Reynolds sues Drumgold, ACT over Lehrmann letter

The senator is seeking aggravated damages after a letter describing her ‘disturbing conduct’ was leaked to The Guardian.

Senator Linda Reynolds has formally launched a defamation claim against Shane Drumgold.

Federal senator Linda Reynolds has formally launched a defamation claim against former ACT chief prosecutor Shane Drumgold over his description of her conduct during Bruce Lehrmann’s rape trial.

The writ lodged in the West Australian Supreme Court, which is also aimed at the ACT government and the territory’s Director of Public Prosecutions, centres on the letter that Mr Drumgold wrote to the Australian Federal Police late last year in which he described the ­senator’s actions during the trial as “disturbing”.

The filing of the writ comes weeks after Senator Reynolds issued the DPP’s office and the ACT government with a concerns notice over the matter.

The letter from Mr Drumgold to the AFP’s chief police officer was subsequently leaked to The Guardian in a move that helped spark the Sofronoff inquiry into the conduct of prosecutors and police during the case.

Former ACT chief prosecutor Shane Drumgold

According to the writ of summons, the republication of the “sense and substance” of Mr Drumgold’s letter by The Guardian caused “loss and damage” to Senator Reynolds.

Senator Reynolds is seeking damages, including aggravated damages, an injunction restraining the defendants from publishing the material “or words substantially similar thereto”, interest, and costs.

Brittany Higgins accused Mr Lehrmann of raping her inside Senator Reynolds’s Parliament House office in March 2019.

Both Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann were working for the minister at the time of the ­alleged incident.

A trial over the alleged rape was aborted in 2022 after juror misconduct, with the ACT DPP subsequently deciding to drop the charges.

Bruce Lehrmann leaves the Federal Court on Thursday.

The action against the ACT and Mr Drumgold is the latest in a line of claims launched by Senator Reynolds in the wake of the Lehrmann matter.

She is also suing Ms Higgins and her fiance, David Sharaz, over comments they made about the senator on social media.

Senator Reynolds, Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz have been ordered to attend a two-day face-to-face mediation session in Perth next March as part of that legal action.

Senator Reynolds has also said she would refer Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to the new National Anti-Corruption Commission over the $2.3m compensation payment made to Ms Higgins.

Senator Reynolds was dumped from the Morrison government’s frontbench in March 2021, soon after the allegations against Mr Lehrmann came to light.