‘I’ve had enough’: Linda Reynolds hits Brittany Higgins with lawsuit threat

Brittany Higgins posted to Instagram that her former boss Linda Reynolds ‘continues to harass me through the media and in the parliament’.

Former defence minister Linda Reynolds has threatened her ex-staffer Brittany Higgins with legal action over an Instagram post in which Ms Higgins claimed her ex-boss “continues to harass me through the media and in the parliament”.

On Thursday, Senator Reynolds’ lawyers sent Ms Higgins a concerns notice – which is a ­precursor to a defamation lawsuit – threatening legal action over the post.

Senator Reynolds told The Australian: “I’ve had enough. I will not tolerate being defamed by her or anybody.”

“Yesterday, Ms Higgins made yet another defamatory post about me,” she said.

“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.”

Senator Reynolds said the concerns notice to Ms Higgins “was a private communication, which she has chosen to make public”.

On Thursday, Ms Higgins tweeted that Senator Reynolds had sent the notice, telling her 85,000 Twitter followers: “I’m considering my legal options.”

Ms Higgins had posted on ­social media a series of newspaper headlines that she claimed originated “from a current Australian Senator who continues to harass me through the media and in the parliament”.

She added: “This has been going on for years now. It is time to stop.”

Ms Higgins claims Ms Reynolds “continues to harass me through the media and in the Parliament” through a social media post.

Ms Higgins also wrote: “My boss who has publicly apologised for mishandling my rape allegation. Who has had to publicly apologise after defaming me in the workplace. Who had a whole bunch of questionable conduct during my rape trial. Who is suing my fiance for a tweet.”

Senator Reynolds is suing Ms Higgins’ fiance, David Sharaz, for defamation over two tweets that he posted last year but has not been able to serve him a summons because she does not know his address or where he is employed.

On Thursday, Senator Reynolds successfully applied to the court to allow service of the summons to be effected by email to Mr Sharaz’s personal email accounts, as well as to Ms Higgins’ lawyer.

“These orders mean that my writ can now progress and that Mr Sharaz will have to answer my claim,” she said.

Senator Reynolds has indicated she will refer Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to the new National Anti-Corruption Commission over the payment of more than $2.5m in compensation to her former staffer following Ms Higgins’ claims her allegations of rape were mishandled.

“The basis for the settlement and the reasons why the ­Attorney-General barred me and Senator (Michaelia) Cash from defending serious allegations against us have not been explained to us or to the ­Australian people,” she said.

Mr Dreyfus has consistently refused to answer questions regarding Ms Higgins’ multi­million-dollar payout, which was provided without the consultation of former senior Liberal ministers who were at the centre of her claims.