Labor sources say PM’s office will back Katy Gallagher over Brittany Higgins texts

Labor sources close to the PM’s office say they are steadfastly behind Katy Gallagher, despite the embattled minister admitting she was tipped off in advance of Brittany Higgins rape allegations.

Under-fire Senator Katy Gallagher has admitted she was tipped off in advance of Brittany Higgins rape allegations becoming public, but has denied she misled parliament and rejected claims Labor “weaponised” the claim against the Morrison government.

In a brief and defiant press conference in Perth on Saturday, the Finance Minister said she had been “clear” and “honest”.

Labor figures continued to stand by the besieged senator, who has been under growing pressure after text messages emerged showing Ms Higgins and her partner David Sharaz discussed telling Ms Gallagher about the allegations four days before they became public in February 2021.

Senator Gallagher’s failure to front the media in recent days had led to speculation in Canberra about her future.

But Labor sources close to the PM’s office were making it clear that they were steadfastly behind Senator Gallagher and were well-prepared for a Coalition onslaught when parliament resumes on Monday.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher talks to the media on Saturday. Picture: Justin Benson-Cooper/The West Australian

Since the text messages were revealed last week Senator Gallagher has been under pressure to explain why she told a Senate Estimates hearing in June 2021 “no one had any knowledge” about the allegations until they became public.

“I was aware of some allegations in the days leading up to the choice of Miss Brittany Higgins to make those allegations public,” she said in Perth.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Picture: Sky News

“Mr Sharaz provided me with information. I think we’ve seen that in the paper in the last couple of days.

“I did nothing with that information. And I was clear about that at the time.”

She denied, however, that her comment “no one had any knowledge” of the allegations was misleading.

“The answer to the question about the allegation of mislead is no, I did not mislead the parliament,” she said.

Her statement, she said, had been “responding to an assertion that was being made by then-minister (Linda) Reynolds at the time, that we had known about this for weeks and had made a decision to weaponise it. That is not true”.

She said that she had told this to Senator Reynolds at the time, and that the then-defence minister had accepted her explanation.

“In terms of what I knew, I was aware of some allegations in the days leading up to the choice of Miss Brittany Higgins to make those allegations public and I think that was information that I shared with Senator Reynolds two years ago, which she also accepted at the time,” she said.

Senator Gallagher’s denials are unlikely to see the end of the matter, with Deputy Liberal Leader Sussan Ley saying the statements raised more questions than they answered.

“We now know, years on from these developments, that senior Labor figures were tipped off about this serious allegation,” Ms Ley said.

“Anthony Albanese, Penny Wong, Katy Gallagher and Tanya Plibersek all have serious questions to answer about what they knew, when they knew it and what they did about it.”

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Originally published as Labor sources say PM’s office will back Katy Gallagher over Brittany Higgins texts