Higgins ‘steadfast in truth’ after Reynolds alleges plan to damage her career

West Australian senator Linda Reynolds has accused Brittany Higgins of trying to damage the former Coalition minister’s political career by feeding false information to senior Labor figures, in legal claims prompting a spokesperson for the former staffer to say she has been “steadfast in her truth”.

The former defence industry minister is suing Higgins for defamation over July 2023 social media posts, having recently updated her claim to allege Higgins and her now-husband, David Sharaz, had engaged in “conspiracy” that fed parliamentary questioning so “aggressive” it led to Reynolds’ hospitalisation.

David Sharaz, Brittany Higgins and Linda Reynolds.Credit: Trevor Collens

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher and Foreign Minister Penny Wong, as opposition senators in 2021, repeatedly questioned Reynolds over her handling of Higgins’ rape claim two years earlier.

“In the circumstances, it can be inferred that the defendant provided senators Wong and Gallagher with the information forming the basis of those questions referred to above in circumstances where the defendant knew this information was false,” Reynolds’ statement of claim filed in the WA Supreme Court reads.

A spokesperson for Higgins said in response: “Brittany Higgins is steadfast in her truth about the aftermath of her rape in Parliament House.

“She is being forced back into the courtroom for the third time to canvass these distressing events.”

The offices of Gallagher and Wong declined to comment when contacted.

Higgins’ legal team has written to the court asking it to allow media to have access to both Reynolds’ and Higgins’ sets of pleadings, after initially objecting to the release of documents before the defence was filed.

Former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann pleaded not guilty to raping Higgins in an October 2022 ACT Supreme Court trial, which was abandoned due to juror misconduct, and a retrial was averted due to Higgins’ mental health.

Earlier this year, a Federal Court judge found Lehrmann had, on the balance of probabilities, raped Higgins, in Lehrmann’s own failed defamation bid against Network Ten. At the same time, Justice Michael Lee dismissed Higgins’ and Sharaz’s narrative of a political cover-up over the rape claim.

One of Higgins’ 2023 social media posts accuses Reynolds of “continuing to harass” her through the media, referring to a story in which Reynolds was quoted relating to the ongoing saga. Reynolds has denied this in her statement of claim.

In an amended June 4 statement of claim, published on the Justinian publisher Richard Ackland’s 500 words website, Reynolds accused Higgins of acting maliciously through her various social media posts “as they were published in furtherance of a plan by the defendant and Mr Sharaz to use the defendant’s allegations of rape and the political cover-up of the same as a weapon to inflict immediate political damage on the plaintiff”.

The statement of claim refers to Sharaz’s previously reported contact with former The Project journalist Lisa Wilkinson and producer Angus Llewellyn, and with news.com.au political editor Samantha Maiden, who jointly broke the story of Higgins’ allegations in early 2021.

The lengthy document also includes transcripts of questions put to Reynolds in the Senate over Higgins’ allegation, quoting Gallagher in February 2021 as saying: “Just for the information of the chamber, Ms Higgins has given permission for us to ask questions about this incident.

“Just for your information, I don’t think you should hide behind Ms Higgins by refusing to answer these questions,” Reynolds has quoted Gallagher as saying in the Senate.

Reynolds alleges she was hospitalised “as a result of the stress caused by The Project broadcast and the aggressive questioning of her in the Senate which was a direct consequence of the conduct of the defendant”.

She is seeking damages against Higgins.

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