Finance Minister Katy Gallagher has told the Senate she believes Brittany Higgins

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher has told the Senate she believes Brittany Higgins, at the end of a harrowing week where she was under pressure.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher has told the Senate she believes Brittany Higgins, who alleged that fellow staffer Bruce Lehrmann had raped her in a minister’s office.

For the fourth day in a row, Senator Gallagher was questioned about her knowledge of Ms Higgins’ allegation that Mr Lehrmann had raped her in the office of then Defence Minister Linda Reynolds in 2019, and whether she had misled parliament.

Mr Lehrmann has always denied the allegation and pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual assault. His criminal trial was aborted last year due to jury misconduct.

The charge and a plan to retry Mr Lehrmann was dropped last December due to fears of Ms Higgins’ mental health.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher faced another day of questioning over the Higgins matter on Friday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Liberal senator Marise Payne picked up questioning Senator Gallagher again on Friday, but while she was answering, another Liberal senator, Sarah Henderson, interjected.

“Well Senator Henderson, I believe Ms Higgins. Now, whatever happened, it has been distressing for a lot of people in this building, as has this week,” Senator Gallagher said, before continuing to answer Senator Payne’s question.

Senator Reynolds had employed both Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann at the time of the alleged incident in 2019.

The questioning came after tapes were leaked of Brittany Higgins’ partner, David Sharaz, saying he had been in contact with ‘Katy’ before the Project interview aired. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Senator Gallagher has been under pressure after leaked text messages suggested Ms Higgins’ partner, David Sharaz, had given her a tip off about Ms Higgins’ interview with The Project in the days before it aired.

The Opposition has spent the week questioning whether she had misled parliament about what she knew before Ms Higgins went public.

On Friday, she told the Senate in response to Senator Payne that she had been accountable and “stood there everyday answering questions from the opposition”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has backed Senator Gallagher, telling parliament on Thursday he had “absolute confidence” in his Finance Minister.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton wants Senator Katy Gallagher to resign her ministry. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Earlier in the week, Senator Gallagher denied misleading the Senate while in opposition in 2021 by declaring “no one had any knowledge” of the allegation prior to its publication.

During her fourth day of questioning, her voice cracked as she choked back tears as she was accused of not being able to answer “basic factual questions”.

She rejected suggestions Labor sought to weaponise the allegation for political gain. Asked if Labor sought advice on whether any of their questioning at the time could have “damaged any prospect of conviction”, Senator Gallagher said they followed party process.