Tears, talking points and tweets in fresh bid to save Katy Gallagher

Labor Senator Katy Gallagher. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Tensions simmered all week in the Senate and reached boiling point on Thursday when several members broke down in tears after days - if not years - of intense attention and scrutiny over sexual assault allegations.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher held back tears after opposition infrastructure spokeswoman Bridget Mackenzie accused her of failing to answer questions about her involvement in the media roll out of Brittany Higgins’ allegations that she was raped in then Defence Minister Linda Reynolds’ ministerial office.

Claims which were dismissed by the ACT Supreme Court last year.

Senator Gallagher became emotional when responding to Senator Mackenzie, saying she was “very disappointed” this week following Labor’s efforts to implement the Jenkin’s report and to improve the treatment of women in Parliament House.

Senator Gallagher said she was “very sorry for Brittany Higgins” and apologised to Senator Reynolds after she, alongside Foreign Minister Penny Wong, pursued the matter in the Senate in 2021.

It comes after texts published by The Australian revealed Senator Gallagher was in contact with Ms Higgin’s partner David Sharaz before the rape allegation was made public.

The texts contradicted her earlier assertion in June 2021 that she did not have any knowledge of the allegations. Senator Gallagher has maintained that she did not mislead the Senate.

Finance minister Katy Gallagher has choked back tears during @AuSenate#qt. Day four of intense scrutiny over her involvement with the Higgins allegations by the coalition. pic.twitter.com/T19SoZyRbl

— Jenna Clarke (@jennamclarke) June 15, 2023

“Until this week I really thought we were making progress,” Leader for the Greens in the Senate Larissa Waters said, while also holding back tears as she admonished the “weaponisation” of Ms Higgins’ ordeal.

On Wednesday, following another heated Question Time, where the coalition called on Finance Minister Katy Gallagher to answer more queries about her relationship with Ms Higgins, a former Liberal staffer, and her partner.

Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson asked Senator Gallagher to explain her relationship with Mr Sharaz after text messages published by The Australian revealed the pair ­planned to directly enlist the help of senior Labor figures, including Senator Gallagher, to pursue Ms Higgins’ rape allegation and her claim the Coalition government covered it up.

Senator Gallagher said while she was invited to Mr Sharaz‘s first wedding in 2019 – which featured tables named after Labor Party greats – she did not attend.

“I got a lot of invitations to a lot of things. Some I was able to go to and others weren‘t and I didn’t attend that one. The invitation was declined,” Senator Gallagher told the Senate.

“I don‘t recall but the answer is no,” Senator Gallagher told the Senate when asked if she had ever invited Mr Sharaz to any of her personal events or celebrations.

She also denied she was a friend.

“I‘m not responsible for how people describe their relationship with me.”

As questions persisted about what she knew and when she learned about Ms Higgins‘ rape allegations, Senator Gallagher said the continuation of her cross examination in the chamber was causing distress in the wider community.

“We need to think about the impact this is having on women because I have been inundated with calls from women‘s organisations, and from women themselves that are concerned about how this debate is going to impact on women making choices,” Senator Gallagher to the Senate.

After question time concluded, where the Senator – who was also at the centre of the “mean girls” controversy involving the late Senator Kimberley Kitching – wore a Pink ensemble (the uniform of the antagonists in the famous film with the equally as famous tagline “On Wednesdays, we wear Pink), her Labor colleagues lined up to back in the beleaguered Minister.

Victorian Senator Jana Stewart called the coalition‘s behaviour “friggin’ outrageous”.

Labor women spent Wednesday backing in Katy Gallagher #auspolpic.twitter.com/riKmZBDEfF

— Jenna Clarke (@jennamclarke) June 14, 2023

“While those opposite will try to turn the torch on Labor for political gain about who knew what and when, there are people out in the community who hear every word that we say in here. It is echoed out into the community. And what they hear is that you don‘t care about their trauma. You don’t care about the resilience or strength of survivors at all,” Senator Stewart said.

“It would be easy to forget with the disgraceful comments thrown around over the last couple of weeks that the #MeToo movement never happened. You’d be forgiven for thinking that the Set The Standard report was never written or the Let Her Speak campaign never happened. You’d be forgiven for thinking that those events didn’t happen because it’s certainly fallen on deaf ears over there,” she continued pointed to the opposition benches.

“It’s like those opposite learn nothing. Zero. To be so irresponsible, is friggin’ outrageous, outrageous.”

Tasmanian Senator Anne Urquhart called the Albanese government the “most transparent, honest governments that we have seen in this country for the last 10 years”.

She choked back tears when speaking about Ms Higgins’ ordeal and Senator Gallagher’s work.

“[Ms Higgins] knew that when she came out that she came forward she would become a target. But she did it anyway because she was determined to change the culture in this buildings. As the Minister Women has done, more than any other Minister Women in the last 10 years, to make sure that people are protected in this building, and to make it a healthier and a safer place for women,” Senator Urquhart said.

She also lambasted the coalition for asking questions of the Minister.

“Be responsible and consider your actions because it‘s be a bears a huge responsibility and we don’t want women to hide in the corner and not speak out about these issues. For too many years. That has happened and it’s time it stopped. And the actions of what’s happening from that side every single day is not going to help that.

“We want these women to be able to stand up to feel safe. Senator Gallagher is one of the best Minister Women that is helping women to stand up and speak out. And what you’re doing is continually putting a lid on them and telling them to shut up.”

The parliamentary battle came as Ms Higgins tweeted transcripts of recorded conversations with her former boss, then Attorney-General Michaelia Cash and her chief of staff Daniel Try.

Ms Higgins posted photographs of notes from a conversation she allegedly had with Senator Cash and Mr Try in “early February 2021”.

The conversation appears to be in relation to Ms Higgins’ allegations.

“Please know that Daniel and I are here to support you,” Ms Cash is recorded as saying. “Britt, do you want to go to the police?”

Cash office early Feb, 2021. pic.twitter.com/bqmzQ1z7Du

— Brittany Higgins (@BrittHiggins_) June 14, 2023

Senator Cash said these tweets are consistent with the evidence she gave last year.

“The issue of when Senator Cash became aware of the allegations was the subject of evidence given under oath and has been tested in the ACT Supreme Court,” a spokesman told The Australian.