Linda Reynolds thought there were “odd things” about her encounters with her former staffer Bruce Lehrmann during the time they worked together, and formed a strong opinion he was not fit to work in a ministerial office, the Western Australian Liberal senator told a court.
Reynolds is suing her former staffer Higgins over social media posts she claims damaged her reputation by alleging the senator had not offered adequate support in the months after Higgins’ alleged rape in Parliament House, Canberra, in 2021.
Reynolds’ lawyer, Martin Bennett, has claimed Reynolds’ health deteriorated as a result of the events.
Reynolds began giving evidence in the supreme court of Western Australia on Monday and told the court Lehrmann had “boasted” about people he knew and things he had done. In one instance, Reynolds said she had been told by her former chief of staff, Fiona Brown, that Lehrmann claimed to be friends with the then Asio chief Duncan Lewis.
Brown called Lewis to check if that was the case, but Lewis denied knowing him, Reynolds said.
Reynolds told the court Lehrmann had left a “highly classified” document unattended in her office that he had “no business” having. She said she and Brown both formed a “very strong opinion” that Lehrmann was not fit to work in the defence portfolio, let alone in a ministerial office.
Reynolds also revealed a number of close friends had been raped or the subject of predatory behaviour. She said she had friends who had been subject to predatory behaviour within Parliament House over the decades she worked there.
“I’m not unfamiliar with what can happen in that building,” Reynolds said.
As she opened the defence’s arguments on Monday, Higgins’ lawyer, Rachael Young, said it had “never been a fairytale” for Higgins, in response to comments made by Bennett on Friday that “every fairytale needs a villain”. Those comments were “misplaced, harassing and retraumatising”, Young said.
She said she would present a case demonstrating that claims that Reynolds was not aware of Higgins’ alleged rape by 1 April 2019 were “not credible” and that claims of a conspiracy to ambush the senator were wrong.
Bennett pointed to a series of text messages, pictures and invitations to show Higgins was a “vivacious” young woman after her rape. But Young said these were “selected text messages” and ignored others that supported Higgins’ claims that she was “isolated”, “depressed” and “confused”.
In one message, Higgins wrote she was “beyond shitty” with how her boss, Reynolds, was dealing with the alleged sexual assault, adding: “I was literally assaulted in [Reynolds’] office and I collectively maybe took 4 days off/was offered jack shit in terms of help.”
Young said Higgins was a 24-year-old at the time and had limited job security compared with the senator, who was then the defence industry minister in the Morrison government.
“The power discrepancy is palpable,” Young said.
Young also pointed to a submission to the ACT board of inquiry to allege Reynolds was trying to “silence” sexual assault victims.
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Reynolds’ submission, shown to the court, read: “Individuals should be deterred from using the media and or parliament forums [sic] to advance their own interests in relation to an alleged criminal offence that ought properly to be the subject of the criminal justice processes.”
Reynolds said outside court on Monday morning that she was looking forward to “having the opportunity to tell the truth” after three-and-a-half years.
“I’m very glad the attorney general does not have any reach into the supreme court in Western Australia,” she said.
Bennett told the court on Friday that the senator had not been able to tell her side of the story during Higgins’ personal injury settlement.
Higgins settled a personal injury claim against the government in December 2022. It was later revealed in a defamation trial the settlement amounted to $2.445m.
On Friday, Bennett said media reporting of the details of the settlement becoming public despite non-disclosure rules being applied inferred the allegations against Reynolds were “so true, so damning, so correct”.
Higgins’ allegation that she had been raped in Reynolds’ office by a colleague, Bruce Lehrmann, has led to a long-running saga of legal battles.
Lehrmann has always vehemently denied the allegation and pleaded not guilty at a criminal trial, 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.
Reynolds is also suing Higgins’ husband, David Sharaz, for two tweets published to his Twitter/X account in January and December 2022. Sharaz said in April that he would no longer fight the case as he could not afford the legal costs.