Hope for Parliament House’s improved culture turns to rubble

The woman who investigated the culture of Parliament House was hopeful on Tuesday morning that the building had changed for the better.

“I’m really confident that our parliament has changed,” said former sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins.

But that hope looked like a pile of political rubble by Wednesday night.

It only took two days for politicians to prove to Australians, again, that federal parliament is a toxic environment that can bring out the worst in all who work there.

The bitter argument over Brittany Higgins, revived out of lingering anger at the way her claims unleashed fury two years ago, turned parliament into a grudge match about the past.

There were good reasons for the Coalition to question Finance Minister Katy Gallagher over her claim – now shown to be false – that “no one had any knowledge” of Higgins’ allegation of rape before the media revealed the allegation on Monday, February 15, 2021. In fact, Gallagher knew the previous Thursday.

Gallagher acted wisely on Tuesday morning by making a statement to the Senate to explain her words. She denied misleading the Senate and, crucially, made it clear she had not known for weeks in advance – a claim made at the time. She said she did not tell others and only communicated with Higgins and her partner, David Sharaz. Nothing emerged to show a long conspiracy.

Gallagher said, however, she would not reveal the details of confidential discussions and then used this as a shield against further questions. This infuriated her opponents, not least Linda Reynolds, the Liberal senator who was Higgins’ boss at the time of the alleged rape in 2019 and endured the worst of Labor’s political attack after the claims were aired in 2021.