Katy Gallagher has hit back at her critics over her handling of Brittany Higgins‘ sexual assault allegations with a fiery message, arguing women across the nation have been sent a clear warning to ‘watch out’.
The finance minister was expected to be grilled in Senate Question Time on Tuesday over her prior knowledge of Ms Higgins’ complaint, but got ahead of her critics by issuing an early statement.
‘I was provided with information in the days before the allegations were reported and I did nothing with those allegations. Absolutely nothing. I was asked to keep it to myself and that’s what I did,’ she said.
‘I was not involved in any way with the story that went to air on the night, or reported online that morning. I was in no way involved with the timing in which this story was published or aired.
‘Any allegations or assertion that I did is wrong and I reject it in the strongest possible terms.’
Sen. Gallagher said women across the nation who had been considering coming forward with any allegations had been sent a clear warning to ‘watch out’.
‘I fear the message for this for women who want to come forward is ”watch out”,’ she said. ‘I’m not going to stand for that.’
Katy Gallagher has hit back at her critics over her handling of Brittany Higgins’ sexual assault allegations with a fiery message, arguing women across the nation have been sent a clear warning to ‘watch out’
Senator Gallagher has faced a barrage of criticism in the weeks since the accused, Bruce Lehrmann, sat down for a television interview with Channel 7.
In the days that followed, leaked text messages between Ms Higgins and her partner David Sharaz emerged suggesting the pair contemplated strategising with Sen. Gallagher when she was in opposition.
In an impassioned speech on Tuesday morning, Sen. Gallagher said the attention on what she did or didn’t do with the information provided to her in the days before Ms Higgins’ allegations became public has been misguided.
‘The fact remains that those who owed Ms Higgins a direct duty of care had known of this for almost two years, and did nothing to make changes or improve culture and safety in the workplace where this incident had occurred.
‘Can I say to the Senate, we must not lose perspective on what matters here.
‘At the heart of this whole story sits the wellbeing or otherwise of a young woman who came forward and made allegations on her own terms, a woman who bravely stood up and spoke out on her own terms.’
Sen. Gallagher said Ms Higgins felt ‘significantly let down’ by her employer – the former Coalition government – in the months after she made a complaint.
‘At a time when she needed their support the most, she should have been dealt with as a human being, not a problem that needed managing.
‘The response shouldn’t have been calculated by the political needs of the coalition government, it should have been met with compassion and support and it wasn’t.’
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended his minister at every turn, saying today that she had been transparent and any suggestion she misled parliament was ‘absurd’.
‘It’s a bizarre conspiracy theory that suggests that Labor is somehow at the centre of all of this,’ he told ABC Radio.
‘And indeed, according to Senator (Linda) Reynolds herself, and the discussion that took place at that time on the Monday night, Katy Gallagher said, “yes, I was made aware in broad terms that there was an incident in the days beforehand”.
‘So this has been known by Senator Reynolds since that time since 2021, and now, in 2023, somehow this is this concocted issue by what is a desperate Liberal opposition.’
In the days that followed, leaked text messages between Ms Higgins and her partner David Sharaz emerged suggesting the pair contemplated strategising with Sen. Gallagher when she was in opposition
Ms Higgins alleges she was raped by former colleague Mr Lehrmann in Parliament House in 2019, a claim he has always denied.
A criminal trial was aborted over juror misconduct and prosecutors did not seek a retrial, citing concern for Ms Higgins’ mental health.
The ACT is now holding an inquiry into the investigation and prosecution.
Sen. Gallagher has ‘categorically’ denied she misled parliament following the release of the texts by The Australian this week.
She was quizzed in Senate Estimates in June 2021 about the extent of her knowledge on the allegations made by Ms Higgins before the story broke.
During the June 2021 Senate Estimates hearing, then-Defence Minister Linda Reynolds accused Labor senators of being secretly briefed on the rape allegation.
‘I was told by one of your senators two weeks before about what you were intending to do with the story in my office. Two weeks before,’ she said.
In response to the claim, Sen. Gallagher said: ‘No-one had any knowledge.’
Addressing the texts from Mr Sharaz, Sen. Gallagher said she had been made aware of ‘some allegations’ in the days leading up to Ms Higgins’ explosive interview in February 2021.
‘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,’ she said on Saturday.
‘(I was told) There was going to be some public reporting that a young woman making serious allegations about events that occurred in a minister’s office … were going to become public.
‘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 this.’
