Anthony Albanese demanded Peter Dutton resign for misleading parliament before Katy Gallagher saga
PM’s clumsy Facebook diatribe about ‘misleading parliament’ resurfaces – as he furiously defends Katy Gallagher: ‘Do what’s right’
- Anthony Albanese called on Peter Dutton to step down in 2018
- It was after Mr Dutton was found to have misled parliament
- Treasury Secretary Katy Gallagher accused the same
An old Facebook post has surfaced in which Anthony Albanese is calling on Peter Dutton to resign for defrauding parliament – as his finance minister Katy Gallagher is accused of doing the same.
In a post published in September 2018, Mr Albanese said Mr Dutton would have to resign after a parliamentary inquiry found that the then Home Secretary had misled parliament about his connections to the employer of an au pair he granted a visa.
“Peter Dutton’s position as minister in this ATM government should end and it should happen today,” Mr Albanese wrote at the time. “He must do the right thing and resign.”
Mr. Dutton did not resign over the findings of the inquiry.
A 2018 Facebook post by Anthony Albanese has resurfaced calling for Peter Dutton to resign after he was found to have misled parliament
It comes as Senator Gallagher is being accused of misleading Parliament after she confirmed she had inside knowledge of some details related to the rape allegation by former Liberal staffer, Brittany Higgins.
Ms Higgins alleged that former colleague Bruce Lehrmann sexually assaulted her in 2019 at Parliament House after a night out. Mr Lehrmann has always denied the accusation.
Text messages between Ms Higgins and her fiancé David Sharaz appeared last week suggesting that Mr Sharaz met with Ms Gallagher where they discussed Ms Higgins’ allegations, days before Ms Higgins broke her silence on The Project.
In the exchange, Ms. Sharaz described Senator Gallagher as an “old friend” who could “trust” Ms. Higgins.
Ms Gallagher was previously questioned in Senate Estimates in June 2021 about the extent of her knowledge of Ms Higgins’ allegations before the story broke.
At the June 2021 Senate estimates hearing, then-Secretary of Defense Linda Reynolds accused Labor senators of being secretly briefed on the rape allegation.
“One of your senators told me two weeks ago what you intended with the story in my office. Two weeks before,” she said.
In response to the allegation, Ms Gallagher said: ‘No one had any knowledge.’
Ms Gallagher has angrily denied she misled Parliament with her statement, saying over the weekend she was not aware of the full allegations or had “made a decision to arm it”.
It comes as Treasury Secretary Katy Gallagher (pictured) is being accused of the same thing after she admitted to having some knowledge of the Brittany Higgins rape allegation
Mr Albanese (pictured) rejects suggestions Labor has questions to answer about his knowledge of Ms Higgins’ rape allegations, calling the case a ‘bizarre conspiracy theory’
Mr Albanese has rejected suggestions. Labor has questions to answer about his knowledge of Ms Higgins’ rape allegations.
He said Senator Gallagher had been transparent and that the suggestion that she misled parliament was “absurd.”
“It’s a bizarre conspiracy theory that suggests Labor is somehow at the center of all this,” he told ABC Radio.
And indeed, according to Senator (Linda) Reynolds herself, and the discussion that took place on Monday night at the time, Katy Gallagher said, “Yes, I was broadly made aware that there was an incident in the days before . “.
“So this has been known to Senator Reynolds since then since 2021, and now, in 2023, this is somehow this fabricated issue by what is a desperate liberal opposition.”
With parliament resuming on Tuesday, coalition senators will use Question Time to attack Ms Gallagher for her knowledge of the allegations.