach of trust".
Mr Whybrow put to Ms Higgins police had told her media reporting could jeopardise the case.
Ms Higgins thought she would do one print and one television interview about her experience and then never talk about it again.
She also did not think police would prosecute her argument or that the matter would end up in court.
"I thought I'd go back to uni and disappear," she said.
Court hears fears of causing 'problems' for Liberal Party
Ms Higgins told the court she originally did not go ahead with a police complaint in 2019, when the alleged rape happened, because she feared she would lose her job.
After dreaming of becoming a political media adviser, Ms Higgins feared she would lose that opportunity if she made a police complaint.
"My interpretation of that was that if I raised it with police there were going to be problems."
She wanted to keep working for the Liberals and assist during the federal election but also wanted to proceed with the complaint.
"It became really apparent it was my job on the line ... I'd gone my entire life working towards this moment," she said.
Both Brittany Higgins and Bruce Lehrmann were working for Senator Linda Reynolds when the alleged rape took place. Source: AAP / MICK TSIKAS
Ms Higgins worked with Linda Reynolds during the election but said she felt as though the Liberal senator did not like her because of the problems she had caused.
The jury was earlier shown footage from inside Parliament House on the night in March, 2019 that Ms Higgins alleges she was raped in the senator's office.
She cried in the witness box as the CCTV footage was played.
The trial continues on Friday.
If allegations set out in this story raise issues for you, or you or someone you know needs support - you can seek 24-hour help by calling 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visiting . In an emergency, call 000.
