Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I refer Senator McDonald to a statement that I made at the beginning of last week on this matter, relating to the allegation that I had misled the Senate. Specifically I will say that when it started at Senate estimates on 4 June, when the Minister for Defence, Senator Reynolds, said that she knew where this started and then went on to say, 'I was told by one of your senators two weeks before'—I took that to mean two weeks before the story broke publicly—'about what you were intending to do with the story in my office two weeks before'—that is, two weeks before the story broke publicly—I was shocked by that. I refer you to the statement that I gave that goes through this and then my statement that I became aware of the details of the allegations being made in the days leading up to it then becoming public, and that is the difference.

So I have been upfront and clear with the Senate. At the time in a private meeting—and perhaps all of this could have been avoided if that meeting wasn't private, but it was private; it was held outside the Senate estimates room—I did say to Senator Reynolds and Senator Ruston at the time that I had been aware of the allegations in the days leading up to them becoming public.