Anthony Albanese has declared he has "absolute confidence" in senior minister Katy Gallagher in the wake of claims that Brittany Higgins and partner David Sharaz had contact with senior Labor politicians before her rape claim was made public.
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The Australian newspaper has published excerpts of purported text messages between Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz in early February 2021, before she appeared on The Project with Lisa Wilkinson to reveal her allegations.
During the Project interview and an earlier News.com.au story by Samantha Maiden, Ms Higgins accused her former colleague Bruce Lehrmann of assaulting her inside the office of then Minister Linda Reynolds on March 23, 2019. An ACT Supreme Court trial was ultimately aborted with no findings made against the accused man. There is an ongoing independent inquiry into the trial of Mr Lehrmann, who maintains his innocence.
In what the Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has described as "a lot of trickery" and "deal-making", text messages - four days before assault claims were made public - show Mr Sharaz boasting of a special relationship with the ACT senator and now Finance Minister, and saying to Ms Higgins that "she's really invested now" in the matter.
The Canberra Times has not seen the text messages which The Australian said had been heavily redacted for privacy reasons.
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The Prime Minister was asked at a Sydney press conference by a journalist if the messages meant Senator Gallagher had "misled Parliament" as "in June 2021 when she was asked whether she knew about the allegations regarding Brittany Higgins before they became public and replied, "No-one had any knowledge. How dare you?"
"Do you have confidence in Senator Gallagher?" the reporter posed.
"I have absolute confidence in Senator Gallagher," Mr Albanese replied.
The Prime Minister then stated he had not met Brittany Higgins until he "met her publicly on the same day that she met Scott Morrison".
The text messages purport to show Mr Albanese in contact with Mr Sharaz.
The Canberra Times sought comment from Senator Gallagher and was referred to her interview with RN Breakfast on Wednesday.
"Look, I knew Mr Sharaz from my previous role, he was a journalist here in Canberra when I was Chief Minister, so I knew him. But I have nothing further to add," she told the program.
"My statements are all on the record, and I'm comfortable with those."
Earlier, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus was asked on ABC News Breakfast if the text messages raise any questions about the actions of then-Labor frontbenchers that need to be further investigated, he responded, "No. Just no."
He also rejected claims the government has questions to answer about a confidential settlement in December 2022 made to Ms Higgins after she launched legal action against her employers in the former Coalition government.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the settlement with Ms Higgins was "entirely in accordance" with the law.
"It's very common for the Commonwealth to settle claims on the basis of agreed confidentiality," he told Nine's Today Show. "It's very often in the Commonwealth's interests that there be confidentiality and, often in the case of sexual harassment claims, there is a desire on the part of the claimant to keep the matter confidential."
Karen Barlow
Contact her on karen.barlow@canberratimes.com.au
