New court documents have revealed the alleged circumstances that led to the Liberal senator using the insult Brittany Higgins.
Liberal senator Linda Reynolds has defended her decision to call Brittany Higgins a “lying cow” and hold a recruitment meeting in the same room where she was allegedly raped, insisting she “never objected to the location of the meeting”.
In new documents released by the Western Australian Supreme Court, Senator Reynolds has explained why she rejects any suggestion that she mishandled the rape allegation in the high-stakes defamation case.
The Liberal senator previously revealed she had mortgaged her home to fund the defamation trial.
while, Brittany Higgins, who recently revealed she’s pregnant, says she’s selling her French home To help pay for her legal defense costs.
Senator Reynolds is suing Ms Higgins and her husband over social media posts she says are “malicious” and ask her former staffer to Paying medical bills including visits to the psychiatrist and cardiologist.
In her statement of claim, Senator Reynolds accused Ms. Higgins and her current husband, David Sharaz, of using “false” allegations of political cover-up as a weapon to inflict immediate political damage on her.
Senator Linda Reynolds after a mediation session with Brittany Higgins in Perth. Photo: NewsWire/Sharon Smith
False cow claims aired
In the new documents, the Liberal senator revealed she called Ms Higgins a “lying cow” in the days after the story broke in 2021 as a “knee-jerk” response to “false” allegations on Channel 10. The project That the young employee was not supported.
Higgins’ comments to a small group of staff were later leaked to the media and widely reported, prompting Ms. Higgins to threaten to sue Senator Reynolds for defamation, which she settled.
Despite the apology, Senator Reynolds said she never admitted she handled the alleged rape case poorly.
“The apology was not an admission that she in fact handled the matter poorly or failed to provide adequate support to the defendant (Brittany Higgins),” Senator Reynolds’ statement of claim said.
“Her comment was a personal and spontaneous reaction to the false accusation made by the defendant in the first case.”
In an amended defence, Ms Higgins’ legal team noted that on March 2, 2021, media reports emerged that Senator Reynolds had told her staff that the defendant was a “lying cow”.
Senator Linda Reynolds has defended her description of Brittany Higgins as a “lying cow”. Image: NCA NewsWire/David Swift
“On the same day, the plaintiff issued a public statement apologising to the defendant and saying she was ‘deeply sorry … for these statements and for any hurt or distress they caused’,” according to Ms Higgins’ defence.
The prime minister publicly rebuked the prosecutor for the comment, saying it was “offensive and wrong”.
On March 21, 2021, the plaintiff and defendant reached a settlement regarding Ms. Higgins’ claim that the “lying cow” comment was defamatory of her.
The settlement was on a “non-admission” basis but involved the plaintiff making a further public apology to the defendant and paying her damages, which the defendant donated (excluding legal fees) to a sexual assault charity.
“The plaintiff mishandled the rape allegation and failed to support the defendant, including undermining her credibility and making allegations about her truthfulness after the defendant revealed the rape allegation in the television interview with The project“The Ministry of Defense says:”
“In all the circumstances described…the plaintiff mishandled the rape allegation and failed to support the defendant.”
What does Reynolds’ statement of claim say?
Senator Reynolds says in her statement of claim that her chief of staff, Fiona Brown, told her before a meeting on April 1, 2019, that Ms Higgins said she remembered Bruce Lerman “over her”.
But she says the “accused made no allegation of rape or unconsensual sexual activity.”
She says this reflects Ms Higgins’ interview with news.com.au where she said she initially did not explicitly use the word rape.
“I said he was on top of me. I think I was really weird for a long time about saying it was rape,” Ms Higgins told news.com.au.
“I don’t know why. I was very cautious about this. I think she understood the inference from our conversation.”
CCTV footage of Brittany Higgins and Bruce Lerman inside Parliament House in Canberra on the night she allegedly was raped in Senator Reynolds’ office. Photo: NCA NewsWire
Complaints about a meeting in the room where the alleged rape occurred
The legal documents include a discussion of the decision to summon Ms Higgins to a business meeting in the same room where she was allegedly raped.
A Morrison government spokesman admitted in 2021 that holding the meeting in that room was a mistake.
“During this process, the Minister and a senior member of his staff met with the employee in the Minister’s office. Given the seriousness of the incident, the meeting was scheduled to take place elsewhere,” a ministry spokesperson said.
But in legal documents filed in the Supreme Court of Western Australia, Senator Reynolds defended the decision, with her lawyers claiming that “the defendant did not raise any objection to the meeting place.
“Furthermore, Senator Reynolds alleges that she and Chief of Staff Ms Fiona Brown supported Ms Higgins by taking the following steps in accordance with the verbal advice she received from Ms Lauren Barrons of the Department of Finance, making the Respondent aware of the Employee Assistance Scheme and other support services available; and notifying the Respondent that, if she so chose, she was able to pursue the complaint, including a complaint to the police.”
Australian Federal Police pictures of Minister Linda Reynolds’ office at Parliament House in Canberra. Photo: AFP
Why didn’t Senator Reynolds tell the Prime Minister?
Senator Reynolds says she “did not report the allegation directly to the Prime Minister’s Office because doing so would have been against the advice of the Treasury Adviser (Ms Barrons) and the Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner (Leanne) Close, and the defendant’s wish to keep the matter private but she did report the security breach to the Prime Minister’s Office.
When Brittany Higgins informed Senator Reynolds that she had accepted a role with Senator Cash, the Liberal Senator said she asked her if she wanted to inform Senator Cash of what was happening (referring to the rape allegation and the police investigation).
“The defendant appeared terrified and said no,” the legal document said.
David Sharaz and Brittany Higgins. Photo: brittanyhiggins/Instagram
Brittany Higgins acted “maliciously”
In a statement of claim released in the Western Australian Supreme Court on Tuesday evening, Senator Reynolds set out her defamation case including that Ms Higgins and her husband acted in “bad faith” in their social media posts.
In response, Ms Higgins claims her Instagram and Twitter posts were justified – and will argue that they were largely true.
In July 2023, the former media consultant wrote on her Instagram account: “These are just the headlines for today.”
“This is from a current Australian senator who continues to harass me in the media and in Parliament. My former boss has publicly apologised for his mishandling of the rape allegation I made against him.
“Who had to publicly apologize to me after I was slandered in the workplace? This has been going on for years now. It’s time to stop.”
Bruce Lerman. Photo: Don Arnold/Getty Images
Linda Reynolds accused of leaking documents about Brittany Higgins’ compensation
Senator Reynolds is also accused of repeatedly leaking confidential correspondence about Ms Higgins’ compensation to the media in legal documents filed in the Supreme Court of Western Australia.
Her legal team says the behaviour constitutes an ongoing “campaign of harassment.”
The claims come on the heels of the legal disclosure of Senator Reynolds’ emails, texts and correspondence regarding the rape allegation.
The amended defenses allege that Senator Reynolds leaked confidential legal correspondence to Australian’Columnist Janet Albrechtsen.
Ms Higgins’ defence alleges that “under these circumstances, the plaintiff engaged in a campaign of harassment against the defendant, including providing confidential information to the media.”
In response, Senator Reynolds’ legal team argued that the behaviour described did not constitute harassment of Ms. Higgins.
The response stated: “The information provided by the plaintiff (Senator Reynolds) to Ms. Albrechtsen was information in his possession and he had the right to deal with it.”
“Plaintiff was entitled to question the circumstances of the personal injury claim brought by defendant against the Commonwealth in the circumstances that such claim was based on matters disputed by plaintiff.”
