Anthony Albanese says claims Senator Katy Gallagher knew about Higgins’ allegations are a ‘bizarre conspiracy’

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has rubbished claims Senator Katy Gallagher misled Parliament over what she knew about Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has slammed claims Senator Katy Gallagher misled Parliament over what she knew about Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation as a “bizarre conspiracy.”

As the Coalition prepares to target the Finance Minister and Labor during question time, Mr Albanese is backing her to the hilt.

He said the real questions were around how the Morrison Government mishandled the issue and not about how Ms Higgins’ boyfriend tipped off Senator Gallagher.

“This is absurd,” he said.

“It’s a bizarre conspiracy theory – this concocted issue by what is a desperate Liberal opposition looking for any issue.

“Katy Gallagher has been transparent.”

Anthony Albanese. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Katy Gallagher: Picture: The West Australian / Justin Benson-Cooper

The furore that has erupted follows the leaking of a six-hour audio tape revealing Ms Higgins partner David Sharaz bragging to The Project that he had a connection with Senator Gallagher and she would drive the story forward in Senate estimates.

Network Ten has lodged a police complaint over the leak after a tape of Lisa Wilkinson and Brittany Higgins ended up on a rival channel.

Thomson Geer law firm partner Marlia Saunders, who is acting for Network Ten in the defamation proceedings, has confirmed she has made a complaint to Australian Capital Territory Policing.

Ten has complained that material used was obtained via coercive subpoenas for the criminal trial and should never have been shared with the media.

David Sharaz and Katy Gallagher. Picture: SBS

“Last Wednesday, Ten made a complaint to the AFP requesting they investigate an apparent contempt of court,” Ms Saunders told news.com.au.

It relates to material produced under an AFP warrant and a subpoena issued in the ACT Supreme Court which Ms Saunders said “appears to have been disclosed to the media in breach of the implied undertaking.”

“The AFP yesterday confirmed the complaint has been received for consideration,” she said.

The leaked audio tape first aired in a televised interview with the Seven Network on the Spotlight program and has also been leaked to The Daily Mail, The Australian newspaper and Sky News.

It was never released by the ACT Supreme Court during the trial, although parts of it were played to the jury.

It includes Ms Wilkinson describing former defence Minister Linda Reynolds as “a nobody” and an “idiot”, and saying “who is this f***king woman”.

It also records the group war gaming the story and suggesting Anthony Albanese would “definitely” raise the issue in question time. Ms Wilkinson has subsequently confirmed she never contacted him to do so.

The leaked texts include private discussions with Ms Wilkinson’s husband Peter FitzSimons over a $325,000 book deal and Mr Sharaz describing then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison as a “c***t”.

Network 10 bosses have spoken to police about how recording from a meeting between Lisa Wilkinson and Brittany Higgins Higgins was leaked to other media.

The contents of Ms Higgins private text messages - provided to the police and lawyers during the criminal trial - have also been leaked by persons unknown to media outlets.

In those text messages, Mr Sharaz also suggested he had forwarded to Senator Gallagher the entire transcript of Ms Higgins interview with Channel Ten’s Lisa Wilkinson - before the story went to air.

It does not appear to date that Channel 10 had any idea that Mr Sharaz had forwarded the transcript - which was also a signed statutory declaration - to other parties before the broadcast.

In June 2021, Senator Gallagher was indignant when then Defence Minister Linda Reynolds suggested that she “knew where this started” and said she had been tipped off by a Labor Senator before the story broke what the ALP was planning.

“No one had any knowledge. How dare you! It’s all about protecting yourself,” Senator Gallagher said at the time.

Speaking in Fremantle over the weekend at an ALP conference, Ms Gallagher was asked whether she would stand aside or resign.

“Why would I?,” she said.

“I was responding to an assertion that was being made by the minister Reynolds at the time that we had known about this for weeks and had made a decision to weaponise it,” she said.

“That is not true. It was never true. I explained that to Senator Reynolds that night and she accepted that explanation.”

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

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

“There’s absolutely no issue here at all,” she said.

“I’ve been clear, I’ve been honest. And at all times, I’ve been guided by the bravery and courage of a young woman who chose to speak up about her workplace. And from that we have had massive changes to that workplace because of the problem.”

Lisa Wilkinson and Brittany Higgins.

Defamation lawyers ‘never had access’

The legal firm acting for Bruce Lehrmann in his defamation action – Mark O’Brien Legal – has insisted they never had access to the material that was leaked to the media.

The six-hour audiotape was provided by Channel 10 under subpoena during the criminal trial and never played to the jury.

The explosive audio was recorded by Mr Llewllyn on his mobile phone during a pre-interview discussion at a Sydney hotel on January 27, 2021.

“We have not had access to the phone and audiotape you refer to,’’ solicitor Paul Svilans told news.com.au.

“In fact, we are at present actually seeking access to the audiotape for the purpose of the defamation proceedings for the reason that we don’t have it.”

Criminal barrister Steve Whybrow said it was “kept secure”

Barrister Steve Whybrow SC, who represented Mr Lehrmann at the criminal trial did have access but said it was kept secure at all times.

In fact, he refused to hand it over to Mark O’Brien Legal in the defamation action where he is instructed to appear as senior counsel.

“I can categorically assure you that I, my co counsel and my chambers have absolutely kept any material received in R v Lehrmann secure,’’ Mr Whybrow told news.com.au.

“I have not (and have taken the view that I could not) even provide my solicitors in the defamation actions any material that was not already deployed in the criminal trial.”

Mr Lehrmann’s barrister, Matthew Richardson SC, said his client was not involved in leaking evidence.

“He absolutely denies that. It is a grave and serious allegation,” he told the Federal Court last week.

The tape concerned how The Project host would approach the allegations against Bruce Lehrmann. Picture: 7 Spotlight

DPP expects all parties to comply with ‘lawful obligations’

The ACT Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Shane Drumgold remains on leave after he gave evidence to the Board of Inquiry investigating the investigation and trial of Mr Lehrmann.

The acting DPP Anthony Williamson SC said the DPP does not “control” or “manage” disclosed information but expects all parties to comply with their lawful obligations.

“While the Board of Inquiry I has conducted public hearings, I understand its investigative process has, for the most part, been conducted in secret,’’ Mr Williamson told news.com.au.

“I understand that coercive powers under the Inquiries Act 1991 (ACT) have been exercised, examinations have been conducted in secret, and non-publication/suppression orders have been made in relation to various aspects of the proceeding and given to various witnesses.

“The BOI is a statutorily independent process and therefore is not subject to the control or direction of the DPP, nor (unsurprisingly) has the BOI consulted with the DPP about its processes and investigation. I am not in a position to comment on what material the BOI may, or may not, have had access to.

“Similarly, I am not in a position to provide a running commentary on who had access to what material.

“As you would appreciate, the DPP provides disclosure in accordance with its lawful obligations. The DPP does not ‘control’ or ‘manage’ disclosed material once provided to the defence. We expect all parties to comply with their lawful obligations in relation to disclosed material.”

The Board of Inquiry led by Walter Sofronoff SC was contacted by news.com.au for comment and did not respond.

The AFP has been asked to investigate whether a contempt of court has been committed when persons unknown handed over the material that was originally provided only to police, the office of the director of public prosecution and defence lawyers.

Mr Lehrmann has always maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty during the trial.

It was ultimately aborted in October last year due to juror misconduct and then discontinued in December on the grounds of Ms Higgins’ mental health.

Lisa Wilkinson won a Logie for her reporting on Brittany Higgins. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

What Penny Wong knew about ‘incident’

The Coalition is expected to pursue finance Minister Katy Gallagher this week over whether she misled parliament when she said “no one had any knowledge” of the allegation.

Leaked text messages suggest Mr Sharaz may have sent her a transcript of the interview to her before Channel 10 put it to air.

Sky News also played audio and text messages on Monday night that suggested Mr Sharaz met with Senator Gallagher in her office at Parliament House and tipped her off that the stories were about air.

News.com.au revealed over the weekend that Senate leader Penny Wong was also personally briefed on the findings of a secret probe into “an incident” in a ministerial office at Parliament House in late 2020 months before Brittany Higgins went public with her story.

She received a private briefing about a secret investigation from Senate President Scott Ryan but was not told at that stage of Ms Higgins’s name or that there was a rape allegation.

The “incident” referred to was however the late night arrival of Mr Lehrmann and Ms Higgins after a night of drinking that later exploded into a national scandal after Ms Higgins went public in February, 2021.

The investigation was conducted by former Inspector-General of Intelligence Vivienne Thom, who was charged with examining CCTV of Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann at Parliament House.

“I want to make clear I did not know the full details of the allegations before the story became public,’’ Senator Wong said.

“There are others who did know a lot of detail, including in the Morrison government who still failed to account for what they did with this information.

“But I do want to make this, President Ryan, the former president of the Senate made a statement in the Senate some time ago, in which he indicated that a number of senators including me, were aware of some details as early as 2020 when an anonymous complaint or anonymous complaints were made to presiding officers. Those details have never been made public, including by me.”

The secret investigation followed an anonymous tip off handed to the presiding officers Then-Speaker Tony Smith and Mr Ryan that alleged improper conduct by parliamentary officials over the cleaning of the office.

It included complaints about the decision to order a special clean of Linda Reynolds’ suite on March 23, 2021 and whether a potential crime scene had been tampered with.

After police concluded there was not cover up – because there had been no disclosures of a potential sexual assault to either parliamentary security or DPS before the cleaning was authorised the AFP concluded the investigation.

There is no suggestion that Senator Wong was in touch with Ms Higgins or Mr Sharaz. However, it does appear she was aware there was a rape allegation at parliament weeks before the story broke.