The matter centres on whether social media posts made by Ms Higgins and her now husband David Sharaz defamed Senator Reynolds. The posts were written several years after Ms Higgins alleges she was raped in Senator Reynolds' parliamentary suite in 2019 by her co-worker Bruce Lehrmann, which he has always denied.
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TVTranscript
00:00This has been a long time coming for Senator Linda Reynolds.
00:05I'm feeling confident that the truth is about to be told.
00:08A high-stakes trial that's drawn huge media interest.
00:11What do you make of her allegation that you had a campaign of harassment?
00:14I'm going to leave my talking to the court today, thank you.
00:17Her case centres on a series of social media posts by Miss Higgins,
00:20which she says greatly injured her reputation,
00:23put her future job prospects at risk and caused her health issues.
00:28Senator Reynolds says the posts implied she mishandled Miss Higgins' rape allegation
00:32by failing to provide her with any support
00:34and pressured her not to proceed with a genuine complaint of sexual assault to police.
00:39Senator Martin Bennett describing some of the allegations as offensive nonsense
00:43and that Higgins constructed a series of events to damnify Senator Reynolds.
00:48The Senator says the damage was aggravated by Miss Higgins
00:51and her now-husband David Shiraz's later actions,
00:54alleging they drip-fed false information to the media and friendly Labor MPs.
00:59Mr Bennett telling the court every fairy tale needs its villain
01:02and Miss Higgins and her husband had cast Senator Reynolds in that role.
01:06But Miss Higgins' lawyers will in part rely on the defence of truth.
01:10Miss Higgins claims Senator Reynolds did mishandle her complaint
01:14by failing to disclose she'd been found naked or substantially naked,
01:17passed out on Senator Reynolds' couch,
01:20revealing details of the incident to others without her consent
01:23and minimising the significance of the assault
01:26by telling her this is something women go through.
01:29The trial is set down for five weeks.