By Maeve Bannister and Andrew Brown in Canberra

A FEDERAL MP has leapt to the defence of Brittany Higgins after a political brawl erupted over a settlement she received following her alleged sexual assault inside Parliament House.

Independent Zali Steggall accused the coalition leadership of turning her into a political punching bag to further their attacks on the Labor government.

Ms Higgins, a former Liberal staffer, reached a settlement with the Commonwealth in December 2022 after she launched legal action against her employers in the previous coalition government.

Ms Higgins alleged she was raped by Bruce Lehrmann in 2019 inside the office of the coalition minister Linda Reynolds, who they both worked for.

After the 2019 federal election, Ms Higgins worked as a media adviser for the then employment minister Michaelia Cash.

Mr Lehrmann has always denied Ms Higgins’ allegation.

Reported text messages between Ms Higgins and her partner David Sharaz suggest the pair discussed potentially strategising with Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, when she was in opposition, after the rape allegation was made public.

Senator Reynolds has threatened to refer the compensation payment to the National Anti-Corruption Commission, which comes into force on July 1.

Her leader, Peter Dutton, on Thursday said the government had questions to answer and backed calls for the matter to be referred to the integrity commission.

“This is a pretty vile attack from Dutton and Linda Reynolds, putting at risk the mental health of someone that’s very vulnerable,” Ms Steggall told Nine’s “Today” program on Friday.

“We have to remember that Brittany Higgins is a very vulnerable young woman and making her the punching bag of a political attack is really unsavoury.”

Ms Steggall called for the content of emails and phone calls made by Senator Reynolds after she was made aware of the alleged assault to be made public.

“In my experience, Katy Gallagher has been a very ethical person in all my dealings with her,” she said.

“This is quite a distraction from the Liberal Party, and it says a lot for Dutton’s moral compass.”

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles denied Senator Gallagher misled parliament on the issue.

“Katy has made her position very clear earlier in the week and she’s made clear that she’s very comfortable with the statements that she’s made,” he told Nine’s “Today”.

“That’s the end of the matter in terms of Katy’s position.”

Opposition finance spokeswoman Jane Hume said clarifying the information surrounding the messages was important.

“There are some questions to be answered,” she said.

“We shouldn’t run a running commentary on the cases that are going on, because there are processes still under way.

“The Sofronoff inquiry hasn’t reported yet.”

The inquiry into the rape trial and how it was handled is due to be handed down by the end of July.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday he had “absolute confidence” in Senator Gallagher and rejected suggestions Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz had used Labor MPs to publicise the allegation.

But Mr Dutton doubled down.

“Linda Reynolds is a person of great honour and she feels rightly aggrieved in the process here,” he said on Thursday.

“I suspect this would be one of the first issues that the integrity commission would deal with.

“We’re talking about multi-millions of dollars here.”

Prosecutors ultimately dropped the charge against Mr Lehrmann because of fears about the impact of a second trial on Ms Higgins’ mental health after his rape trial was abandoned because of juror misconduct.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, who played a role in the mediation process, said Ms Higgins’ settlement was entirely in accordance with the law.

Why we have a right to know how much Higgins was paid