Huddled around a table in a luxury hotel in Sydney’s inner suburbs, former political staffer Brittany Higgins, now-husband David Sharaz and Network Ten journalist Lisa Wilkinson met to strategise the delivery of a bombshell interview that would spark a cultural reckoning.
It was January 27, 2021, and Higgins was preparing to detail her alleged raped by former colleague Bruce Lehrmann in the parliamentary office of Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds and the political cover-up that followed.
The highly-charged defamation trial between WA Senator Linda Reynolds and former staffer Brittany Higgins will begin on Friday.Credit: Composite image by Aresna Villanueva.
“I asked Britt ‘ultimately, what do you want out of this?’,” Sharaz says.
“And she goes ‘well, I want Bruce to forever have it difficult getting a job, like it’s going to be difficult for me’.
“And then you [Higgins] said, best-case scenario, Linda Reynolds.”
The tell-all interview on The Project would be broadcast to more than half-a-million people, triggering a political storm that culminated in multiple inquiries, a cultural overhaul, lucrative book deals and a $2.4 million compensation pay out.
The criminal trial against Lehrmann — who has long maintained his innocence — would be aborted in 2022 due to juror misconduct and a string of high-profile defamation actions would ensue, one of which would find the rape allegation to be true on the balance of probabilities (a judgment Lehrmann is appealing).
As the pair’s former boss, Reynolds would find herself in the firing line over the then-government’s handling of Higgins’ rape allegation, grilled about what she knew and when and her conduct.
And over the next five weeks, Reynolds’ legal team will take to the WA Supreme Court to argue that it marked the beginning of a campaign to get what she claims Higgins set out to: the destruction of Reynolds’ reputation.
Reynolds made good on her threat to sue Higgins for defamation over several social media posts accusing her of harassment on July 31, 2023, claiming they damaged her reputation, brought her into public hatred and caused her distress and embarrassment.
Brittany Higgins (centre) arrives at the Perth Supreme Court alongside lawyers Leon Zwier and Teresa Ward for a mediation session with former boss Linda Reynolds.Credit: Trevor Collens.
The former defence minister was already locked in an almost identical defamation row with Sharaz, who bowed out after declaring he did not have the financial means to take it to trial and imploring Reynolds to “let Brittany heal”.
According to court documents filed by Reynolds’ legal team, the posts implied the former minister had engaged in misconduct, inadequately supported Higgins and wanted to silence victims of sexual assault.
Higgins has fiercely defended the action on the basis her posts were substantially true, insisting Reynolds mishandled her rape complaint and weaponised the media to pursue a campaign against her, including by leaking confidential government emails to journalists.
Reynolds has defended her right to deal with the media and rejected the harassment allegation.
The former defence minister is expected to spend several days in the witness box outlining the impact of the publications on her reputation and physical health before her high-profile colleagues take the stand, including former Prime Minister Scott Morrison, WA senator Michaelia Cash and Tasmanian senator Wendy Askew.
Her parents, her senior staffer Alexandra Kelton and her doctor are also expected to give sworn testimony, with Reynolds’ legal team arguing she suffered ongoing anxiety and heart issues as a result of the saga.
Higgins, who recently revealed she and Sharaz were expecting their first child, will spend up to one week providing evidence.
The trial will pore over the pair’s relationship after the rape allegation was made, including the accounts of people on polling booths in the lead-up to the 2019 federal election and photographs capturing Higgins’ attendance at Reynolds’ birthday dinner.
It’s a trial Justice Marcus Solomon had been desperate to avoid, repeatedly airing his concerns for the very real human cost of a prolonged and highly public defamation trial.
Solomon even oversaw the mediation attempts himself knowing it would preclude him from presiding over the trial, including a marathon nine-hour meeting.
But attempts at peace talks failed and Justice Paul Tottle took the reins for the trial, which the parties have embarked on at a very real financial cost, too.
Higgins confirmed she had been forced to sell her home in the south of France to defend the action, which is understood to have cost her $1 million in legal fees to date.
Reynolds hasn’t emerged unscathed either.
The former minister, who plans to call time on her political career when her term ends in June, also claims she has mortgaged her home to bankroll the litigation.
The trial comes just weeks after Reynolds won a two-month-long battle for access to details of Higgins’ eponymous protective trust, which contains the $2.4 million compensation pay out she received from the federal government.
Reynolds wants to have the court set aside the trust amid fears it may prevent her from getting damages if she wins the defamation case.
The trial will begin with opening submissions on Friday.
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