‘Nobody knew’: Labor digs in to defend Katy Gallagher over Brittany Higgins rape claims

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

Labor has dug in to defend Katy Gallagher from accusations she has misled parliament over the claim “nobody knew “ about the Brittany Higgins’ claims of rape before they were public.

This means Anthony Albanese and his senior ministers, including Finance Minister Gallagher, must now continue the line of denial and face days if not weeks of distraction and a growing morasse of details and arguments which have to be presented without further contradictions.

In politics it is so often the cover up or bungled handling of an initial mistake which creates the real political damage.

Katy Gallagher’s statement to the @AuSenate today regarding Brittany Higgins. #auspolpic.twitter.com/QydyZfPpxe

— Jenna Clarke (@jennamclarke) June 13, 2023

Scott Morrison – faced with a similar claim from his former staffer Fiona Brown that he had misled parliament – has stood in the parliament and declared that he could not rule out that he had misled parliament but absolutely ruled out that he had done it with intent or deliberately.

When faced with such a situation political leaders have a choice to admit to a mistake, offer an explanation and apologise.

For Gallagher the initial problem was she was accused of misleading parliament when it was revealed she had known about the details of the Higgins’ allegations before they were public but had denied anybody in the Labor team knew about it.

Despite the obvious evidence that there was a misleading of parliament Gallagher’s initial if delayed response was to deny misleading parliament.

Senator Michaelia Cash in the Senate Chamber at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Senator Katy Gallagher in the Senate Chamber at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Gallagher had the option to admit misleading parliament but declaring it was inadvertent, not deliberate, that she had misunderstood the statement and apologised. The Parliamentary crime is to deliberately mislead, plenty of people have ’fessed up to inadvertently misleading parliament and moved on.

Instead Labor has chosen to deny and deflect: to argue she did not mislead because she was referring to conspiracy to weaponise the allegations; that it is absurd to suggest she had anything to do with what happened between Liberal staffers in a Liberal Minister’s office; that she didn’t use the information she was given; that she is a person of high integrity and; to raise the issue is to deter young women from making complaints about rape.

All the Labor frontbench is using this defence and must continue to do so having embarked on a denial and deflect strategy.

This strategic decision ensures Gallagher will be the centre of allegations until she adopts the Morrison option.