Lawyers pore over diary entries and texts in Reynolds, Higgins row

From diary entries about dining with Malcolm Turnbull to text messages with political figures and journalists disseminating information, lawyers for Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds and Brittany Higgins have engaged in a tug-of-war over the final documents to become evidence in their high-stakes defamation row.

The parties gathered in the West Australian Supreme Court on Wednesday to argue over the permissibility of more than 200 documents earmarked for evidence in Reynolds’ lawsuit against Higgins over a series of social media posts.

WA Senator Linda Reynolds (right) and former staffer Brittany Higgins (centre) with Higgins’ husband, David Sharaz.Credit: Composite image by Aresna Villanueva

Among them were portions of Higgins’ diary from 2020 which Reynolds’ lawyer, Martin Bennett, argued contained evidence she and her now-husband David Sharaz had plotted to politicise the rape claim.

Bennett told the court the diary entries included an appointment for dinner and drinks with former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and his wife, Lucy, and a note to “buy a white dress”, both of which Justice Paul Tottle ruled irrelevant.

But Bennett successfully argued for texts Sharaz wrote to Network Ten producer Angus Llewellyn claiming to have pointed “every journalist” to Higgins’ The Project interview on February 15, 2021, and offering to circulate photographs of the couch in Reynolds’ ministerial office on which Higgins alleged she was raped.

A separate thread showed Sharaz prompting Senator Kristina Keneally to ask questions in parliament, which Bennett argued proved he had colluded with Higgins to ensure the issue remained part of the political discourse.

There were also pages of text messages tendered which Higgins’ barrister, Rachael Young, SC, told the court laid bare the former staffer’s true motivation for going public with her alleged rape, including to several journalists.

“What happened to me inside Parliament House shouldn’t have to happen to me or anyone else,” she wrote.

Tottle also ruled to include a voicemail left by Canberra Rape Crisis Centre counsellor Catherine Cripps on April 8, 2019, in which she advised Higgins of her availability for counselling.

Bennett told the court the voice message was direct evidence that Higgins had declined the employee counselling service offered on April 11, 2019, because she had already sought help elsewhere, but had failed to mention she was receiving support when interviewed by the journalists who broke the story in February 2021.

Tottle also agreed to consider evidence of up to 15 messages exchanged between Higgins and Sharaz being deleted during the court-ordered document swap process, an act Bennett argued warranted the worst inference.

“We have always put that before Higgins took her phone to the police, she curated the messages. This is worse than that — she deleted messages,” Bennett told the court.

“The messages deleted in the process of disclosure amount to the destruction of evidence.”

Young pointed out that Higgins had justified the action in written testimony and that Reynolds had also deleted text messages sought as evidence in the trial.

Reynolds, the former defence minister, is suing Higgins for damages and aggravated damages over social media publications she claims accused her of mishandling Higgins’ alleged rape and attempting to silence victims of sexual assault.

Reynolds also claims Higgins and Sharaz conspired to attack her via the media and members of parliament.

But Higgins is defending the action, claiming the substance of the posts was true, and that Reynolds is using the media to harass her.

Several high-profile witnesses, including former prime minister Scott Morrison and former foreign affairs minister Marise Payne, have taken the stand during the four-week trial to attest to the impact that the political furore had on Reynolds.

Higgins had been due to give evidence over five days this week until her legal team revealed she no longer intended to do so on medical grounds and because they did not believe it was necessary.

Higgins went public in interviews with journalist Samantha Maiden and The Project’s Lisa Wilkinson with allegations she was raped by colleague Bruce Lehrmann in Reynolds’ ministerial office on March 23, 2019, following a night out, and that the matter was mishandled.

Lehrmann has maintained his innocence and his 2022 criminal trial was aborted.

The Federal Court found the rape allegation to be true on the balance of probabilities in Lehrmann’s defamation action against Network Ten over the tell-all interview, a judgment he is now appealing.

The hearing continues.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.