Leaked texts have suggested Finance Minister Katy Gallagher was tipped off about Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher has broken her silence at a Labor conference in Fremantle to “categorically deny” she misled parliament on her knowledge of Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation.
An explosive new tranche of leaked texts suggests Finance Minister Katy Gallagher was tipped off about Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation by her boyfriend David Sharaz before the story broke.
On February 11, 2021, four days before the story broke Mr Sharaz messaged Ms Higgins to say: “Katy is going to come to me with some questions you need to prepare for … She’s really invested now ha ha.”
But she later told parliament on June 4, 2021 “how dare you! No one had any knowledge.”
The texts include claims that Mr Sharaz sent her a transcript of Ms Higgins interview with The Project before it went to air.
After 48 hours of silence after the release of text messages revealing she was in contact with Mr Sharaz, she insisted on Saturday she did not mislead parliament when she said “no one had any knowledge” in Labor.
Leaked texts suggest Finance Minister Katy Gallagher was tipped off about Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation by her boyfriend David Sharaz. Picture: The West Australian and Justin Benson-Cooper
“No, I did not mislead the parliament. 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,” Senator Gallagher said.
“That is not true. It was never true. I explained that to Senator Reynolds that night, she accepted that explanation.”
That night is a reference to a private conversation she had with Senator Reynolds in June, 2021
“That was some two years ago. In terms of what I knew, I was aware of some allegations in the days leading up to the choice of Miss Brittany Higgins to make those allegations public. And I think that was information that I shared with Senator Reynolds two years ago, which she also accepted at the time,” she said.
The texts include claims that Mr Sharaz sent her a transcript of Ms Higgins interview with The Project before it went to air. Picture: The West Australian and Justin Benson-Cooper
She confirmed however that Mr Sharaz provided her with “information” prior to the story breaking.
“Mr Sharaz provided me with information. I think we’ve seen that in the paper in the last couple of days,” she said.
“I did nothing with that information. And I was clear about that at the time. So, some two years ago, when I spoke with Senator Reynolds about it. I said to her exactly that, that I had been made aware, I wasn’t aware of the full allegations, and that were made public on when the interviews went to air.
“But I was clear about that two years ago. So, there’s absolutely no issue here at all. I’ve been clear, I’ve been honest. And at all times I’ve been guided by the bravery and courage of a young woman who chose to speak up about her workplace.
“And from that, we have had massive changes to that workplace because of the problem.
“I was given some information. I did nothing with that information. And you know, I was clear about that to Senator Reynolds when she raised these concerns in the committee, when she raised it, I explained what had happened, but I categorically rejected and you see that in the footage of the committee. I categorically rejected the assertion she was putting, which was that we had chosen to weaponise that information weeks ahead of being told about it.
News.com.au revealed today that Penny Wong was tipped off about “an incident” in October 2020 but was not told it was an alleged rape of Brittany Higgins name.