At the height of controversy regarding Brittany Higgins’ allegation that she had been raped in then-defence minister Linda Reynolds’ office by a fellow Liberal staffer, Dutton said he was not aware of the “she said, he said details of the allegations”. Dutton’s language prompted a backlash from his political opponents, including a tweet published on 25 February by Bazzi claiming “Peter Dutton is a rape apologist”. Bazzi pasted a link to a June 2019 Guardian Australia article reporting comments the then-home affairs minister had made alleging women had been “trying it on” in claiming they were raped and needed an abortion as part of a ploy to get to Australia for medical treatment from refugee centres on Nauru.