Albanese must ‘accept responsibility for Higgins’ lies’: Reynolds
Linda Reynolds has welcomed the finding that she was not involved in any cover up and called on the Albanese government to accept responsibility for ‘enabling Ms Higgins to perpetuate her lies’.
Linda Reynolds has welcomed the finding by Justice Paul Tottle that she was not involved in any political cover up of Brittany Higgins’ rape and called on the Albanese government to accept responsibility for “enabling Ms Higgins to perpetuate her lies”.
In a detailed statement provided exclusively to The Australian, Ms Reynolds expresses her relief at the finding that Ms Higgins and her partner David Sharaz concocted a deliberate plan to weaponise Ms Higgins’ legitimate rape allegations for a false political purpose.
Justice Tottle found that “the allegation of a cover-up had no foundation in fact and the allegation of inadequate support was based on an incomplete and misleading account of the facts”.
Justice Tottle found that “the simple but untrue story” that Ms Reynolds had been involved in the cover-up of the rape of Ms Higgins by a ‘rising star’ of the Liberal Party was so sensational and achieved such currency it was impossible for her to defend herself.
Justice Tottle’s judgment also cleared Ms Reynolds’ then chief of staff Fiona Brown of any involvement in a cover-up.
“Justice Tottle has definitively established the truth,” Ms Reynolds said. “The allegation of a political cover-up has had a tremendous adverse effect on not only me but also on Ms Brown for whom I care very deeply.
“I am profoundly pleased that his Honour, like Justice Lee, has found so clearly in favour of Ms Brown’s recollection of the events.”
In his 360-page judgment, Justice Tottle identified 26 statements made by Ms Higgins in her media interviews that were objectively false or misleading and “so indifferent to the truth that they could only be regarded as dishonest”.
Ms Reynolds noted that these claims ultimately formed the foundation for Ms Higgins’ civil claim against the commonwealth, which resulted in a $2.4 million settlement by the Labor government.
Justice Tottle concluded that Ms Higgins’ account of how she was treated could not be attributed to difficulties in recollection and that Ms Higgins was “plainly dishonest”.
“It was vitally important for me to establish in a manner binding upon Ms Higgins (who was not a party to the proceedings before Justice Lee) that her statements concerning me were false and dishonest,” Ms Reynolds said.
“It was clear to me that Ms Higgins’ attack on me was not going to end without a binding judgment. She had evidenced her intention to write a book and engage in public speaking activities as an advocate of the victims of rape and for workplace reform.
“It was therefore essential for me to protect and restore my reputation and stop her from continuing to perpetuate her false and dishonest allegations about me.”
Regarding her description of Ms Higgins as a “lying cow”, Judge Tottle found this to be an emotional and involuntary reaction on her part responsive to Ms Higgins’ description in The Project of how she was treated by Ms Reynolds and Ms Brown.
Those were “matters which I knew to be fundamentally untrue” and were “expressed in my private office and I had no expectation about the extent to which the statement would be disseminated,” Ms Reynolds said.
Judge Tottle said Ms Reynolds was justified in raising her concerns about being excluded from the private settlement that occurred between the commonwealth and Ms Higgins after a one-day mediation after the commonwealth took over the defence of Ms Higgins’ claim against her.
“I knew that the claim rested on allegations made against myself and Ms Brown and I knew those allegations were untrue,” Ms Reynolds said, “but no one acting on behalf of the commonwealth asked me about the allegations.”
Ms Reynolds said the judgment was “confirmation that Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz concocted a deliberate plan to weaponise Ms Higgins’ legitimate rape allegations for a false political purpose”.
Justice Tottle said Ms Higgins’ had experience with the media and “must be taken to have understood the seriousness of the enterprise she and Mr Sharaz had embarked on and to have thought about how she wanted to tell her story”.
He found that Ms Higgins’ willingness to speculate and embellish reflected a desire on her part to enhance the credibility of her allegations of a political cover-up and her allegations that Ms Reynolds and Ms Brown treated her poorly.”
“It is now time that the Prime Minister and the Federal Labor government (the only party that has not yet been forced to defend its reputation) accept the significant impact their conduct has had in enabling Ms Higgins to perpetuate her lies”, Ms Reynolds said.
“Had the plainly false allegations against me been properly investigated by the commonwealth and its lawyers, and had I been permitted to defend the plainly defensible allegations she had made against me, I (and many others) would not have incurred the cost and stress of litigation that has been so damaging financially and emotionally.”
