Linda Reynolds-Brittany Higgins defamation trial still on cards despite ‘olive branch’

Responding to Brittany Higgins’ apology, Linda Reynolds says her efforts to disprove the cover up allegations have come at an ‘enormous emotional and financial cost’.

Linda Reynolds, centre, may still pursue defamation claims against Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz despite a public apology from the former Liberal staffer. Picture: Colin Murty

Linda Reynolds’ defamation claims against Brittany Higgins and her fiance David Sharaz may still be headed to court despite Ms Higgins’ public apology to the senator and her former chief of staff.

Senator Reynolds on Sunday released a statement detailing the “enormous emotional and financial cost” incurred in working to disprove the cover-up allegations levelled at her by Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz over the past three years.

Federal Court Justice Michael Lee last week found that former staffer Bruce Lehrmann had in fact raped Ms Higgins in the office of then defence minister Senator Reynolds. But he also found that the narrative pushed by Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz that Senator Reynolds and her chief of staff Fiona Brown had tried to cover up the incident and dissuade her from going to police was not true.

Ms Higgins on Saturday night issued a statement in which she said she was sorry for the hurt caused to Senator Reynolds and Ms Brown.

Senator Reynolds said she appreciated Ms Higgins’ apology, adding she sincerely hoped that Justice Lee’s findings about the rape would give her peace.

But she noted that her efforts to clear her name over the accusations she tried to cover up the incident had taken a mental toll and left her out of pocket. It is understood the senator and her husband have had to remortgage their home to finance their legal battles.

“My legal action against both Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz was never about the allegation of rape. My action deals with what Justice Lee exposed as false allegations raised two years after the rape. Allegations that I and my staff, specifically Fiona Brown, not only failed to support Ms Higgins but subjected her to a dreadful and damaging political cover up,” she said.

“At enormous emotional and financial cost, I have fought for three years to expose the truth in relation to my conduct. The personal financial cost, in a large part, has been incurred due to the Attorney-General barring me from defending those same allegations in Ms Higgins’ civil claim against the commonwealth.”

Brittany Higgins, centre, released a statement on Saturday night. Picture: Colin Murty

That civil claim ended with Ms Higgins being awarded a $2.445 million settlement.

While saying she welcomed Ms Higgins’ “olive branch”, she noted that her former staffer had said in her statement that she did not agree with all of Justice Lee’s findings.

Ms Higgins said in her statement that her “perceptions and feelings” about what happened in the aftermath of her rape differed from those of Senator Reynolds and Ms Brown.

Senator Reynolds says those differences in views were not perceptions but facts.

“If Ms Higgins does not accept Justice Lee’s findings on the claims of cover-up and mistreatment then, regrettably, it will have to be proved again in our trial set for July this year,” she said.

The senator, Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz met in Perth earlier this year for a protracted round of court-ordered mediation in an attempt to resolve the defamation matter.

Those mediation talks ended without any breakthrough.

Senator Reynolds has already announced that she will retire from politics at the next election.

Earlier on Sunday, Peter Dutton described Ms Higgins’ statement as “gracious”.

“I don’t believe any workplace should be unsafe for women, or for men for that matter, and there are a lot of changes that have taken place at Parliament House which is a good thing,” the Opposition Leader said during his appearance on ABC’s Insiders program.

He said that while he thought Ms Higgins should offer Senator Reynolds a full apology, he noted “that’s a matter for the court and for the parties”.

Mr Dutton has previously said he supported calls for the details of Ms Higgins’ $2.4m compensation payout from the commonwealth being referred to the National Anti-Corruption Commission, and said the government had questions to answer over the settlement.

During the recent defamation trial before Justice Lee, Labor senator Katy Gallagher was identified by Mr Sharaz as a friend of his who would help “probe” the circumstances around Ms Higgins’ rape and the alleged cover up. Senator Gallagher was in opposition at the time but is now the finance minister.

“If there are matters of concern, then they should be looked at but I don’t think the problem on the payout is in relation to Brittany’s side, I think it’s on the government’s side,” Mr Dutton said.

“If there’s an inappropriateness to the political opportunism that Katy Gallagher and others tried to eke out of an alleged sexual assault, then firstly that reflects poorly on Katy Gallagher and also on the government as well.”