Brittany Higgins rape claims: David Sharaz tells of assembly with Katy Gallagher earlier than The Venture
David Sharaz claimed he held a secret assembly with Labor senator Katy Gallagher 4 days earlier than Brittany Higgins‘ bombshell interview on The Venture, leaked textual content messages reveal.
The under-fire Senator Gallagher has once more denied she misled Parliament in 2021 by saying she had no information of Ms Higgins’ rape allegations earlier than they had been made public.
Nevertheless, leaked textual content messages reveal Mr Sharaz instructed Ms Higgins he met with Senator Gallagher in her workplace on February 11, 2021.
He claimed to have detailed Ms Higgins’ allegations towards Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann and gave Senator Gallagher a transcript of her interview with The Venture, which aired on February 15.
‘I hope that is okay,’ Mr Sharaz wrote within the messages to his now fiance.
‘She’s not doing something with it. However I am additionally completely happy to step out and let her speak to you in order for you.
‘Mainly, I wished her to get all of the context as a result of it is so difficult. She’s presently studying your interview and has gone silent. ‘
In one other textual content he added: ‘Katy Gallagher messaged me. She’s indignant and needs to assist. She’s acquired the context.
‘She says they knew one thing was incorrect as a result of they fired Bruce and never you. They prevented a scandal.’
Newly launched textual content messages reveal David Sharaz instructed his now fiance Brittany Higgins (left) he met with Labor Senator Katy Gallagher in her workplace on February 11, 2021.
The under-fire Senator Gallagher has denied she misled Parliament in 2021 by saying she had no information of Ms Higgins’ rape allegations earlier than they had been made public.
The next day, Mr Sharaz handed on Ms Higgins’ cell quantity to Senator Gallagher to permit them to speak straight forward of Ms Higgins’ explosive TV interview.
Ms Higgins alleges she was raped by Mr Lehrmann, her former colleague, inside their boss Linda Reynolds’ workplace in Parliament Home in 2019
Mr Lehrmann has all the time denied the allegations.
The trial of Mr Lehrmann was aborted over juror misconduct and prosecutors didn’t search a retrial, citing concern for Ms Higgins’ psychological well being.
The ACT is now holding an inquiry into the investigation and prosecution.
Senator Gallagher, now finance minister, was anticipated to be grilled in Senate Query Time this week over what information she had about Ms Higgins’ grievance.
However she acquired forward of the grilling by issuing a press release to the Senate on Tuesday.
‘I used to be supplied with data within the days earlier than the allegations had been reported and I did nothing with these allegations. Completely nothing. I used to be requested to maintain it to myself and that is what I did,’ she stated.
‘I used to be not concerned in any means with the story that went to air on the evening, or reported on-line that morning. I used to be under no circumstances concerned with the timing during which this story was revealed or aired.
‘Any allegations or assertion that I did is incorrect and I reject it within the strongest potential phrases.’
Questions had been raised about whether or not the Labor get together used the rape allegations for political achieve after audio was leaked from a manufacturing assembly Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz held with The Venture host Lisa Wilkinson and producer Angus Llewellyn.
The audio seems to point out how the couple managed the revelation of Ms Higgins’ rape claims for the best political benefit.
They wished the interview to air in a Parliamentary sitting week so then-prime minister Scott Morrison could possibly be quizzed in Query Time, after which have Senator Gallagher observe up with questions at Senate Estimates in March, 2021.
‘It would be good to get a Query Time in there, I believe,’ Ms Higgins instructed the five-hour assembly, in new audio revealed by Sharri Markson on Sky News Australia.
Mr Sharaz added: ‘The explanation we have chosen the timeline we’ve got is as a result of there is a sitting week once we need the story to return out after which a break, then senate estimates in March.
‘That is when I will speak to – I’ve acquired a good friend in Labor Katy Gallagher who will probe and proceed it going.
‘So, sitting week, story comes out, they need to reply questions and query time… it is a mess for them.
‘March, senate estimates. Hopefully we will try to get the footage, that kind of stuff. It brings readability after which he is gonna name on election, each time he calls it.
David Sharaz and Brittany Higgins mentioned concentrating on then-prime minister Scott Morrison (proper) in Query Time over the rape allegations. Senator Gallagher subsequently questioned then-defence trade minister Linda Reynolds (left) in Senate estimates
‘That is why Britt’s picked that timeline.’
Ms Higgins admitted tearfully within the audio that she realised her rape allegations had been about for use in a political dogfight which might overshadow her.
‘I’m not naive to the very fact I am going to endlessly be tied to the story,’ she stated. ‘And it isn’t about me broadly.
‘It is just about all the time gonna be concerning the get together. And it will be about Linda [Reynolds]. And that is wonderful.
‘However it’s simply kind of laborious to reconcile personally [that] you are the least attention-grabbing a part of your story.’
In June 2021, Senator Gallagher angrily denied having information of the allegations earlier than they had been broadcast in a fiery confrontation with Ms Higgins’s former boss Linda Reynolds in Senate estimates.
Senator Gallagher snapped on the then-defence minister: ‘No-one had any information. How dare you.’
Nevertheless, Senator Gallagher first admitted on Saturday that she had been made conscious of the allegations prematurely of them being aired, clarifying her assertion within the Senate.
‘I used to be responding to an assertion that was being made by the Minister Reynolds on the time that we had recognized about this for weeks and had decided to weaponise it,’ she stated.
‘That’s not true. It was by no means true. I used to be conscious of some allegations within the days main as much as the selection of Miss Brittany Higgins to make these allegations public.
‘I did nothing with that data. So there’s completely no challenge right here in any respect.’
Fuming Anthony Albanese rages over ‘weird conspiracy idea’ as he defends Katy Gallagher after textual content leak
- PM says Labor didn’t learn about rape allegations
- Finance Minister Katy Gallagher was despatched texts about it
Anthony Albanese has dismissed ideas Labor has inquiries to reply over its information of Brittany Higgins‘ rape allegations as a ‘weird conspiracy idea’.
His feedback come as he defends his frontbench colleague, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, who has denied she misled parliament in 2021 about being conscious of the allegations earlier than they had been made public.
Responding to a declare she knew concerning the incident for weeks to make use of it for political achieve, Senator Gallagher stated she didn’t search to weaponise the allegations.
Anthony Albanese has dismissed as a ‘weird conspiracy idea’ ideas Labor has inquiries to reply over its information of Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations
Questions had been raised of the finance minister after leaked textual content messages between Ms Higgins and her companion David Sharaz emerged final week suggesting the pair contemplated strategising her story with Senator Gallagher when she was in opposition.
Mr Albanese stated his minister had been clear and the suggestion Senator Gallagher misled parliament was ‘absurd’.
‘It is a weird conspiracy idea that means that Labor is in some way on the centre of all of this,’ he instructed ABC Radio.
‘And certainly, in line with Senator (Linda) Reynolds herself, and the dialogue that came about at the moment on the Monday evening, Katy Gallagher stated, “sure, I used to be made conscious in broad phrases that there was an incident within the days beforehand”.
‘So this has been recognized by Senator Reynolds since that point since 2021, and now, in 2023, in some way that is this concocted challenge by what’s a determined Liberal opposition.’
As parliament resumes on Tuesday, coalition senators are set to make use of Query Time to focus on Senator Gallagher over her information of the allegations.
Ms Higgins alleges she was raped by former colleague Bruce Lehrmann in Parliament Home in 2019, a declare Mr Lehrmann has all the time denied.
The trial of Mr Lehrmann was aborted over juror misconduct and prosecutors didn’t search a retrial, citing concern for Ms Higgins’ psychological well being.
The ACT is now holding an inquiry into the investigation and prosecution.
Responding to a declare she knew concerning the incident for weeks to make use of it for political achieve, Senator Gallagher stated she didn’t search to weaponise the allegations
Ms Gallagher has ‘categorically’ denied she misled parliament following the discharge of the texts by The Australian this week.
She was beforehand quizzed in Senate Estimates in June 2021 concerning the extent of her information on the allegations made by Ms Higgins earlier than the story broke.
Through the June 2021 Senate Estimates listening to, then-Defence Minister Linda Reynolds accused Labor senators of being secretly briefed on the rape allegation.
‘I used to be instructed by one in every of your senators two weeks earlier than about what you had been meaning to do with the story in my workplace. Two weeks earlier than,’ She stated.
In response to the declare, Senator Gallagher stated: ‘No-one had any information’.
Addressing the texts from Mr Sharaz, Ms Gallagher stated she had been made conscious of ‘some allegations’ within the days main as much as Ms Higgins’ explosive interview in February 2021.
‘I have been clear, I have been sincere and always I have been guided by the bravery and braveness of a younger girl who selected to talk up about her office and from that we’ve got had large modifications to that office,’ she stated on Saturday.
‘(I used to be instructed) There was going to be some public reporting {that a} younger girl making severe allegations about occasions that occurred in a minister’s workplace … had been going to grow to be public.
‘I categorically rejected, and also you see that within the footage of the committee, I categorically rejected the assertion she was placing, which was that we had chosen to weaponise that data weeks forward of being instructed about this.’
