Katy Gallagher says she forgot she received an invitation to David Sharaz’s wedding because at that time in her career she was inundated with invitations to random events.
The Finance Minister also criticised leaked text messages in which Mr Sharaz described her as a ‘friend’ to then-girlfriend, now-fiancée .
‘Can I start by saying I’m not responsible for how people describe their relationship with me,’ the under fire cabinet minister told the during Question Time on Wednesday.
Daily Mail Australia revealed last month .She addressed the invitation for the first time in public today, revealing she ‘didn’t recall that until [she] heard it reported’.
‘I had to ask the people I worked with at the time, I think I was Chief Minister. I got a lot of invitations to a lot of things, some I was able to go to and others I couldn’t.
‘That one I didn’t go to.It was declined.’
Embattled Finance Minister Katy Gallagher (pictured) distanced herself from her supposed ‘friend’ David Sharaz during Question Time on Wednesday
Ms Gallagher was invited to Mr Sharaz’s wedding to ex Alexandra Craig (pictured together) in 2018.She did not attend, and implied today she and Mr Sharaz were not, in fact, friends
Ms Gallagher was not the ACT Chief Minister in 2018, when the wedding was held. 2018 was the year she was forced to step down from Parliament for a breach of section 44 (i) of the constitution.
The senator had lodged the paperwork to renounce her British citizenship in time, but the UK Home Office had not approved the application prior to the election.
For a second day running, Ms Gallagher was inundated with questions about her knowledge of Brittany Higgins’ allegations she was sexually assaulted in Parliament House in 2019.
She has maintained it would be inappropriate and a breach of Ms Higgins’ trust to offer details beyond what she has already said on the matter.
Ms Gallagher admitted it was Mr Sharaz who first addressed Ms Higgins’ allegations with her – in the week prior to going public with the story via a television interview with Lisa Wilkinson and The Project, and an online interview with news.com.au.
But she told the Senate on Wednesday her relationship with Mr Sharaz was not out of the ordinary – and likely equal to relationships he had with many other politicians.
The tables at Mr Sharaz and free webcamsex Ms Craig’s wedding featured the names of Labor leaders past and present
Mr Sharaz and Ms Craig’s marriage imploded after a few years, and he soon found love with Brittany Higgins.He told Ms Higgins in leaked texts that he and Gallagher were ‘friends’
‘I had a professional relationship with Mr Sharaz, as did many in this place as he worked here for a period of time,’ she said.
‘It is a professional relationship with a journalist I knew in the ACT and I came across him again when I moved up to the Senate.I expect that relationship exists for a number of Senators.’
Ms Gallagher again urged the Opposition to consider the broader ramifications of their line of questioning, revealing she had been ‘inundated’ with calls from women’s organisations and women themselves about the impact the sustained coverage was having.
‘If you can live with that on your conscience…I can’t on mine,’ she said.
The Liberal Party has maintained it is not trying to ‘second guess the court process that has already taken place’ or ‘draw innocence or guilt out of any party involved’.
Questions have been raised over who in the Labor Party knew about Higgins’ (left) rape allegations before they were made public in 2021, with Ms Gallagher facing growing scrutiny
On Wednesday, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said the questions being asked of the government are ‘absolutely reasonable’ and ‘don’t demean the allegation of sexual assault’.
Ms Higgins alleged she was sexually assaulted by in Parliament House in 2019.He has denied the allegations and a criminal trial crumbled in late 2022 due to juror misconduct.
Since then, leaked texts and transcripts of recorded conversations show Ms Higgins, her boyfriend David Sharaz and journalist Lisa Wilkinson discussed providing details of her allegations to senior Labor figures, well before the case became public knowledge.
