Come clean!

Opposition senators have called on their government colleague, Kamina Johnson Smith, to release what she describes as harassing and threatening emails she received from former Senator A.J. Nicholson.

Pointing to the statement Johnson Smith made in the Senate on Friday, the opposition senators said they are not satisfied with her response and challenged her to release emails backing up her allegations.

Nicholson has denied the accusations, labelling them “a big lie” in an interview with our newsroom on Saturday, a day after Johnson Smith named him as the former senator in the email saga. He also challenged Johnson Smith, who is also the minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade, to release the emails in full.

“The confounding actions of Senator Johnson Smith, in making unsupported allegations against a former senator while refusing to produce the emails which she says are the basis of her allegations, are unfair and unjust, and do a grave disservice to the cause of women’s rights and the fight against gender-based violence,” the opposition senators noted in a release last night.

“We denounce the senator’s attempt to use the shield of parliamentary privilege to imply wrongdoing, even implying sexual harassment, in making unfounded allegations to denigrate her former Senate colleague.”

Johnson Smith has indicated that she will speak no further on the issue.