1 month ago
Linda Reynolds has told a court that she wasn’t Brittany Higgins’ “counsellor” as she defended her actions after her former staffer’s alleged rape in Parliament House.
The Western Australian Liberal senator has also said she would “still do the same thing today” when asked why she had never offered to listen to Higgins’ experience of the night she was allegedly raped.
Reynolds has sued her former staffer for defamation over a series of social media posts, published in July 2023, which Reynolds claims damaged her reputation.
On Friday Higgins’ lawyer, Rachael Young SC, questioned Reynolds about her actions in the immediate aftermath of Higgins’ alleged rape in the early hours of 23 March 2019 in Parliament House.
Bruce Lehrmann has always vehemently denied raping Higgins and pleaded not guilty at the October 2022 criminal trial in the ACT, which was aborted due to juror misconduct. A second trial did not proceed due to prosecutors’ fears for Higgins’ mental health.
As part of Lehrmann’s failed defamation trial against Network 10 and Lisa Wilkinson, a federal court in April found that, on the balance of probabilities, he raped Higgins.
Young has previously told the court the defence case would demonstrate that Reynolds’ claims she was not aware of Higgins’ alleged rape by 1 April 2019 – when Higgins and Reynolds held their only meeting on the events – were “not credible”. She also told the court she would show that claims of a conspiracy by Higgins and her now husband, David Sharaz, to harm the senator’s reputation were wrong.
On Friday, Young asked Reynolds if she ever spoke to Higgins about her alleged rape following the 1 April meeting. Reynolds said “no”.
Reynolds added she seemed “engaged” at functions and events during the 2019 federal election campaign and Reynolds hadn’t thought she might be struggling with her mental health.
Young asked: “You never took her aside, in a private space, to ask her ‘hi Brittany, how are you going?’”
“I didn’t seek to be her counsellor,” Reynolds responded.
Young asked, given Reynolds had her own traumatic experience during the Bali bombings, whether she had considered Higgins might be quietly struggling.
Reynolds started responding but became emotional.
“I tried to give her agency ... but I wasn’t her counsellor,” Reynolds said.
Young also showed court notes from then AFP assistant commissioner, Leanne Close, written on 4 April 2019 during a meeting with Reynolds and her then chief of staff, Fiona Brown.
The notes read: “I said - there’s been an allegation of a sexual assault by a female member of her office against a male member”.
The notes followed with Reynolds’ purported response: “She said ‘I thought that’s what is [sic] would be about. Can I bring in Fiona, my chief of staff, who has the specific details’.”
Close noted Reynolds brought in Brown. She noted the minister said: “It’s about Brittany - we became aware on Tuesday that this had happened on Saturday night - on my couch there”. Close said Reynolds pointed toward the couch in her office where the rape allegedly occurred.
Close’s notes indicated Reynolds then said “we found out through a DPS report”. The department of parliamentary services security report was given to Reynolds and Brown on 27 March 2019.
Reynolds told the court on Friday she did not point to the couch because she was not yet aware of the sexual assault allegation.
Reynolds also said the notes were incomplete and were just “four points of abbreviation of a longer conversation”.
“This is not a transcript of a conversation - this is pulling up, as police do, elements of a conversation,” Reynolds said.
Young compared accounts Reynolds gave to Lehrmann’s 2022 criminal trial with the DPS report.
The report said Higgins had appeared drunk upon entrance to Parliament House and said two welfare checks were provided and she was in a state of undress.
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Reynolds denied claims that she should have known “on face value” that the report showed signs Higgins might have been sexually assaulted and insisted she did not know a sexual assault might have occurred because “nothing in the [DPS] report” had indicated “a crime had taken place”.
The court heard in the week after Higgins’ alleged rape, Reynolds’ chief of staff, Fiona Brown, forwarded Reynolds’ advice she had received from the finance department outlining steps Higgins could take for her welfare, including using the Employee Assistance Program and 1800 Respect number.
Young said the email indicated Reynolds had been aware something “untoward” had occurred in her ministerial suite against Higgins.
“I hadn’t jumped to that conclusion,” Reynolds said, adding the advice email was related to Higgins having been involved in a serious security breach.
Young asked the former defence minister why she had never offered to listen to Higgins’ experiences of the night she was allegedly raped.
Reynolds told the court she was “not a trained counsellor”.
“I’m no way skilled or experienced to be having those sorts of conversations,” she said. “I was not the person to be asking those questions … I would still do the same thing today.”
Reynolds said she felt “strongly” that Higgins should go to the police to see if they could help her remember.
Reynolds’ lawyer, Martin Bennett, re-examined Reynolds after cross-examination finished in the Western Australian supreme court on Friday.
Bennett asked why Reynolds was initially apologetic toward Higgins before changing her mind in recent years.
Reynolds responded recent evidence revealed in the failed Lehrmann defamation trial showed Higgins and Sharaz were “clearly malicious” towards her and “clearly delighted” in the negative media attention focused on her.
Justice Paul Tottle granted Reynolds’ legal team two subpoenas to acquire underlying medical notes of Higgins’ physical and mental condition, taken in January 2022, as well as communications the commonwealth’s solicitors made on Reynolds’ behalf in the week leading up to Higgins’ personal injury settlement being finalised.
Outside the court on Friday afternoon, Reynolds said she was “relieved” to be returning to work at Parliament House on Monday for the sitting week.
Bennett said the senator’s husband, Robert Reid, would give evidence on Monday, followed by the former prime minister Scott Morrison and another former chief of staff for Reynolds, Alexandra Kelton, on Tuesday.
Reynolds’ elderly parents and her former media advisor Nicky Hamer are due to appear on Wednesday.
Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html
