Gallagher’s own words show how she misled a Senate committee in June 2021 after Liberal cabinet minister Linda Reynolds accused her of knowing about the allegations two weeks before they aired onThe Project on the Ten Network.
“No one had any knowledge. How dare you,” Gallagher told Reynolds.
Gallagher made a sweeping claim – not just that she did not know the details,but that she did not haveany knowledge. This was false. We know this because of what she said on the weekend.
“I was aware of some allegations in the days leading up to the choice of Ms Brittany Higgins to make those allegations public,” Gallagher told reporters in Perth on Saturday.
Gallagher confirmed that Higgins’ partner,David Sharaz,told her something about the claims. How much is not clear. Her comment on Saturday was:“I wasn’t aware of the full allegations that were made public when the interviews went to air.”
This means Gallagher knew something on Thursday,February 11,2021. This was not a head start on others. Peter Dutton was told about the case on the same day because he was responsible,as home affairs minister,for the Australian Federal Police. The media put questions the next day,February 12,to then-prime minister Scott Morrison,who later said his staff did not tell him. Higgins went public on Monday,February 15.
Reynolds,on the other hand,had known about the allegation for two years. That is why the more important questions will always be about what the Morrison government did when Higgins first made her allegation,privately,in March 2019.