Liberals Andrew Bragg and Bridget Archer have broken ranks to call for an inquiry into how Brittany Higgins’ text messages were leaked, with Bragg labelling debate in the Senate where the Coalition is pursuing Katy Gallagher “very ugly”.
The pair made the call after the finance minister denied misleading the Senate about her knowledge of Higgins’ allegation before it aired and Network Ten asked the Australian federal police to investigate how Higgins’ texts became public.
Gallagher told Senate estimates in June 2021 that “no one had any knowledge” of Higgins’ allegation before it was aired. That comment has been called into question by text exchanges between Higgins and her partner, David Sharaz, published by the Australian newspaper.
Lawyers for Network Ten have confirmed they asked the AFP to investigate “a suspected contempt of court in relation to material produced under an AFP warrant and a subpoena issued in the ACT supreme court which appears to have been disclosed to the media”.
Despite Gallagher offering a personal explanation to the Senate, the Coalition pursued her in question time on Tuesday about her claim she did “absolutely nothing” with the information about Higgins’ allegation, provided to her four days before Higgins went public on 15 February 2021.
On Wednesday the Liberal MP Bridget Archer told Guardian Australia “yes, [I] would support an inquiry” into how Higgins’ texts were released.
“It is important to realise it is a challenging and sensitive issue for people involved and also for victims and survivors observing,” she said, in reference to how the issue is being discussed in parliament.
Earlier, senator Bragg told Radio National: “I think this whole thing has been a tawdry affair and it is hugely regrettable how it’s played out publicly.
“I don’t know how these messages have been put into the public domain. I expect that there will be a proper investigation into that. Because I mean, why would anyone come forward with allegations of assault if this is the result?”
Asked if he believed police should investigate, Bragg replied: “Well, there needs to be an inquiry to how this has happened. I mean, this can’t happen again. This is supposed to be a country which values the rule of law and proper process.”
The Liberal deputy leader, Sussan Ley, responded to the calls by noting “there’s been a lot of inquiries, there’s been a lot of conjecture”.
“There have been questions asked, we need answers to those questions,” she told reporters in Canberra. “That’s the number one thing that we need at the moment.
“The prime minister’s office should be conducting the investigations and inquiries they need to reassure the prime minister, that ministers did not mislead the Senate.”
Ley said the Gaetjens report into what Scott Morrison’s office knew about Higgins’ complaint had not been completed “because the Australian federal police asked for it to be paused while they conducted their investigations”.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, was asked in Labor caucus on Tuesday about the possibility of a further inquiry, after days of the government targeting the Coalition for failing to release the Gaetjens report.
Albanese said the government had to be cognisant of the impact an inquiry would have on people, which was interpreted as a warning against re-traumatising the complainant.
Albanese said people will make their own judgment about whether it is tenable that no one said anything to Scott Morrison in 2019 or 2020. “We acted responsibly the whole way through,” he said.
Albanese later told the House of Representatives that Peter Dutton, who was informed of the Higgins allegation by the AFP due to protocols for sensitive investigations, had “informed the prime minister’s office prior to that information becoming public”.
The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, told the House of Representatives that he is “deeply concerned about the apparent unauthorised publication of material produced as a result of a subpoena in the criminal trial of Mr Bruce Lehrmann”.
“Material produced to a court in response to a subpoena is subject to an implied undertaking from the parties who receive it that it won’t be used for purposes other than for those court proceedings.
“It’s a rule known as the Harman rule or the Harman undertaking. To breach it may constitute a contempt of court.
“I do understand that the Australian federal police has received a complaint in respect of this matter and that the AFP is currently assessing that complaint.”
Lehrmann was charged with the alleged sexual assault of Higgins but vehemently denied the allegations and maintained his innocence.
An initial trial was aborted last year due to jury misconduct and prosecutors dropped the charges against Lehrmann amid concerns about the impact a second trial could have on Higgins’ mental health.
