THE SQUIZ
Coalition MPs are targeting PM Anthony Albanese and senior Labor ministers over their engagement with former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins and her partner David Sharaz. Of particular interest is what contact they had before her claims that Bruce Lehrmann assaulted her in Parliament House in 2019 were made public. The Australian yesterday published details of text messages between Higgins and Sharaz in early 2021, where they discuss passing on the details of her claims to Labor politicians so they could grill senior Morrison Government figures about their handling of her claims when the story broke. Coalition leader Peter Dutton yesterday said, “there are a lot of questions to be answered”.

WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?
Well, the Labor politicians named say they didn’t know about Higgins’ allegations until it all became public. Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher both say they weren’t pre-briefed, and yesterday, Albanese said, “I had not met Brittany Higgins until I met her publicly on the same day she met Scott Morrison”. But the texts point to Sharaz being in contact with Gallagher days before the story was broken by news.com.au and Channel Ten’s The Project. “Katy Gallagher messaged me. She’s angry and wants to help,” Sharaz wrote. Now, the Coalition is pointing to conflicting timelines of who knew what and when. And they want answers on how Labor worked with Higgins and Sharaz to inflict political damage on the then government. 

AND THAT WOULD BE AN ISSUE BECAUSE…?
Well, some pundits say the Morrison Government’s response to Higgins’ claims was an issue in last year’s election, which they lost. And then, in December last year, she made a confidential settlement with the Commonwealth said to be worth $3 million (although Higgins says it was less than that). This week, Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds – Higgins’ former boss – said she was concerned about the “unusually swift” payout process, and she’s pushing for the new anti-corruption commission to take a look at it. But Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus says settling the claim wasn’t political – it was in line with the law. And Albanese says it’s “inappropriate” for politicians to direct the commission on what it should investigate because it’s “independent of politics, that’s the idea.” Regardless, Dutton says there needs to be “a true factual explanation of what’s going on”. And with Federal Parliament resuming next week, get ready for more on this…