Linda Reynolds has broken her silence following the firing of Bruce Lehrmann at the Federal Court, vowing she is ‘committed to fully vindicating’ her reputation.
The senator revealed she wants to pursue her own defamation proceedings against her former associate Brittany Higgins and Ms Higgins’ partner David Sharaz.
Ms Reynolds is suing both Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz separately in the Federal Court of WA over the social media comments the pair made about her.
Ms Reynolds has long been criticized for her handling of Ms Higgins’ rape allegation, which was alleged to have been committed by Mr Lehrmann on a sofa in her Parliament House office in the early hours of March 23, 2019, when she was defending . minister.
Judge Michael Lee ruled in his 324-page judgment handed down on Monday that the rape probably occurred.
Former Coalition minister Linda Reynolds (pictured) has revealed she wants to pursue her own defamation proceedings against her former aide Brittany Higgins and Ms Higgins’ partner David Sharaz
Ms Reynolds is suing both Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz (pictured) separately in the WA Federal Court over social media comments the pair made about her
But Judge Lee also found no evidence of the political “cover-up” he said was pushed by Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz “from the very first moment” of their decision to speak to Lisa Wilkinson about The Project in February 2021, describing it as ‘objectively short on facts, but long on speculation and internal inconsistencies’.
Ms Reynolds said it would be “an understatement” to say she was satisfied with Judge Lee’s ruling, describing the whole case as the “cover-up that never existed”.
“For three years I have endured intense public criticism, smears and vile trolls and been demonized as the villain in a story about a political cover-up that I have always known to be untrue,” Ms. Reynolds told the newspaper. Sydney Morning Herald.
Ms Reynolds said she and her former chief of staff Fiona Brown had both ‘destroyed our reputation and seriously and irreparably compromised our health’.
Ms. Brown was one of the few witnesses in Lehrmann’s defamation case who received high praise from Judge Lee.
Ms Brown, who had been Mr Lehrmann and Ms Higgins’ boss, had shown “integrity” in her handling of Ms Higgins’ case, Judge Lee found.
Ms Reynolds has long been criticized for her handling of Ms Higgins’ rape allegation, which was allegedly committed by Mr Lehrmann (pictured) on a sofa in her ministerial office at Parliament House in the early hours of March 23, 2019.
Although Judge Michael Lee ruled in his 324-page judgment on Monday that the rape had indeed occurred, he also found no evidence to support the political “cover-up” he said was pushed by Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz about Ms Reynolds (pictured) and other liberal party figures
The employee had resisted political pressure to report Ms Higgins’ incident to federal police, the judge said.
‘Despite Ms Brown facing persistent pressure from her Minister and one of the Minister’s colleagues to report the incident to the AFP – even though she was not certain that an allegation of rape was being made at the time and regardless of the wishes of Ms. Higgins – she pushed back,” Judge Lee noted.
He added: ‘She demonstrated integrity in resisting pressures that she subjectively perceived as inappropriate and demonstrated concern for Ms Higgins’ autonomy and well-being,’ he said.
“Under these circumstances, it must be worse than hurtful to later be vilified as a callous apparatchik willing to erect roadblocks to cover up criminal behavior at the behest of his political overlords.”
Ms Reynolds said she and her former chief of staff Fiona Brown (pictured) had both ‘destroyed our reputations and seriously and irreparably compromised our health’.
The judge also said he ‘without hesitation’ preferred Ms Brown’s evidence to that of Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said on Tuesday that Ms Reynolds had been “absolutely proven right”.
“She is a first-class individual, a person of great honor and integrity, her reputation has been besmirched, and she is right to pursue the matter in the manner in which she does,” he said, referring to Ms. Reynolds’ defamation cases.
“I would have thought that, based on yesterday’s verdict, people would want to settle the case against Linda Reynolds and offer her a full apology for the way her reputation has been tarnished.”
Nine-hour mediation talks last month between Ms Higgins, Mr Sharaz and Ms Reynolds failed to reach a settlement.
Ms Higgins was admitted to hospital just hours after the talks broke down.
Unless the couple decides to reach a settlement, a trial is expected to take place, likely to begin in May and last six weeks.