Australian senator sues alleged rape victim for defamation

An Australian senator is suing a former staff member who says she was raped inside Parliament House for defamation, over claims the politician helped cover it up.

Brittany Higgins made global headlines in 2021 when she alleged she was sexually assaulted by a colleague at work, then pressured by her superiors to keep quiet.

In a high-profile trial beginning Friday, Senator Linda Reynolds is arguing Ms Higgins sullied her reputation with a series of social media posts.

But Ms Higgins is defending the accusations that her former boss tried to "harass" and "silence" her as true.

The trial is the latest chapter in a case which sparked massive protests, a string of legal battles, and several high-level inquiries over the conduct of the judiciary and culture in parliament.

Bruce Lehrmann has always denied raping Ms Higgins and a criminal verdict on the allegation has never been delivered. However, a judge in a separate defamation suit earlier this year found Mr Lehrmann did rape Ms Higgins, though he ruled accusations of a cover up were "speculation".

Speaking as she walked into court on Friday, Ms Reynolds said: "It’s well and truly time for the truth."

Her lawyer said Ms Higgins and her husband David Sharaz had concocted a "fictional" story involving ostracization, harassment and threatening conduct by the senator.

"Every fairy tale needs a villain," lawyer Martin Bennett said in his opening address.

The case stems back to an interview on national television in February 2021, though the network that aired it is not being sued.

In that programme, Ms Higgins said Ms Reynolds - who was defence minister at the time - did not offer adequate support after she disclosed the alleged rape in 2019.

The senator says the criticism of her was unfair and backlash over it caused her physical and mental health to suffer greatly.

In the public fallout that followed, Ms Higgins, in Instagram and X posts, accused Ms Reynolds of continuing to "harass" and "silence" her.

She also accused Ms Reynolds of "questionable conduct" during a criminal trial over the rape allegation in 2022. That trial was aborted as a result of juror misconduct, and a retrial abandoned over concerns for Ms Higgins' mental health.

After several failed attempts at mediation, over the next five weeks the Supreme Court of Western Australia will hear from a bevvy of high-profile witnesses, including former government ministers and potentially the former prime minister who was in charge at the time, Scott Morrison.

Ms Higgins is also expected to give evidence and be cross-examined about the alleged rape - for the third time in as many years.

She did not appear in court on Friday, but in a previous statement a spokesperson said she had been forced to sell her home in order to fund her case and "defend herself again".

"The price of speaking out about sexual assault remains unspeakably high," they said.

Ms Higgins has tendered evidence that shows Ms Reynolds repeatedly leaked confidential information about her to the press. She also points to an interview in which she says the senator questioned "the veracity" of the rape claim, then accused the staffer of stealing her designer jacket.

Ms Reynolds' legal team, however, has submitted text messages and photos which they say contradict Ms Higgins' claims of ill-treatment by the senator.