Katy Gallagher states she did 'absolutely nothing' with Brittany Higgins information

After more than a week of being targeted by the Coalition, the Finance Minister and ACT senator has made a statement to the Senate rejecting any sort of collusion with Ms Higgins and her partner David Sharaz and repeating her weekend claim that she did not mislead the Senate.

She praised the bravery of a "significantly let down' Ms Higgins and pointed to the Coalition members, "including those at the centre of the rape allegations", who have alleged she has misled the Senate in comments made almost two years ago. She explained she had been given a "heads up" about the allegations in the days before they became public, but did not use that information.

"I take my responsibilities to this place as a senator very seriously. And I have always conducted myself with the highest levels of integrity, and I always will," Senator Gallagher told Parliament.

"I did not mislead the Senate at Senate estimates on June the 4th, 2021."

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The Coalition has been targeting Senator Gallagher over claims she misled Parliament about her knowledge in opposition of 2019 rape allegations brought forward by the former Liberal staffer in February 2021. The accused man, Bruce Lehrmann, has always denied the allegations and no findings were made against him after an ACT Supreme Court trial was aborted.

"At the heart of this whole story sits the wellbeing, or otherwise, of a young woman who came forward and made allegations on her own terms," Senator Gallagher said.

"A woman who bravely stood up and spoke out on her own terms and confronted her employer, then government, but Ms Higgins feels significantly let down in the days, weeks and months following the allegations she reported to them.

"At a time when she needed their support the most, she should have been dealt with as a human being not a problem that needed managing."

Leaked text messages published by The Australian newspaper purport to show Mr Sharaz had been in contact with Senator Gallagher before Ms Higgins appeared on The Project to reveal the rape allegations. It also paints the Finance Minister and ACT senator as "invested" in the allegations.

But in Senate estimates on June 4, 2021, Senator Gallagher responded to claims that Labor figures knew of the allegations before they aired by saying: "No one had any knowledge. How dare you?"

Senator Gallagher said she was responding to the then defence minister Linda Reynolds.

"Senator Reynolds said, 'I know where this started'. She went on to say 'I was told by one of your senators, two weeks before, about what you were intending to do with the story in my office two weeks before'.

"I was shocked at the assertion made by Senator Reynolds with the clear implication that I was responsible or had some involvement with making that story public. That was not true. It was never true."

"And I responded to that allegation by saying no one had any knowledge."

She repeated a previous disclosure that a "wide ranging" private meeting was held that night with Senator Reynolds, where several matters were discussed.

She said Senator Reynolds understood, during the dinner, the context of what she had said.

"I informed Senator Reynolds that I'd been given a heads-up about the allegations in the days before they became public, an explanation she accepted at the time some two years ago," she said.

"In fact, Senator Reynolds even said so on the record in Senate estimates that same night and I quote, 'I would like to say in relation to the matters raised before the dinner break, Senators Wong, Gallagher and I had a very respectful discussion during the dinner break, and they have assured me they were not involved in that matter becoming public. I accept their assurance.' I repeat. She said, 'they've assured me that they were not involved in that matter becoming public and I accept their assurance'.

"The allegations that were made public, were done so on Miss Higgins's own terms. Those are the facts. Facts that appear to have been lost in the past week."

On Tuesday, Senator Gallagher also addressed ongoing claims she used the information for political purposes.

"I did nothing with that information. Absolutely nothing," Senator Gallagher said.

"I was asked to keep it to myself and I did.

"I did nothing differently on this occasion compared to hundreds of other times that people have reached out to me in my time as a politician and asked me to keep their information private, including women seeking support."

The Finance Minister and Minister for Women is concerned about the impact on women who are thinking about coming forward over allegations of serious sexual or violent abuse, and may not now do that.

"And I'm not going to stand for that," she said.

The minister also sought to correct the record on the issue of the Commonwealth settlement of the claim brought by Ms Higgins.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has raised the possibility of the multi-million dollar Commonwealth payout to Ms Higgins being referred to the new National Anti-Corruption Commission.

She said her role in the compensation was not as decision maker and this has been misreported.

"So that this is crystal clear for this chamber and beyond. The Minister for Finance has no decision making role in processes around significant legal matters. Absolutely none," Senator Gallagher told the Senate.

"Paragraph 3.2 of the legal services directions provide that significant claims against the Commonwealth may not be settled without the agreement of the Attorney-General. The Attorney-General has made clear he was the decision maker on behalf of the government on this matter."