In her farewell speech to parliament, WA senator accused Labor of a ‘brutal campaign’, which set off ‘largest political scandal in Australian history’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe retiring Liberal senator Linda Reynolds has told parliament she had no choice but to sue former staffer Brittany Higgins and her partner, David Sharaz, for defamation, claiming that a “very powerful lie” about an attempted cover-up set in train the “longest and largest political scandal in the nation’s history”.In her farewell speech to federal parliament on Wednesday night, Reynolds also accused Labor of waging a “brutal” and “deliberate” campaign against her after Higgins’ rape allegation become public in 2021.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading…In her farewell speech to parliament, WA senator accused Labor of a ‘brutal campaign’, which set off ‘largest political scandal in Australian history’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe retiring Liberal senator Linda Reynolds has told parliament she had no choice but to sue former staffer Brittany Higgins and her partner, David Sharaz, for defamation, claiming that a “very powerful lie” about an attempted cover-up set in train the “longest and largest political scandal in the nation’s history”.In her farewell speech to federal parliament on Wednesday night, Reynolds also accused Labor of waging a “brutal” and “deliberate” campaign against her after Higgins’ rape allegation become public in 2021.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading…
The retiring Liberal senator Linda Reynolds has told parliament she had no choice but to sue former staffer Brittany Higgins and her partner, David Sharaz, for defamation, claiming that a “very powerful lie” about an attempted cover-up set in train the “longest and largest political scandal in the nation’s history”.
In her farewell speech to federal parliament on Wednesday night, Reynolds also accused Labor of waging a “brutal” and “deliberate” campaign against her after Higgins’ rape allegation become public in 2021.
The former defence minister is quitting politics at the 2025 federal election, a retirement she said was hastened by the toll of the long-running saga on her and her family.
“Let me be clear about one thing,” Reynolds said.
“While I am leaving at a time of my choosing, the timing of my choosing has been expedited … by events that are well known to all in this place. Those events have inflicted deep wounds on so many. However, my wounds do not define me.
“What those opposite did to me was so brutal and so deliberate, but they also did it to my family and my partner, and for that I am so deeply sorry that my career choice has done so much damage to those that I love the most.”
Reynolds was the defence industry minister in 2019 when her then staffer Higgins alleged that her colleague Bruce Lehrmann had raped her inside Reynolds’ ministerial office.
The allegations spawned a series of legal battles, including a defamation case Reynolds launched against Higgins and Sharaz over social media comments Reynolds alleged were defamatory of her.
Higgins fought the case on a “truth” defence, alleging she was the victim of continued harassment by the senator. Sharaz did not fight the case, saying he could not afford to pay legal costs to defend himself. A verdict in the defamation case before the supreme court of Western Australia is yet to be handed down.
In a more than 40-minute speech on Wednesday night, Reynolds said she had no choice but to sue the couple in order to defend her reputation.
The WA senator said she never once disputed Higgins’ claim about what had happened in her office.
But she claimed that Higgins and Sharaz developed a plan that perpetuated a “lie” that she covered up the allegations.
“Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz developed a political hashtag #MeToo plan based on a simple but very powerful lie,” she alleged.
“A lie that has now resulted in the longest and largest political scandal in our nation’s history.”
Reynolds said the immediate response to the Higgins allegations were “at odds with the notion” of a cover-up, referring to Justice Michael Lee’s judgment in Lehrmann’s defamation case against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson to support her claim.
Lehrmann has always denied the allegation and pleaded not guilty at the October 2022 criminal trial in the ACT, which was aborted due to juror misconduct.
Lee found that, on the balance of probabilities, Lehrmann raped Higgins in his judgment. Lehrmann is appealing against the judgment.
The senator accused the then Labor opposition of deciding to “politically weaponise” Higgins’ allegation, and claimed that after this her life “changed forever”.
“Every human being, no matter how strong you are, has a breaking point,” she said.
“Labor deliberately and oh so very surgically and relentlessly found mine. Whatever it took.
“That type of persistent and aggressive personal attack would never be tolerated in any other workplace in this country.
“Labor so badly wanted the allegations that a female cabinet minister and a prime minister had covered up the rape of a young woman. They so badly wanted it to be true, they didn’t actually care if it was true or not.”
In a message to fellow senators, Reynolds hoped the next parliament could unite to improve the workplace culture in parliament house.
“It is my great hope that all parties can come together to agree on how we set the standard in this place and calibrate it so it is the same standard that we legislate for every other workplace in this country,” she said.
“To do that … those in this chamber will have to agree where robust and privileged debate finishes and where inappropriate workplace behaviours and bullying starts.”