Eric Abetz rejects claim he made ABC journalist go public with Luke Foley allegations

Eric Abetz has rejected claims he influenced an ABC journalist going public with harassment allegations against Luke Foley.

Liberal senator Eric Abetz brought up the sexual harassment allegations against Luke Foley during a Senate estimates hearing on October 23. Picture: AAP

Liberal senator Eric Abetz has rejected claims he had any influence in an ABC journalist going public with sexual harassment allegations against former NSW opposition leader Luke Foley, despite bringing up the allegations in parliament.

Senator Abetz had brought up the sexual harassment allegations against Mr Foley when questioning acting ABC managing director David Anderson in senate estimates last month.

Ashleigh Raper, an ABC reporter in Sydney, said earlier this month she was forced to reveal her identity, against her wishes, as a complainant against Mr Foley after the allegations were being used for “political point scoring”. Mr Foley denies the allegations and is pursuing defamation.

He said this morning that his questions were not the reason Ms Raper was forced to reveal her identity and said it appeared to be former Labor minister Greg Combet who was to blame.

An internal investigation was launched into the matter after the hearing on October 23.

“The acting general manager of the ABC (Mr Anderson) was quite right to say serious allegation, we’ll be investigating it,” Senator Abetz told Sky News.

“When did it all become public? It appears after Greg Combet, a former ACTU official and Labor heavy, became involved trying to broker a deal between the journalist and Mr Foley.”

ABC journalist Ashleigh Raper claims Luke Foley inappropriately touched her at a Christmas party in November 2016. Picture: ABC

The Australian revealed last week that Mr Combet played a key role in ­behind-the-scenes negotiations between Ms Raper and Mr Foley before she went public with her allegations.

Ms Raper said her statement a fortnight ago that she had not wanted NSW corrections minister David Elliot to mention the allegations in state parliament. He has since apologised.

She did not mention Senator Abetz in her statement but said she did not want to see allegations used as a political football.

“Situations like mine should not be discussed in parliament for the sake of political point scoring. And I want it to stop.”

Senator Abetz said if his questions in senate estimates had played a role in Ms Raper’s decision to go public, she would have done so “immediately” after the hearing in October.

“Absolutely not, the article which I was relying on was an article in The Australian in May, some five months earlier. She did not see a need to go public then. When I asked the question in Senate estimates, she didn’t see the need to go public again,” he said.

“Please visit this on the people concerned: namely Mr Foley and Mr Combet. If there was a need to go public because of my questions, it would have happened immediately.”