Brittany Higgins must be “restrained” and Senator Linda Reynolds “needs to nail the lie” amid a conspiracy to inflict hurt and injury on the politician, a court has been told.
Higgins is fighting a defamation lawsuit launched by her former boss, Reynolds, over a series of social media posts that the ex-defence minister believes damaged her reputation.
In closing his case, the senator’s lawyer Martin Bennett said Higgins planned with her now husband David Sharaz to harm his client and the damage she caused was amplified by her social media posts.
“This was intended by Ms Higgins,” he told the Western Australian Supreme Court on Wednesday.
“Her boast was that she fights to control the daily media cycle, throwing mud … plainly inseparable from her truth, a concept that’s factually devoid of actual truth.
“To vindicate her reputation [Reynolds] needs to nail the lie that’s been perpetuated since February 2021,” Bennett said
He called for Higgins to be legally restrained from further defamatory posts against the senator as she was “wedded to social media” and would “continue to proclaim her truth”.
Reynolds’ reputation demands the truth be established because if it isn’t, “sure as anything” Higgins will continue to defame her, Bennett said.
He said Reynolds was entitled to a substantial damage award, citing cases where litigants had been awarded up to $675,000.
Outside court, the senator said she was relieved the trial was over and it was “highly regrettable that I’ve had to take it this far to not only defend my reputation but also to get the truth out there and to stop the publications of things that are not true”.
The senator said the case had taken a toll on her and everybody she loved.
“It was very good for me after three and a half years to be able to tell my story and for my family and friends and colleagues to also be able to tell the truth,” she said.
Asked if it was difficult to take legal action against Higgins, an alleged rape victim, and put “a chunk” of her $2.4 million Commonwealth settlement at risk, the senator said: “That’s not a fair question”.
“It’s important to note that I’ve never doubted or contradicted, in fact, I did everything I could to support her allegations,” she said.
“This is not about the allegation and the finding of rape, this is about what was said and what was alleged about my actions.”
Bennett addressed Higgins’ statements and social media posts about the senator attempting to silence her as a sexual assault victim, saying the case wasn’t about the alleged rape.
“Ms Higgins is not being sued for speaking out about sexual assault,” he said.
“She’s been sued for defaming the senator.
“The fact that she was sexually assaulted is accepted by Reynolds, deeply sympathetic to the trauma … but that didn’t give Ms Higgins a licence to defame.”
Bennett also outlined a 2021 message exchange between Higgins and her partner David Sharaz in which they discussed the senator’s political demise after she took leave from parliament.
“So Linda has delayed her return to work hahaha, three weeks,” said one of the messages read by Bennett.
Another said: “Wow, she’s done. You don’t take three weeks and come back”.
“So they mock the fact that the attack initiated on my client has caused her to go on sick leave,” Bennett said.
He reminded the court how Higgins and Sharaz had allegedly executed a plan to harm the senator.
Bennett said that in another of Sharaz’s messages to Higgins, he said: “Suck shit Linda, you awful human”.
Both sides have now put their cases and Justice Paul Tottle has reserved his decision.
Readers seeking support can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.
