Independent body needed to deal with allegations by Canberra parliamentary staff, review finds

A senior official in the prime minister's department recommends a serious incident team be set up following Brittany Higgins' allegation

Parliamentary staff in Canberra need a new independent complaints mechanism to deal with incidents of alleged sexual assault and harassment along with serious bullying, a review has found.

The Foster report, released on Friday, found a so-called serious incident team should be developed to deal with sexual assault such as that alleged by Brittany Higgins who claims she was raped in a minister's office by a colleague in 2019.