Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds was cast as a “villain” in a fictional political cover-up created by her former staffer Brittany Higgins and her husband David Sharaz, a defamation trial has been told.
The former defence minister is suing Higgins over a series of social media posts she says damaged her reputation as she pursues vindication for a series of alleged mistruths.
Lawyer Martin Bennett told the Western Australian Supreme Court that “every fairy tale needed a villain”, and Higgins and Sharaz “cast Reynolds in that role for their fictional story of a cover-up”.
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He said the fiction included allegations of ill-treatment, ostracisation, bullying, harassment and threatening conduct.
“She was cast in … critical light and none of it was true,” he said on Friday during his opening submissions.
Reynolds took offence at tweets on the social media platform X and Instagram posts published in 2022 and 2023.
One of the Instagram posts implied the senator mishandled Higgins’ rape allegation against her colleague Bruce Lehrmann by failing to provide support, her statement of claim says.
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The post also allegedly suggested the senator acted questionably during Lehrmann’s trial and engaged in a campaign of harassment towards Higgins.
Two tweets could be understood to mean the senator wanted to silence victims of sexual assault, according to the document.
Another post published by Higgins’ husband David Sharaz – which the claim says the couple was jointly responsible for – implied the senator pressured her former staffer not to continue with her sexual assault complaint to police and that she was a hypocrite in her advocacy for gender equality and female empowerment.
Reynolds said the posts damaged her character, public profile and future prospects, and caused her distress and embarrassment.
The claim also said Higgins’ conduct was aggravated because it was part of a “malicious” plan, created by her and Sharaz, that alleged the senator was involved in a political cover-up of the rape allegation.
“Shortly after meeting Mr Sharaz in May 2020, the defendant created the idea of the plan and recorded the idea as a note on her mobile phone which read: ‘Thesis idea – the cult of politics, the media lens of a political sex scandal, anatomy of a political sex scandal’,” the document said.
This allegedly led to Higgins’ interviews with Lisa Wilkinson on Network Ten’s The Project and Samantha Maiden from News Corp in 2021.
READ MORE: ‘Never in doubt’: Wilkinson defends Higgins rape report
Reynolds denies harassing Higgins and said she gave her extensive support after making the rape allegation.
Higgins’ defence relies on truth and that it was reasonable to comment and provide opinion on issues of public interest concerning government and political matters.
Defence documents state Reynolds’ alleged harassment included sharing confidential information with the media and questioning Higgins’ $2.4 million commonwealth settlement.
Higgins also claims in the documents that her former boss failed to support her, “including by undermining her credibility and making allegations about her honesty” after she had disclosed the rape allegation on The Project.
The trial is set down for four-to-five weeks and the witnesses could include former prime minister Scott Morrison.
Reynolds was also pursuing Sharaz for defamation but he announced in April he would no longer fight the case and consented to judgment.
Lehrmann has always denied the sexual assault allegation. His criminal trial was aborted because of juror misconduct and Higgins’ mental health was cited as the reason for no retrial.
Readers seeking support can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyond blue on 1300 22 4636.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
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