Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz arrive at WA’s Supreme Court for mediation showdown with Reynolds

Brittany Higgins and fiance David Sharaz — along with their legion of lawyers — have arrived in WA’s Supreme Court for the first day of a mediation with outgoing senator Linda Reynolds.

Senator Reynolds is suing her former junior media advisor, and her partner, for defamation over social media posts the former defence minister claims severely dented her reputation.

But ahead of a potential trial later in 2024, a judge has ordered the warring parties to sit down face-to-face to try and resolve the dispute before the potentially explosive and emotional trial.

Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz have flown in from France for the mediation.

And they were the first to arrive at the Perth court building on Tuesday morning.

Ms Higgins, wearing a cornflower blue, long-sleeved dress by British designer Beulah, exchanged only courtesies with the waiting media as she entered.

But she did hint at the emotional toll of returning to Perth, where she spent several weeks following the alleged rape committed by Bruce Lehrmann in Ms Reynolds’ office in 2019.

“It’s a difficult place to come back to,” she told reporters.

“It’s beautiful, but just personally it’s hard being back in Perth.

“I think everyone is acting in good faith trying to get an outcome.”

In an Instagram post on Tuesday morning, Ms Higgins shared a post saying, “I won’t stay silent so you can stay comfortable”.

During her evidence in the recent defamation trial of Mr Lehrmann, who is suing Network Ten over the TV interview which revealed the rape allegation, Ms Higgins said she felt “isolated and suicidal” having been posted in WA to assist with the 2019 Federal election campaign.

She claimed Senator Reynolds actively avoided her.

“I was just really alone. I didn’t know anyone there,” Ms Higgins said. “I can’t explain how hurt I was that I was just abandoned like that.”

But that contention was challenged by a photograph of Ms Higgins sitting next to her boss during a birthday celebration at a Perth hotel — at which she also wore the white dress she was wearing on the night of the alleged rape.

“I guess I was trying to reclaim it,” Higgins told the court.

“I never wore it after this event. I thought maybe I could disassociate it from the rape, but I never could.”

Mr Sharaz, wearing a cream linen jacket, remained tight lipped when he arrived in court on Tuesday.

The couple are are represented by senior barristers Nicholas Owens and Jason MacLaurin.

Senator Reynolds arrived a short time later, flanked by husband Robert Reid.

She is represented by veteran Perth defamation barrister Martin Bennett.

The mediation had been set down to be heard before a registrar of the Supreme Court.

However, Judge Marcus Solomon has been formally added to the mediation, meaning he has personally involved himself in the peace talks in a bid to resolve the bitter dispute.

It was a move welcomed by the Higgins’ parties when it was flagged but opposed by Ms Reynolds’ lawyers because it will preclude Judge Solomon from presiding over a possible trial.

The mediation, set down for two days, will be heard in private — with only those involved permitted onto the eighth floor of the David Malcolm Justice Centre.

However, The West Australian understands that a strategic conference is scheduled to be heard in public on Wednesday, regardless of whether the case settles on Tuesday or not.

It is likely to give some insight into the progress of the mediation and whether the trial date in July will still be needed.

In her Supreme Court writ, Senator Reynolds says a story published on Ms Higgins’s Instagram account defamed her and breached a settlement deed they had reached.

In one, she chastised her former boss for continuing “to harass me through the media and in the parliament”.

Senator Reynolds claims she suffered loss and damage as a result of the posts.

A similar claim has been made against Mr Sharaz over a number of social media posts published online in the wake of Ms Higgins’ allegations of being raped by a former colleague in Senator Reynolds’ Canberra office.

Justice Solomon has overseen the action since it emerged last year, and has consistently called on both sides to mediate — ordering the sessions face-to face.

“Modern litigation and its cost is such that many matters that are taken through to their conclusion are likely to be financially crippling, sometimes even for the winning party,” he wrote in one judgment.

“But money is not the only, and probably not the biggest cost. The human cost of litigation looms large.

“No one should imagine they can remain immune from the psychological stress and emotional pain of litigation of this nature.

“The human cost too can be crippling, sometimes insurmountable.”

Ms Higgins’ legal team had requested Justice Solomon also be the mediator. But Ms Reynolds’ side opposed that, because it would rule him out of being the trial judge.

Besides suing the couple, Ms Reynolds has also threatened to freeze their assets after the couple moved to France.

At that prospect, Ms Higgins responded on Instagram alongside a screenshot of a Daily Mail article, writing: “I’m not the naive 25 year old girl from Parliament House.

“You don’t scare me anymore and I won’t be bullied.”