Anthony Albanese press secretary Emma Dallimore exits PM’s Office

Anthony Albanese has lost a newly-appointed press secretary just three months after she took the job.

Emma Dallimore joined the PM’s office at the end of February after a 23-year career in television but has now exited after only a few months in the role.

Her exit came a week after the federal budget on May 9, long before the current crisis facing the PM over calls for a corruption probe into Brittany Higgins’s rape allegations and her ‘multi-million dollar’ compensation deal. 

On Thursday, the PM’s Office confirmed Ms Dallimore had left, but insisted her job was only temporary, although they could not give details of her contract’s length.

There was no mention of the temporary nature when she was first announced as one of Albanese’s press secretaries, but it is understood to only have been until May.

Media reports on February 24 hailed the TV reporter’s ‘firepower’ as she was appointed the PM’s new press guru, and was tipped to bolster Labor support in her north Queensland where worked with Seven.

Just over three months later though, she left the role at the end of her contract

PM Anthony Albanese (pictured) is fending off calls for a corruption probe into his part in Brittany Higgins’s rape allegations and her ‘multi-million dollar’ compensation deal

The Prime Minister, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher have all fiercely denied colluding with Ms Higgins while in Opposition to ‘weaponise’ her rape accusations to damage the Coalition government.

But explosive texts between Ms Higgins and her boyfriend David Sharaz have now revealed the pair apparently plotted to ‘f*** over’ then-PM Scott Morrison.

‘Just wait,’ Ms Higgins messaged Mr Sharaz. ‘We’ve got him.’ Mr Sharaz replied: ‘I still hate the c***.’

Ms Dallimore has been linked with replacing Peter van Onselen as Ten’s political editor, but its understood she has privately denied she is making that move.

She was formerly a foreign correspondent with Ten before leaving the network to join Seven where she rose to become deputy news director.

‘After 23 years, I’ve decided to move outside of a newsroom, and seek a new challenge,’ she wrote when she left Seven last July.

‘It’s been a privilege to tell people’s stories. It’s been an honour to have a front row seat. But I find myself ready for a new challenge.’

Her LinkedIn bio still lists her as Anthony Albanese’s press secretary – with no mention of the role being temporary – but her exit was confirmed by the PM’s Office to Daily Mail Australia.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has now told the PM to come clean and reveal all about his relationship with the Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz.

‘The Prime Minister obviously has to front up and provide a true factual explanation of what’s going on here because there are different accounts,’ Mr Dutton told 2GB host Ray Hadley.

‘Until we know the facts, we won’t know the answers to all the questions that need to be answered and the Prime Minister and others given different statements at different points.

‘It seems that some of that may be conflicting now. So I think the prime minister just needs to be honest.’

Hadley responded: ‘Either David Sharaz is lying or exaggerating, or the PM is lying and so is Katy Gallagher … these are the only two options.’

Addressing Ms Higgins’ taxpayer-funded payout – believed to be around the $3million mark – Mr Hadley said: ‘It never happens in a matter of hours before a settlement can be reached and both parties are happy.’

‘It’s clear some people haven’t been telling the truth,’ Mr Dutton replied.

On Thursday, the PM hit back at the suggestions and insisted: ‘I have absolute confidence in Senator Gallagher.

‘I had not met Brittany Higgins until I met her publicly – publicly – on the same day that she met Scott Morrison.’

Press guru Emma Dallimore has left her press secretary role with the PM mired in a row over his part in the Brittany Higgins (pictured) saga

Brittany Higgins messaged boyfriend David Sharaz in texts about how PM Scott Morrison was about to be f***ed over…Just wait. We’ve got him.’ Mr Sharaz replied: ‘I still hate the c***’

The PM refused to be drawn into questions about the case being referred to the National Anti-Corruption Commission, adding: ‘The anti-corruption commission is independent of politics. That’s the idea.

‘If it’s in with politics, then that itself is a problem.

‘It could be regarded as an entirely inappropriate action by the Prime Minister or any other politician to try to direct the anti corruption commission into what to do.

‘We set it up as an independent body.’

He refused to take further questions about Ms Higgins and walked out of the press conference about the new airport in Western Sydney.

Ms Higgins’ former boss, ex-Coalition defence minister Linda Reynolds, has said she will demand the deal is probed by the new National Anti-Corruption Commission. 

She’s accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, finance minister Katy Gallagher and attorney-general Mark Dreyfus of a serious ‘potential conflict of interest’ after previously voicing their support for Ms Higgins.

Ms Reynolds said she would be ‘raising serious questions about how this significant sum of public money was determined and allocated’ in an ‘unusually swift’ manner. 

Ms Higgins was a Liberal political staffer for Ms Reynolds and alleged fellow staffer Bruce Lehrmann raped her in Ms Reynolds’ office after a boozy night out in 2019. 

Mr Lehrmann has strenuously denied all the allegations and his rape trial was abandoned because of juror misconduct in October 2022.

All charges against Mr Lehrmann were later dropped completely over concerns for Ms Higgins’ mental health on December 2.

Two days later it was revealed Ms Higgins was suing Ms Reynolds, former Coalition attorney-general Michaelia Cash – who she worked for after the alleged rape – and the Commonwealth for $3million.

Her lawyers said Ms Higgins had suffered sexual harassment, sex discrimination, disability discrimination, negligence and victimisation.

She was claiming $2.5 million for future economic loss, past economic loss approaching $100,000, general damages of $100,000, future assistance with domestic duties of some $200,000, and past and future out-of-pocket expenses of a further $150,000 approximately. 

Less than 10 days later, it was revealed the Commonwealth had settled the case on December 13 after the first day of mediation without a court hearing.

The final payout figure was kept confidential under the terms of the deal although Ms Higgins denies she was awarded the full $3million she had been demanding.

But now Ms Reynolds is questioning why the pay off deal was agreed without even speaking to her or including her at mediation talks.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured) has fiercely denied colluding with Ms Higgins while in Opposition to ‘weaponise’ the accusations and damage Scott Morrison’s Coalition government

Four days before Ms Higgins’ allegations went public Mr Sharaz wrote of how Senator Katy Gallagher (pictured left) was ‘really invested’ in the saga. Labor’s attorney-general Mark Dreyfus (right) finalised the deal after allegedly excluding Ms Reynolds and Ms Cash from the process

Labor’s attorney-general Mark Dreyfus finalised the deal after allegedly excluding Ms Reynolds and Ms Cash from the process.

‘I was initially granted legal assistance to defend the civil claim made by Ms Higgins against me (as well as Senator Cash and the Commonwealth),’ said Ms Reynolds in a statement.

‘But, on December 6, 2022, I was advised that the Commonwealth has a discretion to control the conduct of my defence and that the Attorney-General had decided to exercise that discretion

‘The result of this was that the Attorney-General did not want me to attend the mediation or make any public comments about the mediation or the civil claim made by Ms Higgins.’

She added: ‘This raises further questions about the fairness, transparency and impartiality of the entire process.’

Opposition leader Peter Dutton is now demanding the PM comes clean on the process and conversations he had with Ms Higgins.

‘The Prime Minister obviously has to front up and provide a true factual explanation of what’s going on here because there are different accounts,’ Mr Dutton told 2GB’s Ray Hadley.

‘Until we know the facts, we won’t know the answers to all the questions that need to be answered and the Prime Minister and others given different statements at different points. 

‘It seems that some of that may be conflicting now. So I think the prime minister just needs to be honest.’

An ACT Board of Inquiry led by Justice Walter Sofronoff is currently underway in Canberra to probe the investigation and prosecution of Mr Lehrmann. 

But 2GB’s Ben Fordham has now revealed Ms Reynolds will refer the compensation deal to the new National Anti-Corruption Commission if no-one else does.

The questions come after Daily Mail Australia revealed Mr Sharaz boasted of his friendship with ACT Labor senator Katy Gallagher and planned to brief her to ask questions in Parliament.

The questions come after Daily Mail Australia revealed Mr Sharaz boasted of his friendship with ACT Labor senator Katy Gallagher and planned to brief her to ask questions in Parliament

New leaked text messages between Brittany Higgins and her fiancé David Sharaz (pictured together) appear to suggest that Anthony Albanese and other Labor heavyweights had ‘direct contact’ with the couple as part of a plot to publicise her alleged sexual assault inside Parliament House

Ms Higgins texted Mr Sharaz to tell him: ‘You may as well feed everything you have to Katy.’ Mr Sharaz added in another text exchange: ‘She’s pretty savage politically.’

Ms Gallagher is now finance minister but has insisted she had nothing to do with the final compensation claim deal and had been handling the case at arm’s length.

‘In relation to a settlement or a compensation package in relation to Ms Higgins and that I had absolutely no role in that at all, and I think that’s all I need to say,’ she told ABC’s Radio National this week.

Senator Roberts claimed he has been stonewalled by Ms Gallagher in his bid to find out more about Ms Higgins’ compensation deal.

‘She was stifling me,’ senator Roberts told Sharri Markson on Sky News Australia.

‘She was trying to suppress, she was trying to dodge. They were just wanting me to shut up and go away. 

‘I’m not going to go away on this.’

He said the case needed to be investigated by the National Anti-Corruption Commission after the settlement was made before court papers had even been filed.

‘We also need to note that the such a payment is only made if a government thinks that a verdict is likely to go against the government,’ he said.

‘There’s no claim laid. How can you how can they make any assessment like that?’

He added: ‘We’ve got the Sofronoff inquiry going on and he’s a very, very capable judge and lawyer. So we’ll wait for that and we’ll see what happens.

‘But I think there’s definitely some very serious questions to be asked here.’

Senator Malcolm Roberts (pictured) claimed he has been stonewalled in his bid to find out more about Ms Higgins’ compensation deal

On Thursday, the PM hit back at the suggestions and insisted: ‘I have absolute confidence in Senator Gallagher.

‘I had not met Brittany Higgins until I met her publicly – publicly – on the same day that she met Scott Morrison.’

The PM refused to be drawn into questions about the case being referred to the National Anti-Corruption Commission, adding: ‘The anti-corruption commission is independent of politics. That’s the idea.

‘If it’s in with politics, then that itself is a problem.

‘It could be regarded as an entirely inappropriate action by the Prime Minister or any other politician to try to direct the anti corruption commission into what to do.

‘We set it up as an independent body.’