In the defamation trial brought by Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds, Brittany Higgins’ legal team has told the court Higgins will not give evidence in her own defence. This came on the 12th day of the trial as Ms Higgins was set to take the stand for five-days from next week.
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00:00Ms Higgins was due to be the key witness in the trial, alongside Senator Reynolds, who
00:06testified for the whole first week. But Ms Higgins' lawyer, Rachel Young, told the Western
00:12Australian Supreme Court she had a significant matter of timing to announce, and said she
00:16would not be calling Ms Higgins. She listed three reasons. Firstly, that Ms Higgins did
00:22not need to give oral evidence. Secondly, that she did not believe she needed to call
00:26Ms Higgins to successfully defend the case. Ms Young said she would expand on that in
00:31her closing submissions. Thirdly, Ms Young mentioned the matter of Ms Higgins' medical
00:35state. She didn't go into any detail, but she did tender several medical reports to
00:40the court. Senator Reynolds' defamation action centres around social media posts by
00:45Ms Higgins, which she claims damaged her reputation and caused her distress. Ms Higgins' defence
00:51in the defamation trial relies in part on the truth defence, claiming Senator Reynolds
00:56did mishandle the rape allegation and did not fully support her. The trial could now
01:01finish next week.