Former WA Senator wins defamation suit against Brittany Higgins
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The news: Former WA senator Linda Reynolds won her defamation case against former Parliament staffer Brittany Higgins on Wednesday, with the state’s Supreme Court finding that Higgins’ accounts about being raped in Parliament House contained “dishonest”, “objectively untrue and misleading” statements that could not solely be attributed to trauma.
The context: Reynolds launched the legal action following a series of social media posts which were shared by Higgins in 2022, arguing that the posts damaged her reputation and caused significant distress.
Higgins wrote the posts four years after she was raped by her former colleague Bruce Lehrmann in then-senator Reynolds' office.
In the social media posts at the centre of the proceedings, Higgins accused Reynolds of mishandling her rape allegation, continuing to harass her in the aftermath and of trying to "silence" sexual assault victims.
Justice Tottle found that three of the social media posts were defamatory, but one of them was made by Higgins on the basis of an honestly held opinion, fair comment and qualified privilege.
Higgins was ordered to pay $315,000 plus $26,000 interest for the defamatory posts.
The Australian reports that Reynolds’ legal team indicated it would seek indemnity costs from Higgins and flagged it was willing to pursue further proceedings to access the trust holding her assets if necessary.
What they said: Speaking to media outside the court, Reynolds said: "This is a national scandal…It was just a great political scandal and the truth didn't matter…but today, the truth did matter."
In a statement via Instagram, Higgins said she was "grateful that this matter has finally reached a conclusion. I accept that Linda Reynolds feelings were hurt by these events and I am sorry for that," she said.
The sources: Supreme Court of WA, The Australian, ABC News
