Linda Reynolds’ cross-examination will continue in the WA Supreme Court on Thursday at 10.30am local time, 12.30pm AEST.
On Wednesday, the Liberal senator told the court she felt that she had no choice but to sue her former staffer, Brittany Higgins, for defamation.
The matter was filed over a series of social media posts by Ms Higgins and her husband, David Sharaz, that she claims damaged her reputation.
But in court this week, Ms Reynolds alleged the posts were actually part of a years-long campaign of harassment.
Ms Higgins has long maintained that Ms Reynolds did not support her after she was raped by colleague Bruce Lehrmann in her Parliament House office in March 2019.
At that time, Ms Reynolds was the defence industry minister. Lehrmann and Ms Higgins were her staffers in Canberra.
Ms Higgins accused Ms Reynolds of making her choose between her career and pursuing her rape complaint with police and believes the Liberal party tried to cover up her rape.
She first made those allegations against Ms Reynolds in the form of two media interviews – the first was a written article published by news.com.au, and the second was a television interview with Lisa Wilkinson on The Project.
Both interviews were published on February 15, 2021.
The television interview in particular carried significant claims of a political coverup by the then-Liberal government, and Ms Reynolds and her chief-of-staff, Fiona Brown.
Prior to that, Ms Reynolds says she had no idea Ms Higgins harboured any resentment towards her.
Following the broadcast, Ms Reynolds was grilled over the rape during Question Time, there were calls for her resignation, and irate members of the public started trolling her and her family.
Ms Reynolds has continually denied forcing Ms Higgins to choose between her career and her assault and says she never tried to cover up the rape.
In court on Wednesday, Ms Reynolds said didn’t defend herself properly when the allegations were first publicised because she believed Ms Higgins had the right to speak out about the matter in whatever way she chose.
She did not agree with what Ms Higgins was saying about her and her staff, but she didn’t believe the criminal complaint should be litigated outside a courtroom.
The senator also didn’t want to betray Ms Higgins’ confidence by revealing the substance of their private meetings in the weeks after the assault.
In December 2022, Ms Higgins won a $2.4million compensation claim against the Commonwealth over the way she was treated by her employers – Ms Reynolds and Ms Brown – after her rape.
That claim included a number of allegations against Ms Reynolds and Ms Brown, but neither of them were allowed to attend mediation to defend themselves.
Ms Reynolds referred the payment to the anti-corruption commission because she believes the Attoney-General Mark Dreyfus personally decided to block her from mediation.
In the years that followed, Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz allegedly continued to perpetuate the narrative that Ms Reynolds tried to cover up the rape.
She told the court the couple knew that whatever they posted on social media would be picked up by media and republished – which included a range of posts about her.
The posts included allegations that Ms Reynolds was harassing Ms Higgins.
Ms Reynolds’ expressed confusion over posts from the couple that suggested she did not have a right to defend herself against allegations.
She told the court that Ms Higgins appeared to believe that seeking justice was a form of bullying.
‘Me seeking justice and having my voice heard was somehow silencing her,’ she said.
‘Taking part in judicial processes was me bullying her.’
Ms Reynolds said she never denied that Ms Higgins was raped – the only issue was the allegations against her.
She told the court that has been in despair for three years, her health has declined, and her friends, family, and staff members have to put up with constant calls asking how they can stand by an ‘evil woman’.
The senator believed launching defamation action was the only way Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz would stop perpetuating the allegations against her.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk