Slippergate like Watergate: Albanese

16 Jun 2012, 4:05 pm   -   Source: AAP
Peter Slipper. (AAP)

Peter Slipper. (AAP)

Anthony Albanese has likened the Peter Slipper case to the Watergate scandal, and says once the facts are out, the public can make up their own minds.

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Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese has likened the Peter Slipper affair to America's Watergate scandal and called for a full disclosure of information from all the parties involved.

Mr Slipper, who stood aside as parliamentary Speaker earlier this year, is being sued by staffer James Ashby over allegations of sexual harassment.

The Federal Court heard evidence on Friday that Mr Ashby and another Slipper staffer first sought to undermine their boss by providing a journalist with information about the allegations, which was subsequently widely reported by newspapers.

Julian Burnside QC, lawyer for the commonwealth, also alleged that Mr Ashby provided politically sensitive material to Mr Slipper's political opponents, including Howard-era minister Mal Brough.

Mr Albanese likened the case on Saturday to the Watergate scandal, in which evidence about President Nixon's administration was passed to journalists and subsequently appeared in the Washington Post.

"What occurred during Watergate was that people attempted to obtain information in a way that wasn't legal and wasn't appropriate," he told reporters in Sydney.

"It is also the case that it took a while for the facts to come out."

Mr Albanese said once the facts of the Slipper case were fully unravelled in court, the public would be able to make a judgment.

And he called on all those involved to fully disclose their roles.

"I think it is in everyone's interest, given the way the allegations were made so publicly and so dramatically, that there be full transparency in this.

"And that all the information be out there in full public view so that people can make their own decisions about what the involvement was in this."

Opposition backbencher Arthur Sinodinos said the government should stop applying pressure on the Federal Court over the Slipper/Ashby case.

Federal Attorney-General Nicola Roxon announced on Friday the commonwealth had applied to the court to find Mr Ashby's claims were an abuse of process filed for an ulterior purpose, instead of a genuine workplace complaint.

Ms Roxon said the commonwealth would use a number of text messages between those subpoenaed to support its case that the claims made against Mr Slipper were designed to advance his political opponents.

"The attorney-general's press conference yesterday afternoon I thought it was very strange in that context," Senator Sinodinos told ABC television on Saturday.

"It was opportunistic and they should desist and let the court make up its mind without any pressure."

Senator Sinodinos said he was not aware that anyone in the coalition ranks had helped to formulate the complaints by Mr Ashby.

The senator, chief of staff for former prime minister John Howard between 1997 and 2006, said rumours about Mr Slipper's private life were not followed up when he was a member of the coalition government.

It has been alleged that in 2003, a female staff member of Mr Slipper told a senior adviser to prime minister John Howard she had seen a video of the then-Liberal MP lying on a bed with a junior male staff member in an intimate fashion, but she was told to forget about it.

"Other allegations against him were never pursued because a judgment was made by people that in those circumstances the relationship was consensual, as I understand it," Senator Sinodinos said.

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