Anthony Albanese, the prime minister, has kept mum about shocking text exchanges that suggest senior Labour members were aware of Brittany Higgins’ allegations before they were made public.
Mr. Albanese was grilled by media about his role in the politization of Ms. Higgins’ claims during a heated press conference held on Thursday at the site of the planned Western Sydney airport.
The Prime Minister was initially questioned about if his Finance Minister Katy Gallagher lied to Parliament when she said she was unaware of the allegations before they became public in March 2021 and about whether he still had faith in her.
Despite hidden text exchanges showing Ms. Gallagher was involved in the story before to The Project interview breaking earlier in the morning, Mr. Albanese absolutely avoided responding to the first portion of the inquiry.
Senator Gallagher is someone in whom Mr. Albanese has complete faith.
the Prime Minister’s recommendations Ms. Higgins tried to “use Labour MPs to get publicity” along with her partner David Sharaz.
Bradley questioned whether he was being forced into the plot as well.
Regarding tapes that showed Lisa Wilkinson stating the then-opposition leader was a “friendly” MP who could interrogate the Morrison administration, Mr. Albanese stated, “I don’t take advise from anyone.
Before I met Brittany Higgins in public on the same day that she met Scott Morrison, I had never met her.
According to the texts obtained by The Australian, Mr. Sharaz informed Ms. Higgins that the Labour leader had intervened in the matter a month after it was made public.
“So Albo gave me his number – he just came in to do the breakfast show – and says if you meet with Scomo (Scott Morrison) to let him know and he’ll fly to Canberra to be there if you want to meet with him too,” Mr. Sharaz wrote on April 16, 2021.
A meeting with Mr. Albanese was confirmed by Mr. Sharaz six days later.
“Friday at 9 a.m., Albo is imprisoned at CPO. Details to follow,” he wrote in a text message before confirming Ms. Plibersek’s attendance in a different message.
Coalition MPs have requested an investigation by the national anti-corruption commission as a result of the scandal.
Particularly intriguing were the covert compensation payments made to Ms. Higgins in December 2022.
I have a buddy in Labour, Katy Gallagher on the Labour side, who will investigate and keep it continuing, Mr. Sharaz claimed during the meeting before the The Project interview.
The settlement payout to Ms. Higgins, which was resolved in December 2021 and is reportedly worth up to $3 million, was overseen by Ms. Gallagher’s office.
Peter Dutton, the leader of the opposition, joined calls for a closer examination of the compensation on Thursday because the taxpayer-funded amount is still shrouded in secrecy.
According to Mr. Dutton, the government must be transparent about its involvement in the affair in light of the revelations in the text exchanges.
In response to Ray Hadley of 2GB, Mr. Dutton said, “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.”
“There are numerous questions that need to be addressed, and the government must do so.”
The leader of the opposition said the new corruption monitor, which is scheduled to begin operations on July 1, would be “interested” in investigating the circumstances surrounding the government’s connection with Ms. Higgins and the payment.
“The integrity commission will have an interest in looking at the sequence of events,” he said. “If there is a question around the Prime Minister’s own words in relation to this… or statements that have been put on Hansard then those are very serious allegations.”
“In my opinion, the Prime Minister need to be straightforward about his own actions and the circumstances of this.
“The conspiring that took place, it just seems to me, on all of the evidence available at the moment we’ve got very serious figures within the Albanese government who have a lot of answers to provide.”
David Littleproud, the leader of the Nationals, and Linda Reynolds, a former employee of Ms. Higgins who was excluded from mediation during the compensation process, are among the prominent Coalition members who have joined Mr. Dutton in calling for an investigation by the anti-corruption commission.
Mr. Albanese also declined to respond to requests for a corruption investigation during his press conference on Thursday.
He stated that the commission was “independent of parliamentarians”.
In fact, he continued, trying to tell the Anti-Corruption Commission what to do “could be regarded as an entirely inappropriate action by the prime minister or any other politician for that matter.”
