Brittany Higgins texted a journalist about former boss Linda Reynolds after she went public along with her rape claims, saying: ‘I do not assume she ought to resign.’
Senator Reynolds is suing her former staffer for defamation within the WA Supreme Court docket over social media posts in 2023 that she claims had been a part of an orchestrated plan to deliver her and the Liberal authorities down.
However on Tuesday, as Ms Reynolds sat in courtroom for the primary time since giving proof final month, texts between Ms Higgins and Information Corp political journalist Samantha Maiden had been learn out.
The texts had been despatched round February 2021, when Ms Higgins first went public with claims that she was raped by a colleague on a sofa in Senator Reynolds’ ministerial suite inside Parliament Home in 2019.
Rachael Younger SC, the previous staffer’s barrister, advised the courtroom on Tuesday that Ms Maiden had requested Ms Higgins whether or not she thought the senator ought to resign.
Ms Higgins replied: ‘Off the document, I do not assume so.’
Ms Younger argued the message confirmed her shopper’s sincere thought on the time, and was inconsistent with Ms Reynolds’ allegations she needed to destroy the Liberal Celebration.
The barrister mentioned Ms Higgins’ solely motivation was to make clear her assault and guarantee her ordeal did not occur to anybody else.
Brittany Higgins is pictured outdoors the WA Supreme Court docket in March
Linda Reynolds (pictured final week) is suing Ms Higgins for defamation over social media posts
She additionally advised the courtroom that Ms Higgins campaigned for the Liberal Celebration within the weeks after her rape in 2019, and was proven in pictured to be ‘elated’ when then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison was re-elected.
‘Ms Higgins, a junior staffer who has lengthy associations with the Liberal Celebration, has campaigned for them, described Mr Morrison’s win as absolute elation,’ Ms Younger mentioned in her closing submissions.
‘The alleged plan is that she needed to deliver down her senator and that authorities, we are saying that that won’t be discovered.’
Ms Higgins rape claims had been first printed by Ms Maiden in February 2021.
Those self same claims had been additionally broadcast in an interview on Community Ten’s The Mission, which was extremely important of the way in which Ms Reynolds and her employees dealt with Ms Higgins’ rape.
The week after the story was printed, Ms Reynolds was subjected to intense questioning throughout Senate Query Time and he or she later collapsed and was rushed to hospital with a coronary heart situation.
In the course of the present defamation motion, Ms Reynolds advised the courtroom she believed the extreme scrutiny was a part of a plan by Ms Higgins and her husband, David Sharaz, to destroy her popularity.
Linda Reynolds is pictured with one among her legal professionals outdoors WA Supreme Court docket in August
Brittany Higgins’ barrister Rachael Younger SC is pictured, proper, outdoors the courtroom in August
Earlier, Ms Younger advised the courtroom Ms Reynolds had targeted on the ‘fallacious goal’.
She mentioned Ms Higgins’ solely objective in going public along with her rape claims was to immediate reforms over the way in which Parliament Home handled complaints.
‘She sought sweeping reforms to the Employees Act and the way employees in Parliament Home had been handled,’ Ms Younger advised the courtroom.
‘As she mentioned to Samantha Maiden, it might have been simpler to do nothing.’
Ms Younger mentioned Ms Reynolds shouldn’t be thought of a dependable witness and that her proof was problematic, unreliable and self-serving.
She mentioned the proof introduced to the courtroom recognized the senator’s damage, misery and lack of popularity occurred in 2021 – when Ms Higgins’ rape claims had been first printed.
The senator is suing Ms Higgins and her husband, David Sharaz, over social media posts printed two years after these tales had been printed.
The trial continues.
