‘Besmirching those she blames for political demise’: Higgins’ lawyer attacks Reynolds

Brittany Higgins’ lawyer has branded Liberal senator Linda Reynolds’ defamation case a dogged pursuit to besmirch those she blames for her political demise, including the alleged rape victim at the centre of the scandal that preceded it.

In closing submissions in the WA Supreme Court on Monday, the former staffer’s barrister told the court the former defence minister targeted the “wrong person” in the bid to restore her reputation over what she saw as Higgins’ politicisation of the alleged rape in 2021 via a tell-all interview.

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

With the benefit of 16 days’ worth of evidence in the trial, Rachael Young, SC, told the court it was clear Reynolds was using several social media posts Higgins published in July 2023 as a “side wind” to claim damages.

“And in that process, besmirch those who she blames for her political demise,” Young, SC, said.

The barrister launched a blistering attack on elements of Reynolds’ testimony, accusing the senator of playing the role of advocate rather than witness in evidence she said was at times “problematic” and “self-serving”.

Young, SC, put to the court it was Reynolds’ own conduct and ailing health that was to blame for the public scrutiny – which she argued was most acute in 2021 – and her eventual demotion from the defence portfolio.

She said while the senator claimed the furore over her handling of the alleged rape in her ministerial office on March 23, 2019, caused her ill health and destroyed her reputation, Young, SC, contended there was no doubt Higgins had and would continue to bear the heaviest burden.

Young, SC, said her client’s decision to go public with the rape allegation via the interview with The Project had caused her great suffering but gave rise to a profound impact on the way gendered violence was addressed in workplaces across the country.

“Without question, the heaviest burden has and will continue to be carried by Ms Higgins, the survivor of a serious crime which has affected every aspect of her life,” she said.

“Ms Higgins considered that her continued silence would make her complicit in any future incident, but out of [her] trauma, she achieved overarching good out of the suffering she endured.”

Reynolds, the former defence minister, is suing Higgins for damages and aggravated damages over social media publications she claims accused her of mishandling the alleged rape by Bruce Lehrmann, brought her into public hatred and damaged her physical and mental health.

Lehrmann’s 2022 criminal trial was aborted, and he maintains his innocence.

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 Lehrmann is now appealing.

Reynolds also claims Higgins and her now-husband David Sharaz concocted a plan to destroy her and bring down the Morrison government by weaponising the rape allegation.

Higgins is defending the action, claiming the substance of the posts was true, and that it was Reynolds who used the media to wage a campaign of harassment against her.

Young, SC, said that harassment began with calling Higgins a “lying cow” within earshot of staff during a broadcast of the interview, a remark later disseminated to the media, and texting with Lehrmann’s lawyer.

Higgins’ lawyer also contended the harassment extended to Reynolds’ decision to leak confidential documents concerning Higgins’ $2.4 million personal injury settlement with the federal government to The Australian’s Janet Albrechtsen and publicly questioning its merit.

The defence argued against claims Reynolds took a position of “neutrality” in Lehrmann’s sit-down interview with Seven’s Spotlight, accusing her of denouncing Higgins and challenging the veracity of her rape claim.

Young, SC, also questioned Reynolds’ account of when she came to find out about the alleged sexual assault, branding claims she did not know before hosting a meeting with Higgins in her 30 square metre office just metres from the couch on which the alleged rape occurred “implausible”.

She said Reynolds failed to demonstrate “basic human responses” after the then-24-year-old was found in a state of undress by parliamentary security, including by not taking an interest in how her former staffer was coping.

And Young, SC, played down the relevance of images produced by Reynolds’ legal team showing Higgins smiling and celebrating while on the campaign trail in Perth before the federal election and just weeks after the alleged rape.

“The mere fact Ms Higgins did her job and well does not diminish the fact she was suffering trauma and distress in the days and weeks after her rape in 2019. Two things can be true,” she said.

The defence also cautioned the court against relying on a court rule whereby a party’s decision not to give evidence is taken to imply it would not have helped their case, pointing to top-secret medical reports attesting to Higgins’ ill health.

Young, SC, took aim at the conspiracy claim, insisting the questioning Reynolds faced when the allegations became public were what ought to have been expected by a Commonwealth senator and the claim was statute-barred.

Ultimately, Higgins’ lawyer argued the court should award minimal damages, if any, in the case, insisting it would be irrational to compensate the senator for distress and health issues that occurred two years before publication of the social media posts in question.

Young, SC, said the senator’s distress instead related to the events of 2021, the cut and thrust of the senate environment, the fallout from having called Higgins “a lying cow” and the loss of the defence portfolio.

The four-week trial is now in its final days, with more than 700 pieces of evidence and 25 witnesses taking the stand – including former prime minister Scott Morrison and former foreign affairs minister Marise Payne.

Young will recommence closing submissions on Tuesday before Reynolds’ lawyer, Martin Bennett, delivers his final arguments on Wednesday.

It could be weeks or months before Justice Paul Tottle hands down his verdict.

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