'Cast of thousands' headlined Linda Reynolds and Brittany Higgins defamation trial

What started as a defamation case between a senator and an alleged sexual assault victim ballooned into a who’s who of Australian politics and media.

Prime ministers, television presenters, journalists, members of parliament and political staffers made the court transcript in the Perth trial that pitted Senator Linda Reynolds against her former staffer Brittany Higgins over social media posts the ex-minister believes damaged her reputation.

All told, more than 20 witnesses gave evidence at the five-week trial, which re-examined Ms Higgins’ alleged rape at Parliament House in 2019 and subsequent events including her decision to publicise her claims two years later.

Senator Reynolds’ lawyer Martin Bennett told the Supreme Court of Western Australia Ms Higgins and her now-husband David Sharaz created a “fictional story of political cover-up” that cast the senior Liberal as a villain in a bid to harm her.

Mr Bennett also alleged the recently married couple courted journalists Lisa Wilkinson on Network Ten’s The Project and Gold Walkley award-winner Samantha Maiden from News Corp with their “fairytale” while Ms Higgins was still working for Liberal senator Michaelia Cash.

Ms Higgins’ five-hour pre-interview with Ms Wilkinson and producer Angus Llewellyn laid bare her visceral hatred and “was the genuine, unguarded, unrehearsed, real, true expression of the motive” for the “premeditated” ambush on his client, he alleged in court.

Justice Paul Tottle also heard Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz’s conspiracy included providing a “dossier” to Labor politicians in the lead-up to the political firestorm that erupted after Ms Higgins’ emotional tell-all television interview.

Senator Reynolds testified that Kimberley Kitching gave her a heads-up before fellow Labor senators Katy Gallagher and Penny Wong led the intense grilling that resulted in her physical and emotional breakdown in parliament.

She also delivered a bombshell when she linked the saga to Senator Kitching’s death from a suspected heart attack in March 2022, amid tearful evidence in which she alleged her friend was bullied by her colleagues.

Former prime minister Scott Morrison said Ms Higgins’ accusation her former boss mishandled her alleged rape amid a political cover-up was weaponised to discredit his government, and the political attacks were aggressive and co-ordinated.

“I remember for a period there, we were very fearful for Senator Reynolds this could be a fatal outcome for her,” he told the court.

Ms Higgins alleged she was raped by fellow staffer Bruce Lehrmann in the senator’s ministerial suite in March 2019.

A Federal Court judge overseeing a defamation case launched by Lehrmann against Network Ten earlier this year found Ms Higgins was, on the balance of probabilities, raped by Lehrmann in the office.

Lehrmann has always denied the rape allegation and his criminal trial was derailed by juror misconduct.

Mr Morrison defended Senator Reynolds’ handling of the allegation.

“I believe that they had done everything they possibly could within the processes they had to support Ms Higgins,” he said.

Ex-foreign affairs minister Marise Payne said it was rare to see such a fierce attack in parliament and she had great concerns for her friend and colleague of 30 years, who suffered “physical trauma ... shaking and what I regarded as elevated breathing” during the blitz.

“It is very hard to describe the pressure of the parliamentary chamber and the question time environment when you are specifically and aggressively targeted by your political opponents in that way,” she said.

“Knowing that some of the material was being misrepresented, in her view, made it even more difficult.”

Liberal senator Anne Ruston told the court the relentless attacks on Senator Reynolds’ credibility brought her formerly strong colleague to her knees and she struggled to recover.

Fellow Liberal senator Wendy Askew said the verbal assaults in the Senate chamber were “heartless”.

On the same day in court, former assistant minister to the prime minister Steve Irons recalled meeting Ms Higgins at Perth polling booths in the weeks after she was allegedly raped in Senator Reynolds’ ministerial suite.

“I found her to be bright, bubbly, good personality, friendly,” he said.

Senator Reynolds defended leaking documents and backgrounding a columnist from The Australian, Janet Albrechtsen, after Ms Higgins was awarded a $2.4 million commonwealth compensation payment in late-2021 for hurt and distress, lost earnings, medical expenses and legal fees.

“I had no issue with Ms Higgins in this process at all. I was very clear that this was about (Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus) and how he had, I believe, corruptly manipulated the law to muzzle me,” she said.

Mr Bennett said the payment “remains untoward”, reminding the court that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had said the senator’s decision to refer the settlement and various Labor figures to the National Anti-Corruption Commission was inappropriate.

“He was trying to defend his attorney-general and his minister,” he said.

Peta Credlin, former prime minister Tony Abbott’s chief of staff, was named during the trial, with Mr Bennett asserting the Sky News political commentator helped Ms Higgins pen a media statement in the days after she went public with her story.

Nine’s national affairs editor Andrew Probyn was also named in court, as Mr Bennett sought to establish the lengths Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz allegedly went to carry out their plan and “feed” the media “beast further”.

Mr Bennett highlighted Ms Higgins’ memoir draft in which she wrote: “Honestly, I feel like a B-grade Grace Tame (activist and advocate for survivors of sexual assault) ... here I am in the mud with the pigs fighting for control of the daily news cycle, throwing mud.

“We’ve become quite a twosome when it came to game-planning, my experience as a media advisor, David’s experience as a producer, together we understood how the gallery media sphere operated,” a portion of the draft, read to the court by Mr Bennett, said.

He brought photos of Ms Higgins’ diary to the court’s attention, and read an entry saying “(Laura) Tingle is a journalist”.

“Drinks with Lucy and Malcolm is a reference to Lucy and (former prime minister) Malcolm Turnbull and there’s a significant note on the right-hand card ... ‘buy white dress’,” he read.

Senator Reynolds’ interview with journalist Liam Bartlett on Seven Network’s Spotlight program was also probed, with the former army brigadier denying she attempted to besmirch Ms Higgins by accusing her of the alleged theft of her Carla Zampatti jacket.

Ms Higgins, who’s pregnant with her first child, was due to fly in from her home in France to give evidence, but her lawyer Rachael Young told the court during the third week of the trial she wouldn’t be called.

She told Justice Tottle she didn’t need Ms Higgins’ testimony to win the case before raising concerns about her client’s health and submitting confidential medical reports.

Ms Young said Ms Higgins was a courageous woman who was sued for speaking up and her motive for doing so was not to harm the senator but to drive workplace reforms and stop anyone else from experiencing what she had gone through.

She also rubbished the senator’s conspiracy theory and said her defamation claims were meritless and she was an unreliable witness, who gave numerous non-responsive and gratuitous answers.

Justice Tottle this week adjourned to consider his verdict. Any damages and a decision is likely to be handed down next year.

He also has to determine the damages that might be awarded against Mr Sharaz, who did not contest Senator Reynolds’ defamation case against him for his social media posts, if he rules in the senator’s favour.

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