Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds has denied she suspected Brittany Higgins had been raped following an incident in her ministerial office, as her handling of the case is probed at a defamation trial.
Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds has denied she suspected Brittany Higgins had been raped following an incident in her ministerial office, as her handling of the case is probed at a defamation trial.
The former defence minister is suing Ms Higgins over a series of social media posts containing alleged mistruths that she believes have damaged her reputation.
Ms Higgins' lawyer, Rachael Young, quizzed the retiring politician on Friday about the office incident on March 23 2019, and her response in the days and weeks that followed.
She said the senator knew Ms Higgins had been found undressed on her lounge in the early hours of that morning, that Bruce Lehrmann had been on top of her and that he left the building before Ms Higgins, who appeared intoxicated.
She also said Senator Reynolds had wanted Ms Higgins to talk to police, that she knew her father was coming to Canberra to be with his daughter, and that she had been referred for counselling.
"You believed that sexual activity without consent had occurred in your office," Ms Young said in Western Australia's Supreme Court.
"That is not correct," Senator Reynolds replied.
Ms Young questioned the senator about the meeting she held with Ms Higgins on April 1 in the same office of the alleged assaulted.
"What I remember saying is that 'I am your boss, I'm your employer, and I'm not the right person to be having discussions with you about intimate matters'," Senator Reynolds said.
She said she was not trained to discuss the incident with Ms Higgins, and the staffer told her she had received counselling material and would follow it up.
"I certainly talked to her about the security breach and the implications of that," Senator Reynolds said.
Ms Young put it to the senator that: "At the very least you needed to give Ms Higgins an opportunity to tell you everything that she was comfortable telling you about what had happened."
"That's exactly what I did," the senator said
"You shut her down ... when you said I am not the right person to," Ms Young said.
"I would still do the same thing today if I had a young staff member who couldn't remember and who was in distress," the senator said.
Ms Young asked the senator if she told Ms Higgins "as women this is something we go through".
"That's absolutely incorrect," she replied.
Senator Reynolds also denied she told Ms Higgins that if she intended reporting the matter to police she should tell her first.
Ms Young also pointed the senator to the evidence she gave to Lehrmann's aborted criminal trial about the events in her office after Ms Higgins was allegedly raped on the couch; an accusation he has always denied.
"Were you trying to diminish the level of your knowledge by not admitting that you knew security guards had been involved in the incident?" Ms Young said.
"I was being honest about what I recollected at the time," the senator replied.
Senator Reynolds agreed she had been "partially wrong" when she denied knowing the ministerial suite was steam-cleaned.
"When you gave that evidence before the ACT Supreme Court you knew that if you indicated knowledge of the cleaning that it would suggest that you knew that something untoward had happened, Ms Young said.
"Absolutely not," Senator Reynolds said.
The court was told Senator Reynolds has settled five defamation actions since Ms Higgins' alleged rape with a variety of parties, including the ACT, Harper Collins, author and journalist Aaron Patrick, and media outlets The Independent and The Spectator.
The trial continues.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
