Senator Linda Reynolds to make fresh claim in defamation case against Brittany Higgins

Senator Linda Reynolds has told a court she was “creeped out” by social media posts made by Brittany Higgins’ now-husband David Sharaz, while the “unrelenting” barrage of abuse she received in the days the public rape allegation caused her to suffer a breakdown. Ms Higgins and her husband David Sharaz are being sued for defamation by Senator Reynolds over posts shared in 2022 and 2023 that were critical of Senators Reynolds’ handling of Ms Higgins’ allegation she was raped in Parliament House in 2019 by her then colleague Bruce Lehrmann. Mr Lehrmann was charged with rape and faced trial in 2022, but the trial was aborted due to juror misconduct. The charge was dropped and Mr Lehrmann continues to maintain his innocence. ‘CREEPED OUT’ Senator Reynolds said the posts made by Mr Sharaz and Ms Higgins were distressing because they weren’t true. She said they used Instagram and Facebook posts as a press release because the media would pick it up and run a story. “What they have said becomes a story that is run nationally, and that has happened many times,” she said. “It makes me feel angry, depressed and frustrated.” The senator told the court her staff would make her aware of any posts the pair made and after an event in Perth where she had spoken about women’s issue, she became aware about a post by Mr Sharaz. She said it made her feel sick and angry because it was a constant reminder that they were always watching what she was posting. Senator Reynolds said it came across to her as a “gregarious opportunity”. “It called me a hypocrite and reminded me what Brittany had said, it is awful,” she said. When a senator called her aghast in parliament, she said Mr Sharaz quickly came across it and posted something about it. The court was told Mr Sharaz uploaded a number of posts about Ms Reynolds between 2022 and 2023. Senator Reynolds spoke of a specific post in 2022 where Mr Sharaz posted a screenshot of a press release on the senator’s website titled: “Empowering Women”. He wrote: “I see you Linda”. “It was a reminder again to me of her allegations that were not true,” Senator Reynolds told the court. “It was creepy and it was threatening, when someone says Linda I see you, apart from the stalking nature, saying something like that it is awful. “I was upset and a bit creeped out. It was a reminder of the lies they had been propagating, it was a reminder of the lies they had told.” She thought another post Mr Sharaz made was a death threat, but when she re-read it realised it wasn’t, but it had reminded everyone what the pair had alleged about her. “This was a common occurrence,” she said. TEXT FROM THE BATHROOM As the furore towards Senator Reynolds grew, she told the court a colleague expressed concern that she did not look well, and she confessed to them her mental and physical health were not good. Senator Reynolds was put in touch with a doctor who made house calls to Parliament House who went to see her. “I just collapsed on my ministerial bathroom floor, I was sobbing, I could not stand, I sent a text to my roommates saying I was not okay and needed help,” she told the court. One of her friends rushed in and organised the senator to take some leave from work. She declined to take an ambulance to hospital at the time, but told the court she went there later that evening with her partner Robert Reid. After seeing a cardiologist, she was diagnosed with a heart condition, but refused to stay in hospital because she was due to address the Press Club the following day. She went home but cancelled her appearance because by the morning she was worried she was having a heart attack. The senator told the court she was ridiculed in the media, which suggested she was avoiding scrutiny. ‘BREAKDOWN’ IN PARLIAMENT Senator Reynolds said there was a complete media frenzy after Ms Higgins’ allegations were made public, which resulted in her collapsing in parliament. She said hundreds of articles were published, her office was bombarded with media queries for several days, and she was called “shameful” by Labor senator Penny Wong. “There are no words to describe how being accused of covering up a rape of a young woman in my office … that was not true,” Senator Reynolds told the court. “I found it almost impossible to process mentally, all of a sudden in the space of a couple of days I had gone from a senator doing my job and doing it well to a person who was nationally vilified for doing something so despicable. “The media, online stories and questioning over a matter I thought had no right to be aired in the parliament, everyone looked at me differently. “Even people from my own side kept their distance, thinking ‘has she really done this’. “I just found it difficult to process.” Senator Reynolds said time and time again she told the chamber that it was a criminal matter and not a matter for the parliament. “Not being able to defend myself was devastating,” Senator Reynolds said. She told the court she was increasingly distressed and was experiencing chest pain. “I couldn’t go on, I couldn’t read what was on the paper, everything was blurry,” she said. “My knees started buckling, I went out of the room to the antechamber room, that’s just for senators. “I made my way in there and sat on the couch and just started sobbing uncontrollably. “One of my colleagues came in and was trying to console me, but I was in incredible chest pain, and was completely incoherent. “Mentally I just had nothing left.” The senator told the court the Prime Minister came and sat with her. She said he was compassionate and over the course of their conversation her chest pain settled down. She said her memory about what happened next was a bit fragmented but she was put in touch with a counsellor through the Employee Assistance Program. “My breakdown was publicised, the thing about parliament is that you never show weakness – you are expected to tough it out,” she said. “In addition to everything that was going on I had this humiliation about collapsing in front of the nation, the defence minister of the nation. “The dirty little secret in Parliament House is that politicians are human as well, we do not come in with a suit of armour to protect you from things.” The senator told the court she became aware of a document that had been widely shared around the parliament that came from Ms Higgins. Her chest pain continued but she was determined to give a speech in parliament. “I received a continued barrage of social media trolling, hundreds on a daily basis that ranged from just vile I wouldn’t consider repeating about me or my parents. “They said I was a disgrace covering up the rape of a young woman, it was unrelenting.” REYNOLDS ASKS FOR BREAK OVER KITCHING EVIDENCE Senator Reynolds asked for a break in her evidence shortly before lunch, saying her blood pressure was going up as she recalled a conversation she had with former Labor senator Kimberley Kitching, who is now deceased. Discussing a conversation with the late senator about a Labor plan to use the allegation to “rain hell” on the government, Senator Reynolds told the court it was an “emotional point” because “it led to Senator’s Kitching’s death”. Senator Kitching died suddenly in March 2022 from a suspected heart attack. Senator Reynolds told the court at the beginning of February 2021 that she had a conversation with Senator Kitching who told her she was sorry, and she had something to tell her. The senator told the court Senator Kitching had informed her Labor knew about the incident in her office and they were going to “rain hell on me in the government.” “I was completely incredulous and said why would anybody weaponise such an incident,” Senator Reynolds said. “I still can’t find the words to describe, even for Labor they pull some pretty nasty stunts, but this I found hard to believe. “Kimberley explained she found out that sometime the previous year she received an anonymous letter that made allegations about the mishandling of the situation within the building. “Senator Kitching said she thought deeply about what to do with the letter and decided to give the letter to the AFP. “She also indicated that Labor found out about the incident through a parliamentary inquiry I did not know about.” She said Penny Wong was incredibly angry with her because she gave the letter to the AFP and not Labor Party. “Kimberley was genuinely angered and upset by what Penny Wong had said. “I went back and told my chief of staff and was a bit incredulous they would contemplate doing such a thing.” The senator said she then made a time to meet with the Prime Minister’s Office because they should know what Labor were planning on doing to attack her and the Liberal Party. ‘LYING COW’ COMMENT Senator Reynolds said she watched Ms Higgins’ interview on The Project at her ministerial office on February 15, the night it was broadcast on television. The senator said Ms Higgins looked “very distraught” during the interview, but noted there were “a number of things” said that did not link up to her own recollection of what had happened. When Ms Higgins described a meeting she had with the senator and Ms Brown on The Project, Senator Reynolds said she felt “sick, angry and hurt”. She said at some point during broadcast she uttered words out of frustration and anger, about what she knew to be lies, but had no recollection of the words she used. A couple of days later, the senator’s chief of staff said they had received a complaint about the words she had used in relation to Brittany, which were reported to be “lying cow”. “As I said, I did not have a specific recollection of the words, but it certainly characterised my feelings about what I heard,” she said. “I completely accepted those were the words I used.” The senator said she called a meeting in her office where she apologised to her staff and addressed the issue, telling them how difficult it had been. REYNOLDS ‘FELT SICK’ AS NEWS BROKE Senator Reynolds told the court she felt “sick” after she read an article published on news.com.au that featured an interview with Ms Higgins about her allegations. The senator said Ms Higgins made claims in the article that were “simply not true.” “On one hand she was talking about the Morrison government’s handling of the incident, which was myself and Fiona,” she said. “I also started feeling sorry for her because reading through it, she said she internalised the trauma. “As angry and upset I was reading this, I felt sorry for her because I thought ‘what did we miss?’ “Her account was so different to mine.” Senator Reynolds told the court that she had “very mixed emotions” and she had felt “angry.” “I was angry, I was angry at Brittany and I was also angry at myself and wondering how we had got it so wrong,” she said. “I started thinking back at what cues we missed, she said we got it completely wrong, and her recollections were completely different to mine.” After watching the Project interview, Senator Reynolds said she thought about it a lot and started writing about what had happened. She said it was a technique she learnt in the army to help her overcome challenges. “It is really hard to describe how I felt because I was incredibly angry and hurt, she could not have picked a worse issue to bring me down,” she said. “It is such an abhorrent thing to say to any woman, that you have mishandled a rape allegation and that you covered it up.” CANBERRA TIMES CALL When a Canberra Times journalist contacted the senator’s office to request information about an incident in her office earlier that year, she was “worried”. Senator Reynolds told the court she did not have a lot of information about the request that was made but knew immediately it related to the incident with Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann. “I had assumed the investigation was still ongoing because Ms Higgins never advised me she had withdrawn the complaint,” she said. “Brittany never discussed the rape with me at all, but I would not have anticipated that she would have because she referred it to the AFP. “Fiona and I thought we had done everything we needed to do and had been advised to do.” Senator Reynolds said she was worried about the query from the Canberra Times and was concerned about Ms Higgins because the journalist said they would run a story the next day. “I thought it would be awful for Brittany if she read about it in the Canberra Times the next day,” she said. “I had asked her if she wanted me to mention the AFP investigation to Michaela, she said absolutely not. “I thought the best way to deal with this was to tell her chief of staff there might be something in the paper the next day.” The senator asked Senator Cash’s chief of staff to counsel Ms Higgins because there could be something in the paper the next day about an incident that involved her, but that was not her fault. She said she wanted to warn Ms Higgins so she would not be surprised, but nothing was published the next day. The senator said she was relieved and nothing happened. CAMPAIGN PHOTOS EMERGE Senator Reynolds recollected her time in Perth campaigning for the 2019 Federal Election, a time Ms Higgins said she had felt isolated. Several exhibits were shown to the court that included Ms Higgins participating in campaign and social events with Liberal Party staffers and volunteers that worked for the senator. “‘Chief cheerleader’ Scott Morrison attended an event in Perth, which Ms Higgins was at,” the senator said. The court was shown photos of Ms Higgins with other staff who worked for the senator holding wine and chatting with the former prime minister and another photo with Senator Michaelia Cash. Senator Reynolds said she always took her team out before the election, and the best night to do this coincided with her birthday. She picked her favourite restaurant, Uma at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Perth. “It was a great evening, we had some great discussions and told stories about things that had happened over the course of the campaign,” she said. “The team had bonded really well, it was a brand new team. “There was my former Perth team and people who had come from Steven Ciobo’s team. “As you can see it was a good mix, it was a good evening, I left feeling optimistic but nervous about the election. “I told the team they could not have done more for me; they all worked their guts out.” The senator told the court she was sat next to Brittany Higgins at the dinner, and they had a great chat. “I was genuinely impressed with her. She clearly loved campaigning, she stepped up,” she said. “I had that same conversation with other staff as well, it was not just Brittany.” Additional photos were shown to the court showing the senator and her staffers at a function after the Liberal Party won the 2019 election and Senator Reynolds was re-elected. Another photo shown to the court was of Ms Higgins sitting on the floor cheering. The next day, the senator hosted her campaign team at her house for brunch because some of the team were flying out that afternoon. More photos were shown to the court that included Ms Higgins at the senator’s house, including a video that was posted to social media about the election result. When they returned to Canberra the senator said she offered Ms Higgins a job in her media unit. “She thanked me but told me she had three other job offers and had accepted one with Michaelia Cash that was a higher position and could work in the media unit. “She thanked me for being a great boss and being understanding and presented me with flowers. “I genuinely wished her well in her new position.” ‘FIRST TIME’ SENATOR LEARNED OF RAPE ALLEGATION Senator Reynolds has claimed she was first advised Ms Higgins was going to proceed with a complaint of sexual assault at a meeting with Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Leanne Close in April 2019. The senator said it was the first and only time she had been advised about an allegation of rape or sexual assault. “I was glad to hear Brittany had taken the matter up,” she said. At some point in the meeting the senator was made aware the alleged incident had occurred on the couch in her office. She brought her chief of staff Fiona Brown into the meeting with the assistant commissioner because Ms Brown had been dealing with the security matter and Ms Higgins’ welfare. “I informed her it was about Brittany going to the AFP and it related to that matter, which I now understood to be a sexual assault that occurred in my office on that couch,” Senator Reynolds said. The senator raised an issue about Mr Lerhmann, who was in the process of being “sacked.” She told the court she had concerns about how they should deal with him, because Ms Brown was still working through his termination process. She said Ms Close told her they should keep dealing with Mr Lehrmann, but it would not be appropriate to discuss Ms Higgins’ allegations with him because it was a matter for the AFP. Ms Brown had talked to the Finance Department and the Prime Minister’s Office about the best way to terminate Mr Lehrmann. The senator told the court that after he responded to a letter about being terminated, he was fired that day. CALL FOR CROWD-FUNDING PROBE Lawyers for Senator Reynolds are hoping to subpoena documents about a crowd-funding campaign that was launched to help cover Ms Higgins’ legal fees. As the defamation trial continued for its third day in the WA Supreme Court on Tuesday, Mr Bennett said posts made by Ms Higgins on Monday were republished by Mr Sharaz overnight and another post was created by Saxon Mullins, who created the crowd-funding campaign. Mr Bennett told the court that he wanted to subpoena communications between Ms Higgins, Mr Sharaz, Ms Mullins and one of Ms Higgins’ lawyers Carmel Galati. He said one post mentioned that money raised through the campaign would be held in a trust by her lawyer, and not directly accessible by Ms Higgins or Mr Sharaz. “It is an attempt of mischaracterisation of these proceedings and an attempt to say that Senator Reynolds is trying to silence a sexual assault survivor,” he said. Mr Bennett also told the court he wanted to amend Senator Reynolds’ statement of claim to include the recent posts. Ms Higgins’ lawyer Rachel Young did not oppose the amendment but said Ms Higgins denied the allegation and those arguments would be made at an appropriate time during the trial. A decision on whether to include the amendment is expected later today. NEW CLAIM Speaking outside court on Tuesday, Mr Bennett said he would be amending her statement of claim to include an additional social media post Ms Higgins made as the senator started giving evidence on Monday. Mr Bennett also said he would be mentioning a crowd-funding campaign that has been launched to help Ms Higgins cover her legal costs during the five-week trial. The campaign #standwithbrittanyhiggins has already received more than $23,000 on crowd-funding platform Chuffed. Ms Higgins’ post was a reference to a book titled How many more women? which has been republished to include Ms Higgins’ story. Mr Bennett told the court on Monday that Ms Higgins’ behaviour was “extraordinary aggravating conduct”. Justice Paul Tottle agreed to amend the statement of claim and issue a subpoena relating to communications about a social media post that was published when the senator began her evidence on Monday. The subpoena will also call for communications to be produced about a crowdfunding campaign created by Saxon Mullin to help Ms Higgins raise funds to cover her legal costs. Ms Young will also seek a document from the ACT Solicitor that was tendered as evidence in the Sofronoff Inquiry, which she may put to the plaintiff during her cross examination. The inquiry examined the conduct of criminal justice agencies involved in Bruce Lehrmann’s criminal trial. Ms Young said they were text messages the senator made in the lead up to the trial. The trial continues.