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Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has suggested the incoming federal corruption watchdog will have an interest in investigating the circumstances surrounding the airing of Brittany Higgins’ rape claim and her eventual payout by the federal government.
Speaking to 2GB radio on Thursday morning, Dutton said there were “questions to be answered” about what knowledge Labor MPs had of Higgins’ allegation before she went public in a televised interview in February 2021, and whether anyone had misled the parliament over what they knew.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has suggested the integrity commission should look into what Labor MPs knew about Brittany Higgins’ rape claim.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“That’s why the integrity commission will have an interest at looking at the sequence of events,” Dutton said.
“Because if there is a question about the process involved in a payout, or there is a question around the prime minister’s own words in relation to this, or presentations that have been made, or statements that have been put on Hansard, then, you know, they’re very serious allegations.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said during a western Sydney press conference on Thursday that the new National Anti-Corruption Commission was independent of parliamentarians.
“In fact, it could be regarded as entirely inappropriate action by the prime minister or any other politician for that matter, to try to direct the Anti-Corruption Commission into what to do,” he said.
Former Coalition staffer Bruce Lehrmann pleaded not guilty to raping Higgins in the ministerial office of their former boss, Liberal senator Linda Reynolds, in March 2019. His criminal trial was aborted last year and further proceedings against him were discontinued.
Lehrmann has always maintained his innocence. An inquiry has been held into the conduct of authorities in the trial.
Higgins settled a civil claim against the Commonwealth in December. The figure was reported at the time as $3 million, but Higgins has said the amount was much lower.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus told the ABC on Thursday the settlement was “an entirely regular decision” that was made in accordance with legal directions.
Labor frontbencher Katy Gallagher was reportedly mentioned in texts by Higgins’ partner David Sharaz.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Dutton’s comments follow a story in The Australian reporting on text messages between Higgins and her partner, David Sharaz, in which the latter purported to have spoken to Labor frontbencher Katy Gallagher about the allegations in the lead-up to the story being aired.
“She’s angry and wants to help,” the masthead reported Sharaz as having told Higgins.
Gallagher said during a parliamentary hearing in June 2021 that nobody had any knowledge of Higgins’ allegation before she went public.
Sharaz also reportedly told Higgins that Anthony Albanese had given him his number in April 2021.
The then-opposition leader met with Higgins that month, the same day she also met with then-prime minister Scott Morrison to discuss advocacy issues for sexual assault victims.
Albanese on Thursday said he had “absolute confidence” in Gallagher, who is now the finance minister and minister for women in his government.
He said he had only met Higgins the same day she had met Morrison.
When Dreyfus was asked by the ABC whether the text messages raised questions about whether Labor MPs needed to be investigated, he said, “no, just no”.
Dutton told 2GB, “I think we’re only just seeing the start of what lays behind the scenes here. I think there are a lot of questions to be answered.
“The prime minister obviously needs to front up and provide a true factual explanation of what’s going on here because there are differing accounts. But what makes this most serious … is whether people have misled the parliament, or whether there has been an appropriate process in terms of a multimillion-dollar payout.”
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