Leaked text messages between Brittany Higgins, her boyfriend, David Sharaz and Labor’s Katy Gallagher have drummed up significant media frenzy in recent days.
The texts suggest that Gallagher was told about Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations against Bruce Lehrmann before the story broke, casting doubt on Gallagher’s previous statements on the extent of her knowledge.
The texts suggest Higgins’ boyfriend, David Sharaz sent Gallagher news of the rape allegations before Higgins’ interview on The Project was aired to the public.
When asked in Parliament, before the story broke, whether she had prior knowledge of Higgins’ allegations, Gallagher had said: “No-one had any knowledge. How dare you.”
The opposition has now made allegations that Gallagher misled parliament over what she knew in relation to Higgins’ rape allegations.
Appearing on Sunrise, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese defended The Minister for Finance against allegations from the leader of the opposition, Peter Dutton, asking, “what is being suggested here by Peter Dutton?”
“You had allegations by a Liberal staffer that another Liberal staffer had a sexual assault in a liberal minister’s office and, somehow, Katy Gallagher has some responsibility for what was going on here? This is bizarre.”
“You had a circumstance also where Scott Morrison had an enquiry by Phil Gaetjens, his former chief of staff who was the head of department and prime minister and cabinet, and … who knew what in his own office, we still have never, ever seen that report. I mean, for Peter Dutton to talk about transparency, frankly, is quite farcical here.”
“The idea that there’s this conspiracy somehow … that’s nonsense,” said Albanese.
Explosive allegations have also come from lawyers for Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson, saying that there’s a “calculated” and “concerted” media campaign using restricted court material to dissuade witnesses from giving evidence in the defamation trial brought by Bruce Lehrmann.
The lawyers are pointing to a significant amount of publicity in Channel Seven and News Corp publications in recent days, alleging that the news outlets’ coverage relied on compulsively supplied material for Lehrmann’s criminal trial that wasn’t allowed to be shared publicly.
The material includes a copy of Higgins’ phone and a recording of the five-hour pre-interview meeting between Higgins, David Sharaz, Wilkinson, and producer Angus Llewellyn, which the lawyers claim was “dishonestly” edited by the media.
National political editor Samantha Maiden has raised the question of why there isn’t more scrutiny being placed on the contents of Higgins’ phone being leaked to media outlets.
“Whatever you think of how Ms Higgins, in her own words, ‘weaponised’ her own story, nobody deserves to have the private contents of their phone disgorged across the media,” writes Maiden.
“It is a terrifying precedent if we are to accept that the price of ever speaking to the media is that your entire phone is ‘fair game’.”
“How can it not be a threat to the administration of justice if complainants in sexual assault matters see what might happen to their phone when it is handed to police?”