Katy Gallagher insists she did ‘absolutely nothing’ with information about Higgins case

Katy Gallagher has delivered a statement in parliament to explain her side of the story in the Brittany Higgins controversy.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher has spoken in parliament to reject allegations she misled the Senate over what she knew about Brittany Higgins’ alleged rape before the story broke.

The Labor frontbencher delivered a statement in the upper house on Tuesday to explain her side of the story after the Coalition flagged it would use the parliamentary fortnight to attack the government over the issue.

Senator Gallagher confirmed she had been “provided with information” about Ms Higgins’ complaint in the days before it was made public in firstly online then in a TV interview on February 15, 2021.

“I did nothing with that information. Absolutely nothing. I was asked to keep it to myself and I did,” Senator Gallagher said on Tuesday.

Senator Gallagher has been at the centre of a media storm over the past week following the publication of leaked text messages between Ms Higgins and her partner David Sharaz, a former press gallery journalist.

The messages suggest Mr Sharaz had contacted Senator Gallagher before Ms Higgins came forward publicly to allege she had been raped by a fellow Liberal staffer in 2019 in the office of her boss, then-defence Minister Linda Reynolds.

The messages call into question Senator Gallagher’s earlier claim that “no one” in Labor had been aware of Ms Higgins’ complaint before it became public knowledge.

Senator Katy Gallagher has made a statement in the Senate at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Senator Gallagher made the claim during a Senate Estimates hearing in June 2021, after Senator Reynolds accused Labor senators of having been secretly briefed on Ms Higgins’ rape allegation before the story broke.

In response to Senator Reynolds’ assertion, Senator Gallagher said: “No one had any knowledge. How dare you. It’s all about protecting yourself.”

Senator Gallagher used her statement on Tuesday to directly address the contested Senate Estimates hearing.

“(Senator Reynolds said) ‘I was told by one of your senators, two weeks before, about what you were intending to do with this story in my office’,” Senator Gallagher said.

“I was shocked at the assertion made by Senator Reynolds with the clear implication that I was responsible or had some involvement with making that story public.

“That was not true. It was never true.

“And I responded to that allegation by saying no one had any knowledge. I explained that to Senator Reynolds in a wide-ranging private meeting that night.”

Senator Gallagher insisted she had been guided at all times by Ms Higgins’ “bravery and courage” in deciding to speak out about her alleged sexual assault in her workplace.

“I have always acted ethically and with basic human decency on all matters related to that, and I will continue to do so,” Senator Gallagher said.

“I take my responsibilities as a senator for the ACT seriously and act with integrity and that integrity is something I’ve displayed throughout my career.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has backed Senator Gallagher. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Later, under pressure in question time, the Finance Minister repeatedly declined to give further details about her contact with Mr Sharaz or Ms Higgins.

“I’m not going to stand here and go through private conversations of a very, very difficult time in her life,” she told the Senate.

“A person who has had her privacy breached in the most egregious way over the last two years.”

With the Coalition ramping up its claims Labor used Ms Higgins’ alleged sexual assault for political leverage, Senator Gallagher first addressed the leaked text messages on Saturday.

She said she had been informed of some details “in the days leading up” to the broadcast of Ms Higgins’ television interview with Network Ten’s The Project in February 2021.

But Senator Gallagher said she “did nothing with that information” and her claim “no one” had any knowledge of Ms Higgins’ complaint was in response to Senator Reynolds’ assertion Labor had planned to “weaponise” it.

At the same time as Senator Gallagher was addressing the Senate on Tuesday, former prime minister Scott Morrison took to his feet in the lower house to speak about his own involvement in the Higgins case.

Mr Morrison made his first public response after The Weekend Australian newspaper published an interview with Fiona Brown, who had been Ms Reynolds’ chief of staff at the time of Ms Higgins’ alleged rape.

Ms Brown told the publication Mr Morrison had misled the parliament when he was prime minister by saying they had spoken about Ms Higgins’ rape allegation, when at that time they had not.

Speaking in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Mr Morrison said reading the interview was the “first occasion” he’d been made aware that Ms Brown had “a different account of events” to his.

“I became aware of the incident involving Ms Higgins on Monday February 15, 2021,” he said, referring to the day Ms Higgins’ first interviews with news.com.au and The Project went live.

Mr Morrison said it had been an “extremely busy week”, and that he had been busy addressing Covid-19 and the advancement of AUKUS at the time.

“While my recollection differed to that of Ms Brown, given there’s more than two years that have passed … while I believe my response to be accurate at the time, I cannot obviously fully discount her recollection of those events with a more accurate one,” Mr Morrison said.

“However, I reject absolutely any suggestion of deliberate intent in any such possible inaccuracy in my response.”

Mr Morrison said allegations of sexual violence against women “should be addressed in our justice system” and not “cynically prosecuted in the public square for politics, as it sadly and increasingly is”.

The Opposition has been demanding Senator Gallagher answer questions about what she knew about Ms Higgins’ allegations before they became public. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Mr Morrison’s and Senator Gallagher’s respective statements come a day after some media outlets published leaked audio from a five-hour pre-interview meeting Ms Higgins took part in before her interview with The Project in February 2021.

Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz were both present at the pre-interview meeting with Lisa Wilkinson, who was the host of The Project at the time, and Ms Wilkinson’s producer.

Ms Higgins was reportedly captured on tape saying she had been “too scared” to immediately go to police in 2019 after Bruce Lehrmann allegedly raped her.

Mr Lehrmann has always strenuously maintained his innocence. His criminal trial in the ACT Supreme Court last year was derailed by juror misconduct and prosecutors later dropped the charge against him.

Anthony Albanese and senior Labor ministers are standing by Senator Gallagher, with the Prime Minister accusing Coalition MPs of having concocted a “bizarre conspiracy theory” about the Higgins matter.

“One would have thought that just weeks after handing down a budget they would be concentrating on the economy,” the Prime Minister told ABC Radio earlier on Tuesday.

“We’ll continue to do our job and we won’t be distracted by these sort of campaigns.”

Originally published as Katy Gallagher insists she did ‘absolutely nothing’ with information about Higgins case