Brittany Higgins texted a journalist about former boss Linda Reynolds after she went public with her rape claims, saying: ‘I don’t think she should resign.’
Senator Reynolds is suing her former staffer for defamation in the WA Supreme Court over social media posts in 2023 that she claims were part of an orchestrated plan to bring her and the Liberal government down.
But on Tuesday, as Ms Reynolds sat in court for the first time since giving evidence last month, texts between Ms Higgins and News Corp political journalist Samantha Maiden were read out.
The texts were sent around February 2021, when Ms Higgins first went public with claims that she was raped by a colleague on a couch in Senator Reynolds’ ministerial suite inside Parliament House in 2019.
Rachael Young SC, the former staffer’s barrister, told the court on Tuesday that Ms Maiden had asked Ms Higgins whether she thought the senator should resign.
Ms Higgins replied: ‘Off the record, I don’t think so.’
Ms Young argued the message showed her client’s honest thought at the time, and was inconsistent with Ms Reynolds’ allegations she wanted to destroy the Liberal Party.
The barrister said Ms Higgins’ only motivation was to shed light on her assault and ensure her ordeal didn’t happen to anyone else.
She also told the court that Ms Higgins campaigned for the Liberal Party in the weeks after her rape in 2019, and was shown in pictured to be ‘elated’ when then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison was re-elected.
‘Ms Higgins, a junior staffer who has long associations with the Liberal Party, has campaigned for them, described Mr Morrison’s win as absolute elation,’ Ms Young said in her closing submissions.
‘The alleged plan is that she wanted to bring down her senator and that government, we say that that will not be found.’
Ms Higgins rape claims were first published by Ms Maiden in February 2021.
Those same claims were also broadcast in an interview on Network Ten’s The Project, which was highly critical of the way Ms Reynolds and her staff handled Ms Higgins’ rape.
The week after the story was published, Ms Reynolds was subjected to intense questioning during Senate Question Time and she later collapsed and was rushed to hospital with a heart condition.
During the current defamation action, Ms Reynolds told the court she believed the intense scrutiny was part of a plan by Ms Higgins and her husband, David Sharaz, to destroy her reputation.
Earlier, Ms Young told the court Ms Reynolds had focused on the ‘wrong target’.
She said Ms Higgins’ only goal in going public with her rape claims was to prompt reforms over the way Parliament House dealt with complaints.
‘She sought sweeping reforms to the Staff Act and how staff in Parliament House were treated,’ Ms Young told the court.
‘As she said to Samantha Maiden, it would have been easier to do nothing.’
Ms Young said Ms Reynolds should not be considered a reliable witness and that her evidence was problematic, unreliable and self-serving.
She said the evidence presented to the court identified the senator’s hurt, distress and loss of reputation occurred in 2021 – when Ms Higgins’ rape claims were first published.
The senator is suing Ms Higgins and her husband, David Sharaz, over social media posts published two years after those stories were published.
The trial continues.