Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Finance, Senator Gallagher. Did you receive a copy of theProject interview transcript prior to it going to air on 15 February 2021?

Hon. Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! I'm not calling the minister until there's order.

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

I thank Senator Ruston for the question, and I refer her back to my statement, where I have made it clear that I received information several days before the first public reports went to air. I did nothing with that information—absolutely nothing. I was asked to keep it to myself, and I did. I'm not going to stand here and go through private conversations that I had with the person who is at the centre of this at a very, very difficult time in her life—a person who has had her privacy breached in the most egregious way over the last two years.

There are, essentially, two things that have been alleged of me over the past week. The first is that I misled the Senate. I dealt with that in my statement today. Senator Reynolds and Senator Ruston were in the room when I explained that. They accepted that two years ago, and not once have either of them raised any concern about that with me. That's the first issue. The second issue that has been running in the media has been around my role in the compensation claim—an issue that has been incorrectly reported. These are the two issues that I have been hounded on—

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, please resume your seat.

Opposition senators interjecting—

The:

Order on my left. Senator Ruston, were you on your feet for a point of order?

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, a point of order on relevance. I asked a very simple question; the minister has not answered my question in any way. I'd ask you to ask her, in the last 11 seconds, to answer it.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Ruston, I believe the minister is being relevant to your question. Minister, please continue.

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

Thank you, and I think I've made it clear I am not going to breach that person's privacy any more than it has already been breached. I don't think it's safe, I don't think it's fair and I don't think it's relevant. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Ruston, first supplementary question?

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In relation to the information that you received that you won't actually tell us about, you did refer, in your statement this morning, that 'I did nothing with that information, absolutely nothing'. For absolute clarity, can you tell us what 'absolutely nothing' actually means?

Government Senators:

Government senators interjecting—

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order.

Senator Bilyk! I haven't called you, Minister. I'm asking for order on my right. Minister.

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

Thank you. I think the problem the opposition are having here is that someone might actually act with some decency and integrity in this situation. I think that is the problem—

Honourable senators inte rjecting—

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, please resume your seat. Order on both sides. Minister, please continue.

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

that someone would act in accordance with the request that had been made of them. That's what I did. That's exactly what I did. I can't be clearer. And on the interjection I heard about Senator Reynolds, when Senator Reynolds sought our help, we provided that to her.

Opposition senators interjecting—

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister Gallagher, please resume your seat.

Order! These are very difficult questions and answers, and I am asking you all—

Senator Rennick! I am asking you all to listen with respectful silence. That goes right across this chamber. Do not call out. Minister, please continue.

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

I've answered the question.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Ruston, a second supplementary?

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, at any point prior to 15 February 2021 did you advise or encourage any person to refer serious allegations to the police? If so, when and in what format did the minister provide that advice? And if not, why not?

Hon. Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! I have not called the minister. On both sides—

Senator Watt! Senator Henderson!

Senator Hughes, I'm going to ask you to withdraw that.

Hollie Hughes (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I withdraw.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want order on both sides of the chamber. Senator Ruston is entitled to ask her question in silence and the minister is entitled to respond in silence. Minister?

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

Could Senator Ruston repeat the question?

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes. And when Senator Ruston is invited to repeat the question, I expect it to be repeated in silence. Senator Ruston?

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, at any point prior to 15 February 2021 did you advise or encourage any person to refer serious allegations to the police? If so, when did you do that and in what format? If not, why not?

Government senators interjecting—

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, I have not called the minister.

Senator Polley! Were you not listening when I asked for respectful silence? Minister Gallagher.

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

Thank you, President. Again, I'm not going to breach the confidence of the discussions I had with individuals who had come to me seeking my confidence, but I can guarantee you, as I have done in absolutely every case of a woman coming to me and saying that they had been sexually assaulted or harassed or subject to violence—as often happens in this country, more than we would like—I have ensured that they are aware of the options available to them for them to make their decisions. This has been central to Ms Higgins's case, where a young woman made a decision to tell her story on her own terms and in her own time. (Time expired)