Don’t make the rape allegations in Parliament House all about Scott Morrison

In the wake of the multiple allegations of rape and sexual harassment at Parliament House in the past weeks, attention has turned to the actions of Prime Minister Scott Morrison. This has focused on when Morrison first knew about the allegations (and whether he has lied about this), his response to the allegations when they came out (in particular saying that he had to ask his wife, Jenny, on how to think about the issue), and allegations that his office have been backgrounding against the first accuser Brittany Higgins.

It is right that Morrison, alongside other Ministers, answer questions about what has happened. These allegations happened in a Ministers office and the response has clearly been sub-par. As Prime Minister Morrison has a lot of power, both literally and in terms of his influence over the discussion about rape and sexual assault in our society. He should be held to account for his actions and his words.

Yet, in doing so it is increasingly becoming clear that the focus, at least in some circles, is turning almost solely toward Morrison. A lot of media focus in particular has been placed on whether Morrison knew about the allegations of rape and if he is lying about this. This has consumed a lot of attention, often making the story about that rather than the actual allegation of rape itself. More worryingly though, some are now trying to equate Morrison with the alleged rapist. Greens MP for Newtown Jenny Leong has posted a collection of photos of Morrison engaging in “unwanted handshakes” of a number of women (although it is unclear how many of them are unwanted) stating that “as the old saying goes, a fish rots from the head.” On Twitter, the hashtag #ScottyFromGilead is trending, a reference from the deeply sexually oppressive and sexist society in Margaret Atwood’s book The Handmaid’s Tale. Both of these examples suggest that Morrison is somehow not just doing a bad job in response to this, but that his actions are actually equivalent to those of the accused rapist. The story is simple: Morrison is the problem here.

The problem with this is threefold. First, Morrison is clearly not the only one who has failed. For example, on the night of the alleged rape security officers not only let Higgins and her accused rapist into the office in which it occurred but also did not raise the alarm after finding Higgins half-naked and disoriented hours later. Afterwards, Higgins was made to go to a meeting about the alleged rape in the same room in which it happened, furthering her trauma. The office in which it allegedly occurred was steam cleaned after, potentially removing evidence. There has been a litany of failures here, some potentially political in nature, and some plainly stupid. Focusing entirely on Morrison however means we wont be able to address the systemic changes that clearly need to happen following the case. 

Moreover, while Morrison’s response has clearly been not great, claiming that his actions are somehow the same as that of an accused rapist is well over-the-top. There are absolutely no allegations of Morrison committing rape, and no indication that he condones it. Morrison – the man who has now launched three separate investigations into the allegation -- is not some leader from Gilead forcing women to be raped for the good of the country. This discourse flattens two issues (Morrison’s political response and the literal rape of women), in turn diminishing the experiences of the women who have made these various serious allegations.

Worse, however, the focus on Scott Morrison is quickly turning this issue into a partisan one. The message is clearly that this is a problem of the Liberal Party, and even more specifically of the leader of that party. At the moment this seems to make sense. The allegations currently focus on the Liberals and in turn the leadership of Morrison. But we all know in reality this issue is unlikely confined to the Liberals. Rape and sexual assault in Parliament House and politics in general, has, no doubt, been happening well before Morrison, and is very likely happening/has happened in other parties as well. As has been seen all around the world rape and sexual assault is not a left or right issue, and the fish in fact rots from all parts of society.

For those trying to make this a partisan issue this will, likely, quickly become very awkward. As women feel more comfortable making allegations it is likely some will come out about other parties as well. We’ll quickly see how left-wing partisans respond to this and whether the ‘fish rots from the head’ when it comes to the leaders of left wing political parties as well.

But more seriously, if all we can do is talk about Scott Morrison then we are going to solve nothing. No systemic changes will be made because all politicians will see is a very strong need to make their political enemies pay while they survive accusations that pop up in their own organisations. What we’ll get instead of solutions therefore is constant political theater. An accusation within a party will be seen as a political threat, and in turn one to be covered up. Meanwhile as they appear in other parties there will be constant attempts to make political hay out of the issue, turning serious allegations into partisan slinging matches that will not take the needs or desires of any survivor into account.  

This is a fine balance. Leaders do need to be accountable for their actions in response to allegations of rape and sexual harassment in their organisations. But if this becomes a partisan slinging match then all we’ll get is political theatre with no actual change. Turning this story into being all about Scott Morrison, in particular with ridiculous notions that suggest that somehow he is the same (or even worse) as the rapist who committed these awful acts will lead us down this path.