Senator Linda Reynolds suing former staffer Brittany Higgins

Former defence minister Linda Reynolds is suing Brittany Higgins over a pair of social media posts the politician says defamed her character.

Former defence minister Linda Reynolds is suing Brittany Higgins over a pair of social media posts the politician says defamed her character.

Ms Reynolds is also understood to be seeking an injunction against her former staff member preventing any similar statements being made in the future.

The action, filed in the Supreme Court of WA, is seeking aggravated damages over the Instagram and Twitter posts.

“I confirm that after issuing Ms Higgins with a concerns notice and receiving a wholly unsatisfactory response from her lawyers, I have commenced proceedings for defamation and breach of contract,” Ms Reynolds said in a statement.

In July, she said that “ever since Ms Higgins first made her allegations of rape public, I have been the target of unwarranted criticism and abuse.”

Linda Reynolds (left) is suing Brittany Higgins over her former staffer’s social media posts.

“Despite her repeated defamation of my character, until now I have not taken any action against her personally – even though I considered her words to breach our previous settlement agreement.”

It is understood that the posts at issue involved a dispute over Ms Reynolds’ commentary over a compensation payment made to Ms Higgins by the Commonwealth.

Ms Reynolds was Ms Higgins’ boss in parliament at the time the staffer claimed to have been raped by work colleague Bruce Lehrmann, a claim he vigorously denies.

Ms Reynolds is also suing Ms Higgins’ partner David Sharaz over a series of tweets she claims were defamatory.