Senator Linda Reynolds’ parents break silence in trial against Brittany Higgins

Senator Linda Reynolds’ parents have broken their silence, giving emotional testimony on how the aftermath of Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation sparked “brutal attacks” on their once “universally loved and respected” daughter. Janice and Laith Reynolds provided written testimony to the WA Supreme Court on Wednesday, as their daughter’s blockbuster defamation trial against Ms Higgins continues. Senator Reynolds is suing Ms Higgins and her husband David Sharaz over social media posts the couple made in 2022 and 2023. The posts were critical of Senator Reynolds’ handling of Ms Higgins’ allegation she was raped in Parliament House in 2019 by her then colleague Mr Lehrmann. He 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. ‘UNPROFESSIONAL’: MUM TAKES AIM AT LISA WILKINSON Senator Linda Reynolds’ mother Janice Reynolds took aim at journalist Lisa Wilkinson for not contacting her daughter for a comment or wanting to know her side of the story before her interview with Ms Higgins on The Project aired. “Laith and I have never watched The Project and did not want to see the episode about Brittany Higgins and Linda,” she wrote. “I think Laith and I were in England when it was aired. We were devastated and so worried about Linda. “How could anyone accuse her of such actions, especially galling because Lisa Wilkinson had not previously asked Linda for any comment, much less wanting to know her side of the story. “It was unprofessional, to say the least. It was obviously orchestrated for maximum effect.” An email from The Project producer Angus Llewellyn sent to Ms Reynolds on February 12 putting Ms Higgins’ allegations to her and asking if she was available for an interview, was tendered to the Federal Court of NSW during Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation trial. After Ms Higgins’ allegations were made public, Mrs Reynolds said for years she had notifications pop up on her iPad whenever her daughter’s name came up in the news. She told the court in her written statement that she and her husband would read stories about their daughter every night – knowing it was bad for them, but worse for her. “Linda especially told me not to look at Twitter, as the comments were often truly awful,” she said. Mrs Reynolds told the court she was very grateful to News Corp journalist Janet Albrechtsen for being the first reporter to listen to her daughter and “publish the truth about what had really happened.” ‘BRUTALLY ATTACKED:’ SENATOR’S MUM BREAKS SILENCE she has read every word written about this “dreadful saga,” no matter how much it hurt. The senator’s parents were due to give evidence on Wednesday, but the senator’s lawyer Martin Bennett insisted they provide written statements to the court instead. Mr Bennett told the court it took persistence to persuade them because they had wanted to give their evidence publicly, but it would have put strain on Mrs Reynolds. In her statement, Mrs Reynolds said she felt the need to know everything that was being said about her once “universally loved” daughter. She said the saga had taken a toll on her and her husband seeing their daughter “brutally attacked” in parliament and in the media, and that it was particularly hard not being able to respond or fight back. “Knowing that if it was awful for us, how much worse it was for Linda,” she said. “Every morning, I woke up with a sick feeling in my stomach. “It was there every day and every night, never ending.” The senator’s mother said it was devastating when her daughter resigned from her role as Minister for Defence, a post she was born for. She recalled watching her daughter go from being a “universally loved and respected” person to a pariah. “She was being accused of being some kind of monster who deserted ‘a poor young woman who had been raped,” she said “She resigned from being the Minister for Defence, a post that it could be reasonably said she was born for. This was devastating by itself.” SENATOR’S DAD SHATTERED BY ATTACKS Senator Reynolds’ father Laith, in his own written testimony, said the events since 2021 and the attacks on his daughter were “shattering” and caused him to worry daily. Mr Reynolds provided a written witness statement to the WA Supreme Court during his daughter’s defamation battle with Ms Higgins. He said the attacks had caused great problems for his family and they had lost friends and acquaintances during this period. “Within our circle of friends and acquaintances, most people were positive about Linda,” he said. “Some, however, were influenced by the #MeToo and bought into the vilification of Linda and Fiona Brown.” Mr Reynolds said the attacks on his daughter started in the Senate in 2021, and that Senator Reynolds had told her parents a friend in the Labor Party, Kimberley Kitching, had warned her she was about to be attacked. “I couldn’t believe the story that Brittany was saying about Linda at this stage,” he said. “It was totally contrary to what I personally had observed and contrary to the values that I knew Linda believed in. “I watched this attack on Linda go on for 18 months and Linda collapse in the Senate.” Mr Reynolds told the court he flew to Canberra when his daughter was admitted to hospital, and was stunned to see her lying there with “tubes coming out, looking so damaged ... distraught”. He said it had been enormously damaging to he and his wife, who watched it play out on a daily basis. BRITTANY’S ‘DREAM JOB’ Mr Reynolds said he vividly remembered meeting Ms Higgins at a housewarming party for Ken Wyatt. He said there were about 30 people there, and recalled Ms Higgins had approached him wearing a white cotton dress. “She was very nice, appeared to be ebullient, joyful, and she told me that she was delighted to be working with Linda. “She said it was her dream job.” He told the court the pair had a conversation and Ms Higgins told him she was looking forward to seeing more of Perth. “I found her a delightful young woman and enjoyed speaking to her,” he said. When Ms Higgins’ allegations were made public, Mr Reynolds could not believe what she said about his daughter. “It was totally contrary to what I personally had observed and contrary to the values that I knew Linda believed in,” he said. “I watched this attack on Linda go on for 18 months and Linda collapse in the Senate.” He said the very public events in 2021 were “frankly a terrible circumstance” for him and his wife. FORMER STAFFER NOT QUIZZED ON MEDIA LEAK Senator Linda Reynolds’ electorate-based media adviser Nicole Hamer took the witness stand in her former boss’s defamation trial with Brittany Higgins on Wednesday During the Senator’s evidence last week, she told the court she believed Ms Hamer was responsible for telling media that she had called Ms Higgins a “lying cow” while watching her interview with The Project. However the bombshell allegation was not put to Ms Hamer by legal representatives for Senator Reynolds or Ms Higgins during her short time on the stand. Ms Higgins’ defence lawyer Kate Pedersen questioned Ms Hamer if the senator said in front of her that she would pay for it to go away, but Ms Hamer said she could not recall those comments being made. Ms Hamer worked for Senator Reynolds between 2018 and 2021 at her Perth electorate office and would travel with her to Canberra during sitting weeks. She told the court she first met Ms Higgins properly at Canberra’s Kingston Hotel in 2019, after Senator Reynolds was sworn into her defence industry portfolio. Last week, the senator told the court there had been an altercation between her staff on that night that led to Ms Hamer sending a resignation letter to Senator Reynolds that she later revoked. Ms Hamer confirmed she became aware of an incident involving Ms Higgins in the senator’s office when they received a media inquiry from news.com.au political editor Samantha Maiden in 2021. Ms Hamer told the court an earlier media inquiry they received through Peter Dutton’s office from the Canberra Times had not contained a lot of detail. “I next became aware of more detail when Samantha Maiden called and put some things to me,” she said. Ms Hamer sent the media inquiry to the senator’s chief of staff Alex Kelton and later watched The Project interview in the senator’s office. “To be honest I did not pay a lot of attention to everyone else’s reaction, I was concentrating on how we would respond to all the media inquiries,” she said. “I was definitely surprised.” Ms Hamer told the court she could recall Senator Reynolds accusing Ms Higgins of lying, then later apologising to staff in the office. Ms Hamer confirmed that the senator had told staff her comment was made in response to allegations by Ms Higgins about how Senator Reynolds had handled the matter, not the allegation of rape. PERTH ELECTION CAMPAIGN Ms Hamer told the court during the 2019 federal election some staff from the Canberra office had travelled to Perth to help campaign for the senator. She told the court she could remember Ms Higgins had taken a number of sick days during that time and was absent from the office. She said she had no reason to be concerned about Ms Higgins’ welfare, but was told by another staff member that she was unwell. ‘OUTRAGEOUS’: SCOMO Former prime minister Scott Morrison told the court on Tuesday he first learned about the allegation Brittany Higgins was raped through The Project, telling a court he thought it was “absolutely outrageous” for a minister to call a vulnerable female staff member a “lying cow”. During questioning by Ms Higgins’ defence lawyer, Mr Morrison told the court he publicly rebuffed the senator’s “lying cow” comment because it was unacceptable for a minister to make the comment about anyone. Mr Morrison found Senator Reynolds’ comment extremely out of character. Mr Morrison also told the court during his evidence that he first found out about the nature of Ms Higgins’ allegations through The Project. While Mr Morrison said he was initially disappointed he had not been told about the incident in the senator’s office, he later learnt that Senator Reynolds chose not to tell out of confidence she entered into with Ms Higgins. “That was the dilemma,” he said. Mr Morrison told the court that allegations of sexual assault and the way it had been handled were two separate but very important issues. After learning about the incident, he ordered reviews into workplace processes and culture at Parliament House to improve practices that were in place. He said it was not OK that Ms Higgins felt unsupported and that was never in dispute or an issue. “I never saw that as a failure of Senator Reynolds but a failure for each of them,” he said.