Lachrymose Linda

Senator Linda Reynolds’ statement of claim in her WA defamation action against Brittany Higgins has been reported widely, but only selectively by the foreign-owned national fishwrap, The Australian. 

Initially, Janet Albrechtsen from Planet Janet, was moaning about the defendant’s lawyers not releasing the document to her. Justinian got a copy by simply applying to the court – without objection from either of the parties. 

As a public service to the nation we posted it on the front page from where it must have found its way to Holt Street. 

Carmel Galati, Higgins’ solicitor in Perth, said The Australian’s reporting was one-sided – without the context of the amended defence. Surely, by now everyone knows that one-sided reporting is the paper’s house style

Justinian has applied for the amended defence, which means it has to go through a lot of court rigmarole before it sees daylight – but it’s pounds to peanuts that the pleadings will include substantial truth; statutory and common law Lange qualified privilege; and honest opinion. 

It would be surprising if mitigation of damages is not also pleaded, given that Sen. Reynolds has hauled off bags of money from the ACT government and from HarperCollins over a book by Financial Review journalist Aaron Patrick. 

Reynolds is going to court over a couple of Higgins’ Instagram posts and two of her Tweets – the sort of snippy comments that most sensible politicians ignore. 

The defamatory imputations include: Reynolds engaged in a campaign of harassment of Higgins; mishandled the rape allegation by failing to provide support; engaged in questionable conduct during Lehrmann’s criminal trial; and wanted to silence a victim of sexual assault. 

Reynolds could have squared it off with a statement to the Senate under parliamentary privilege – but it seems only an award of damages will quell her white-hot fury. 

The Australian’s reporting is noteable for the absence of a link to the full statement of claim, resulting in a cherry-picked version of what’s on offer. 

Here’s Planet >>  Here’s Ellie >> 

Reynolds has been a long-time pin-up girl of Albrechtsen’s. Last April, the CBD column in the Smage reported they had a cosy din dins at Fremantle’s Vin Populi on the sidelines of a right-wing talkfest. 

Meatballs for Janet and Linda

In February 2023 the columnist conducted an excruciating interview in which the senator complained that the attacks on her in the senate from the then Opposition would be “illegal” if they had occurred in “any other workplace”. 

This suggests that Linda may not be the sharpest tool in the shed in that she didn’t understand that as part of the back and forth of parliamentary politics opposition parties probe and attack government members in pursuit of better explanations. 

Furthermore, Higgins and her partner David Sharaz in feeding information to opposition senators genuinely believed that the Morrison government has swept the rape allegation under the ministerial couch while the 2019 election campaign was underway. 

The crux of Reynolds’ pleadings is that Higgins and her partner David Sharaz had a “plan” to use the rape to bring down the Morrison government. 

It’s an exciting idea but ignores the fact that the government did a first rate job of bringing itself down with incompetence and lies, replete with its cast of third raters on the frontbench. 

No-one seems to remember the alleged mishandling of Higgins’ rape as the reason the government was booted out by the electorate. 

The “cover-up” has been steadfastly denied by all the usual suspects. Justice Michael Lee said in the Lehrmann defamation judgment that journalistic gumshoes at Network Ten failed to prove the rape was covered up by a government on its last legs. 

Because Network Ten didn’t prove it doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of breadcrumbs that could be followed by the defence in Reynolds’ case. 

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No shortage of breadcrumbs

On the Tuesday after the rape in the early hours of Saturday-Sunday March 22-23, 2019, Higgins told Reynolds’ chief of staff Fiona Brown that she had been intoxicated but remembers Lehrmann “on top” of her on the ministerial couch. 

That weekend, cleaners arrived giving the couch and the office a thorough scrub and again on Monday morning, March 25, before anyone turned up for work. 

Brown disclosed to others on the minister’s staff that Higgins had been found by a parliamentary security officer undressed in the office. 

By the following Friday (March 29) Reynolds told Brown to report the incident to the AFP. Brother Scott’s Mr Fixit, Alex Hawke, by this stage was also on the scene planning how the “problem” should be handled. 

Brown regarded Reynolds’ instruction as completely “untenable”, as at that stage Higgins had not made a formal complaint and it was up to her to decide what to do. 

Brown told Lehrmann’s defamation trial she believed Reynolds and Hawke were “covering for themselves”. 

As we’ve said on a previous occasion, covering for themselves is one thing, but please don’t call this a cover-up. 

Then there was Linda’s strange memory reversal. She told Lehrmann’s criminal trial that before the meeting with Higgins and Brown in her office on Monday, April 1, 2019, – a week after the assault – Brown had not told her Lehrmann had been “on top of” Brittany. 

Four years later on her Spotlight interview she said she did know of the assault at the time of the April 1, 2019, meeting. Interviewer Liam Bartlett Liam was caught like a rabbit in his own spotlight and failed to press the obvious follow-up question. 

Lehrmann was terminated from Reynolds’ staff on April 5, 2019, yet his dismissal was referred to as a “security breach” – even though by that stage the minister was aware that it was much more than that. 

Six days later Morrison called an election for May 18, 2019. 

Brother Scott’s office had also been busy. Chief-of-staff John Kunkel announced he was “not in a position to make a finding” that people in the PM’s office were “briefing against” David Sharaz. 

The PM promptly announced that his staff had been cleared. 

Secretary of the PM’s department and reliable cover-up operative, Phil Gaetjens was asked to investigate who knew what about the rape and what they did about it. His report disappeared into thin air. 

Gaetjens: makes things disappear

Brother Scott claimed he had not known about the rape until February 15, 2021, the date Lisa Wilkinson’s Project interview with Higgins went to air. 

He blamed Reynolds for keeping him in the dark. However, a year earlier Morrisons principal private secretary Yaron Finkelstein was making “welfare checks” on Higgins. 

After Morrison threw Reynolds under the bus, the Defence Minister duly issued a public grovel: 

“For my part, I am deeply sorry that Brittany felt unsupported at the time of the incident and in the months that followed, and in fact the years that followed. 

I am also deeply sorry that some of my actions and my handling of this matter added to Brittany’s distress.” 

Good to see that Brother Scott is to give evidence for Linda at his defamation bun-fight. 

Linda’s “sorry day” embraces the points Brittany Higgins had made in her Instagram and Twitter posts – and for which she is now being sued.