Linda Reynolds, ex-staffer Brittany Higgins set for Perth peace talks

Brittany Higgins and her fiancé David Sharaz are expected to make the 14,000-kilometre journey from the south of France to Perth in the hopes of reaching a peace deal in their ongoing defamation row with Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds.

But any views of Perth’s famous Swan River will be from the eighth floor of the David Malcolm Justice Centre, where they are expected to bunker down alongside their legal teams for the next two days.

Liberal senator Linda Reynolds (centre) has taken both Brittany Higgins and her partner, David Sharaz, to court.

The goal? Avoiding yet another high-profile defamation trial, which the judge presiding over this stoush is adamant will come at a great human cost.

What are they fighting about?

The legal row began in January 2023, when Reynolds launched legal action against Sharaz, claiming the former press gallery journalist posted two tweets in 2022 that were falsely defamatory of her.

The lawsuit was later amended to cover a further three social media posts published on other platforms.

The former defence minister has sought damages, as well as aggravated damages, and a court order preventing the material from ever being published again.

Seven months later, Reynolds made good on her threat to sue Higgins, too.

The defamation suit centred around two social media posts made to Instagram and Twitter in July 2023, in which Higgins accused Reynolds of using the press to harass her.

Reynolds demanded damages for defamation and claimed the posts constituted a breach of a non-disparagement clause buried in the deed of settlement and release the pair signed in March 2021.

Both Higgins and Sharaz are defending their respective cases, which have been heard together due to their significant overlap.

Why are they fighting behind closed doors?

Since the day the matter reached the Supreme Court, Justice Marcus Solomon has made one thing clear — the cost of a trial to the parties was not merely financial, but also human.

The trio’s complex history, coupled with the media attention it has received, has only compounded those concerns, and Solomon has made it clear that the parties would be wise to try to settle out of court.

In 2021, Higgins, a former employee of Reynolds, claimed fellow staffer Bruce Lehrmann raped her in the then-cabinet minister’s parliamentary office after a night out in 2019.

A criminal trial against Lehrmann, who has maintained his innocence throughout, was aborted due to juror misconduct.

The charge was dropped, and a retrial was abandoned over fears for Higgins’ mental health.

But Reynolds found herself in the firing line amid the fallout over the government’s response to Higgins’ claims, and the bitter war of words later spilled out into the public arena.

Reynolds insisted her conduct in respect of the events concerning Higgins had seen her subjected to unfair harassment and trolling on social media, and has been determined to “vindicate her reputation”.

How long will the row continue for?

The court has booked at least two days for the mediation, beginning on Tuesday.

Lawyers for the parties have vowed to do everything they can to give peace talks the best prospect of success, but they have also been eager to maintain a backup plan.

A court has been reserved for a six-week trial beginning on July 24 in the event mediation is unsuccessful.

Reynolds’ lawyers have also been busy compiling evidence, with subpoenas having already been served on Channel 10, journalists Lisa Wilkinson and Samantha Maiden, and Senator Katy Gallagher.

And Reynolds hasn’t ruled out taking the battle for damages abroad.

In the days before Christmas, Higgins and Sharaz moved to the Dordogne in the hopes of starting a new life.

But Reynolds has sought international legal advice in a bid to shore up her ability to obtain a financial remedy, including by having the newly acquired European assets of her legal opponents frozen and prevented from being sold or shifted until the case has been finalised.

The mediation will begin just days after the ACT government issued Reynolds with a formal apology and a $90,000 settlement over defamatory comments former director of public prosecutions Shane Drumgold made in a letter he penned to top cop Neil Gaughan about the Lehrmann trial.

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