Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds has denied she suspected Brittany Higgins had been raped following an incident in her ministerial office, as her handling of the case is probed at a defamation trial.
The former defence minister is suing Higgins over a series of social media posts containing alleged mistruths that she believes have damaged her reputation.
Higgins’ lawyer Rachael Young quizzed the retiring politician on Friday about the office incident on March 23, 2019, and her response in the days and weeks that followed. She said the senator knew Higgins had been found undressed on her lounge in the early hours of that morning, that Bruce Lehrmann had been on top of her and that he left the building before Higgins, who appeared intoxicated.
She also said Reynolds had wanted Higgins to talk to police and that she knew her father was coming to Canberra to be with his daughter and that she had been referred for counselling.
“You believed that sexual activity without consent had occurred in your office,” Young said in Western Australia’s Supreme Court.
“That is not correct,” Reynolds replied.
Young questioned the senator about the meeting she held with Higgins in the same office she was allegedly assaulted in.
“What I remember saying is that ‘I am your boss, I’m your employer, and I’m not the right person to be having discussions with you about intimate matters’,” the senator said.
She said she was not trained to discuss the incident with Higgins and that the staffer told her she had received counselling material and would follow it up.
“That’s when I … talked to her again about the Australian Federal Police and that they are far better placed to either refer her to people who can walk her through the process and investigate and help her with her memory,” she said.
“I certainly talked to her about the security breach and the implications of that, but as I think I’ve already said … she said she’d done the wrong thing, and I confirmed that her job was OK.”
Young asked if the senator had asked Higgins if she wanted to tell her anything about the night she was allegedly raped.
“No (and) I would still do the same thing today if I had a young staff member who couldn’t remember and who was in distress, I would refer them to a counsellor, refer them to anybody who can provide the advice,” the senator replied.
Young also pointed the senator to the evidence she gave to Lehrmann’s aborted criminal trial about the cleaning of her office after Higgins was allegedly raped on the couch – an allegation he has always denied.
The senator agreed she had been “partially wrong” when she denied knowing the ministerial suite was steam-cleaned.
“When you gave that evidence before the ACT Supreme Court you knew that if you indicated knowledge of the cleaning that it would suggest that you knew that something untoward had happened, Young said.
“Absolutely not,” Reynolds said.
The court was told Senator Reynolds has settled five defamation actions since Ms Higgins’ alleged rape with a variety of parties, including the ACT, Harper Collins, author and journalist Aaron Patrick, and media outlets The Independent and The Spectator.
The trial continues.
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