Brittany Higgins demands some great changes to be made about ‘Employee Protection’ from Scott Morrison
Former ministerial adviser Brittany Higgins met with Prime Minister Scott Morrison in person and demanded drastic changes to the Employee Protection Act in Parliament, saying she did not want anyone else to through what she had suffered.
Ms. Higgins initiated a national dialogue on the protection and treatment of women, especially in a political environment, after she went public with allegations she was raped by a colleague in a minister’s office at the Parliament House in March 2014.
On Friday, he met with Mr. Morrison to outline changes she wants to the Employees Employment Act, known as the MOP (S) Act, and to handle complaints about the political workplace and a “one-stop-shop” for human resource information.
In particular, she wants politicians to remove the power to dismiss workers at the scene or on the basis that MPs or senators have lost confidence or confidence in them – a clauses she is saying is very vague.
She told Mr. Morrison that she was driven by a desire to make sure that as a political employee “no other person would have to go through the trauma I suffered.”
“The culture of silence for a very long time has allowed us not to check for brutality, harassment and other inappropriate behavior in the workplace,” she told Mr. Morrison.
She said that political advisers had very little protection or way to solve any workplace problem and combined with the high-pressure environment they often conducted in a toxic workplace culture.
“I hope that this kind of discussion will translate into meaningful reforms to ensure that this kind of behavior is no longer tolerated. Cultural change is achieved when we stand up and say, “Enough is enough.”
Mr. Morrison said after the meeting they were both committed to reforming parliamentary workplaces.
“I am committed to achieving an independent process to address these difficult issues,” he said in a statement. “Ms. Higgins’ views and experience will be invaluable to the work of [Sex Discrimination] Commissioner Kate Jenkins. I acknowledge her courage in coming forward and cooperating in this work. ”
