Barnaby Joyce lashes loss of trust as questions on Brittany Higgins allegation grow

Ahead of the last fortnight of parliament’s winter sittings, accusations and pleas are being made from all sides of politics about Brittany Higgins.

Australians have a “problem of trust” in the government and its finance minister over unanswered questions and wobbly statements regarding Brittany Higgins, Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce says.

The last sitting fortnight before a mid-year break is set to be dominated by a Coalition grilling of Katy Gallagher and her government colleagues over what she knew and when about Ms Higgins’ plan to go public with her rape allegation.

Ms Higgins went public in 2021 with claims she was raped inside her former boss Linda Reynolds’ office by her colleague, Bruce Lehrmann, in 2019.

Mr Lehrmann has strenuously denied Ms Higgins’ allegation and continues to maintain his innocence.

Senator Gallagher has denied she misled parliament when she told Senator Reynolds at senate estimates in June 2021 “no one had any knowledge” of Ms Higgins’ allegation prior to the public statements.

In the wake of leaked text messages between Ms Higgins and her partner David Sharaz suggesting Mr Sharaz – a former press gallery journalist – had contacted Senator Gallagher before Ms Higgins’ interview on The Project aired, Senator Gallagher on the weekend conceded she had been informed “in the days leading up” to the broadcast of some of the details.

Brittany Higgins (left) alleges she was raped by her colleague in her boss Linda Reynolds’ office in 2019. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

She told reporters on Saturday that she “did nothing with that information”, and her claim that no one had knowledge was in response to a specific question, not a general statement.

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

But Mr Joyce said there was a matter of trust.

“When you say you don’t have any knowledge, it means you don’t have any knowledge. Now, quite obviously Senator Gallagher did,” Mr Joyce told Channel 7.

“If you can’t believe a person, you can’t trust them, and they’re the finance minister of Australia.”

He said there was a “whole range of questions” around the Commonwealth’s payout to Ms Higgins also.

“And … there’s a whole range of questions that are now surrounding Senator Gallagher and these sort of weasel words of, ‘Oh, well, that’s not quite what I was referring to. I was referring to something else’,” he said.

“It doesn’t … present to anything to anybody, except it says to the Australian people you can’t believe this person.”

Tanya Plibersek called for an end to the politicking of who knew what and when. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

His morning TV panel mate, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, backed her colleague on Monday morning, saying there is “no one with more integrity in the parliament than Katy Gallagher”.

Ms Plibersek also called for a return to the main issues and pleaded for the media and opposition to stop the politicisation of Ms Higgins’ rape allegation and called for a return to the “central point”.

“I do think we’re once again missing the point here,” she told Channel 7.

“The central point here is that a young woman made an allegation that she had been sexually assaulted in her workplace and that it had been inappropriately investigated … even covered up by her employers.

“What really worries me about this … is if you are a young woman, looking at the way this has unravelled – with personal SMS messages making it into the public domain, leaked to journalists, counselling records being given to the opposing legal team, private conversations taped and released to the public – you would really think twice about making a complaint.

“I really do want to send a message to those people who have been sexually assaulted who are thinking about making a complaint – there will always be people who will stand up for you, for your right to get justice. We are trying to make the legal system better.”

Last year’s trial in the ACT Supreme Court was aborted due to juror misconduct and a retrial was ruled out by ACT chief prosector Shane Drumgold, citing concerns about Ms Higgins’ health. The charge against Mr Lehrmann was subsequently dropped.

Ms Plibersek has also been asked by the opposition to explain what she knew before the allegation was made public after a pre-interview meeting where Mr Sharaz, Ms Higgins, The Project host Lisa Wilkinson and her producer war-gamed how to gain momentum for the allegations named her as a “friendly” MP who could help their case.

The opposition is set to hound Senator Gallagher and her colleagues on the matter when parliament resumes this week. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

‘Frankly absurd’

Ms Plibersek said the government at the time – led by Scott Morrison – was aware of the allegation before Ms Higgins went public as well.

“Linda Reynolds knew years before because she was the boss of both the people involved,” she said.

“We know also that Peter Dutton knew about it because the Australian Federal Police told him (as home affairs minister), and whoever else he told.

“Again, this is not the central point here.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Monday strongly denied Senator Gallagher had misled parliament, calling the idea “frankly absurd”.

Asked about the matter at a press conference in Queensland, the Treasurer backed Senator Gallagher’s recollection of her contested senate estimates exchange with Senator Reynolds in 2021.

“The exchange in the Senate referred to whether or not Katy Gallagher had known for weeks and that we (Labor) had taken some kind of collective decision to weaponise it,” Dr Chalmers said.

“Katy explained that on the weekend; no doubt she will make decisions about what she says to the Senate during the course of the week.”

In a sign of Labor’s planned defence tactics for the Coalition’s expected onslaught of questions about Labor’s handling of Ms Higgins’ allegation in parliament this week, Dr Chalmers said he had never worked with a better person than Senator Gallagher.

“Katy Gallagher is drawing on deeper reserves of personal integrity than anyone that I have ever worked with,” he said.

Senator Gallagher’s colleagues have thrown their support behind her. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Speaking at the same press conference, Agriculture Minister Murray Watt also launched a spirited defence of his Senate colleague.

“What I want to say is that there is no more ethical person in the Australian Parliament than Katy Gallagher,” he said.

Senator Watt said it was disappointing some members of the opposition were “seeking to bring back a pretty dark chapter from the last parliament”.

“I’m very concerned about the effect of this public debate on some of the people who are central to it,” he said.

Parliament will resume on Tuesday.