As I’ve written before, politicians unleash the dogs of political scandal at their peril. Time and again, politicians have got carried away with trying to tear down their opponents, only to find the frenzied pack turning on themselves.
It’s kind of an occupational hazard, I guess, when you’re all corrupt, grubby liars. Let those without sin cast the first stones in the parliamentary glass house, to mangle a metaphor or two.
Anthony Albanese’s government is learning the hard way just how mangled you can get. Especially when you dive into something as truly grubby as weaponising dodgy rape allegations.
Katy Gallagher is facing serious claims she misled parliament over an outburst in which she rejected assertions she was tipped off about Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations in 2021, as pressure builds on Anthony Albanese over Labor’s war-gaming with Ms Higgins’ fiance David Sharaz.
The Finance Minister and senior government ministers went to ground on Thursday following the damaging fallout from text messages and audio recordings of Mr Sharaz and Ms Higgins boasting about contact and collusion with senior Labor figures.
It’s one thing to lie to us plebs, quite another to lie to Parliament. Politicians do it all the time, of course, but mostly they’re never called out on it. When they are caught, though, the consequences are severe. A Minister caught misleading Parliament is almost automatically sacked from their portfolio. At worst, they can be forced to resign from Parliament.
Gallagher may well be in some seriously hot water.
The allegation Senator Gallagher misled parliament traces back to a June 2021 Senate hearing when former defence minister Linda Reynolds claimed that senior Labor figures had been tipped off about Ms Higgins’ allegations before they were aired in the media.’
“No-one had any knowledge. How dare you!’ It’s all about protecting yourself,” Senator Gallagher shot back at Senator Reynolds, who was Ms Higgins’ boss at the time of her alleged assault by colleague Bruce Lehrmann. But text messages from February 11, 2021 – four days before Ms Higgins’ Ten Network interview went to air – show Mr Sharaz implying that Senator Gallagher did know about the allegations before they were made public and said she was “really invested” in Ms Higgins’ story.
As for the oft-repeated claims that Higgins was too dangerously fragile to even front court, the text messages appear to show at least one half of a couple relishing in their new-found status of “exuding power”.
Leaked messages obtained by The Australian also revealed on a number of occasions Mr Sharaz asked Ms Higgins: “Are you getting spotted? Are people noticing you? Anyone recognise you?”
On March 16, 2021, about a month after Ms Higgins was interviewed by Lisa Wilkinson on The Project, Mr Sharaz texted Ms Higgins to say “we exude power”.
Uncharacteristically for a government which normally revels in media attention, Labor have gone to ground as the scandal turns back to bite them.
Senator Gallagher, who first met Mr Sharaz as ACT chief minister a decade ago, did not answer six questions put to her by The Australian about whether she misled parliament and when or how she became aware of Ms Higgins’ allegations.
The Prime Minister, along with Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, has also been named in texts and audio of communications involving Mr Sharaz and Ms Higgins. Mr Albanese dodged questions over whether his Left-faction ally and close friend misled parliament […] Ms Plibersek refused to answer questions.
The Australian
In what may be one of the most hilarious cases of unexpected consequences in Australian politics for years, Albanese may well find himself and his senior ministers the first to be hauled before their much-touted National Anti-Corruption Commission. Labor strongly campaigned to establish the NACC, and it commences on July 1.
As Abbott and Costello once said, “Who’s on first?”