Former senator Linda Reynolds says she feels vindicated by a judge’s finding that alleged sexual assault victim Brittany Higgins defamed her in social media posts.
Reynolds, Higgins’ former boss, launched a defamation lawsuit over a series of Instagram posts and tweets that she believed damaged her reputation.
On Wednesday, Western Australian Supreme Court Justice Paul Tottle found the three posts were defamatory and awarded damages of $315,000 plus $26,109 interest.
Outside court, Reynolds said Tottle had definitively established the truth.
“It is a great relief that my reputation has been finally and fully vindicated,” she said.
“However, it is disappointing that it took 4½ years, multiple court actions and millions of dollars.”
Reynolds, a former defence minister in the Morrison government, said the legal case was never about Higgins’ rape allegation or money.
“This action was always about the dishonest and devastating attack of my reputation,” she said.
“Those lies cost me my reputation. It cost me my health and my career.
“This has been an incredibly emotionally and financially taxing journey but I never gave up on the truth and on seeking justice.”
Higgins, meanwhile, said she was grateful the matter had finally reached a conclusion.
“I was 24 years old when I was sexually assaulted in Parliament House,” she said in a statement to News.com.au.
“Six years have passed — years marked by challenge, scrutiny and change.
“I accept that Linda Reynolds’ feelings were hurt by these events and I am sorry for that. I wish her well for the future.
“Thank you to the Australian public for their compassion and understanding throughout this journey.
“My family and I now look forward to healing and rebuilding our lives.”
Reynolds claimed a January 2022 tweet published by Higgins and her husband David Sharaz conveyed two imputations.
The first was that she pressured Higgins not to proceed with her sexual assault complaint and the second was that Reynolds was a hypocrite in her advocacy of gender equality and female empowerment.
Tottle found both were defamatory.
Higgins’ Instagram story from July 4, 2023 was alleged to have contained three imputations.
These were that Reynolds engaged in a campaign of harassing Higgins, mishandled Higgins’ rape allegation, and that Reynolds engaged in questionable conduct during Bruce Lehrmann’s aborted criminal trial.
“Each of these imputations was defamatory,” Tottle said.
Higgins’ July 20, 2023 tweet, which conveyed the imputation Reynolds wanted to silence sexual assault victims, was also found to be defamatory.
But Reynolds’ claim failed because Higgins established the defences of honest opinion, fair comment and qualified privilege, Tottle said.
Reynolds’ claim of conspiracy related to the intent of Higgins’ interviews with journalists Lisa Wilkinson from Network Ten’s now-defunct The Project and Gold Walkley award-winner Samantha Maiden from News Corp also failed.
Tottle said Reynolds had not proven Higgins and r Sharaz’s purpose was to injure her.
Reynolds’ claim that Higgins had breached a contract that restricted either party from making adverse, critical or disparaging comments concerning their dispute in four July 2023 Instagram stories was upheld by the court.
But Tottle turned down Reynolds’ application for an injunction gagging Higgins.
During the five-week trial, Higgins’ lawyer Rachael Young said her client was a courageous woman who was sued for speaking up. In doing so, she did not want to harm Reynolds but to drive workplace reforms and stop anyone else from experiencing what she had gone through.
Higgins did not give evidence at the trial for medical reasons.
She alleged she was raped by Lehrmann in Reynolds’ ministerial suite in March 2019.
A Federal Court judge overseeing a defamation case launched by Lehrmann against Network Ten found Higgins was, on the balance of probabilities, raped by Lehrmann in the office.
Lehrmann is appealing that finding. He has always denied the rape allegation and his criminal trial was derailed by juror misconduct.
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-with AAP
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