Katy Gallagher jokes about sharing phone contacts amid Brittany Higgins controversy

Katy Gallagher has launched a sarcastic diatribe about sharing her phone contacts and calendar appointments amid criticism she misled Parliament about what she knew about Brittany Higgins’ rape claims.

The Treasury Secretary and Secretary of Women’s Affairs have been questioned by the opposition for more than a week after she told a hearing on 2021 Senate estimates that she had no prior knowledge of Ms Higgins’ allegations against Bruce Lehrmann before they were made public.

She has since acknowledged that she was made aware of the allegations the week before they were published on February 15, 2021.

In the Senate on Tuesday, Sen. Sarah Henderson questioned Ms. Gallagher about reports about Martin Fisk, whose wife Sandra is the operations manager for the ACT Labor Party, and their ties to the Brittany Higgins case.

Mr Fisk, the former CEO of Menslink, which supports young men, told the ACT Victims of Crime Commissioner in late January 2021 that he was working with a young woman “on the verge of making a sexual assault disclosure” who was “probably attract media attention’.

Ms Henderson then asked Ms Gallagher if Mr Fisk or his wife had ever made the allegations to the Chancellor of the Exchequer before February 15, 2021. Before she had a chance to respond, Penny Wong jumped in to ask if the question was okay.

“Senator Gallagher has answered question after question about this and has been honest and transparent with the Senate,” the secretary of state said.

Ms. Gallagher then said she had been trying to be “responsible and helpful” to the Senate for the past week before Liberal Senator Hollie Hughes stepped in and said “wow.”

“Hollie, you can stop saying ‘wow’ because I’m being absolutely candid here,” Ms Gallagher said.

“But you ask me things now… and I’m happy to answer. The answer to the question is no.

“I’m happy to answer that because even though it’s irrelevant and irrelevant to my statement, I know what you’d do if I didn’t answer it. I know exactly what you would do, Senator Henderson and others.

“If you want me to go through my phone book and show you who’s in my contacts, other calendar events, and stuff like that, we can keep playing this game. But in the meantime… we have to be serious.

Brittany Higgins’ fiancé, David Sharaz, informed Ms Gallagher of the allegations before they were made public in February 2021

“We can’t just stand here and say we’re creating a safe environment for staff, a safe workplace or an environment where women are encouraged to come forward and raise complaints about how they’ve been treated.”

The opposition has repeatedly challenged Ms Gallagher, insisting that she still has questions to answer and must be held accountable.

During Question Time on Tuesday, Ms Gallagher revealed that it was Ms Higgins’ friend, David Sharaz, who first informed her of the allegations, asking her to ‘keep the information confidential’.

“I came into… the information through the partner of the young woman who was to make these allegations,” Ms Gallagher said on Tuesday.

“I was asked to keep that information confidential, and I did.”

The opposition has repeatedly challenged Ms Gallagher, insisting she still has questions to answer and must be held accountable

Ms Gallagher said she did not want to betray Ms Higgins’ trust by discussing her knowledge of the matter, adding: “If you confide in anyone, seek help from anyone … that information could become public made.

“The problems the opposition has is that someone here may have acted with some decency or integrity.”

Mr Sharaz boasted that he had informed Ms Gallagher of the circumstances to his now fiancé on 11 February 2021 in leaked texts.

Ms Gallagher cannot recall the exact dates when she had conversations with Mr Sharaz or Ms Higgins, but acknowledged it was in the week before the allegations were made public.

Ms. Higgins alleged she was sexually assaulted in Senator Linda Reynolds’ office by Mr. Lehrmann after a night out in 2019 while they were both staffers.

He has always strongly denied the allegations, and they were never proven in court after a mistrial.