A Deeper Look
The defamation case involving Senator Linda Reynolds, Brittany Higgins, and her partner David Sharaz continues to unfold in court.
Senator Reynolds' brother, Andrew Reynolds, and her friend, Denita Wawn, have both testified about the impact the allegations have had on the senator's life. Andrew described his shock at seeing his "hard-working" sister "on her couch in her pyjamas rolled up in a ball," while Denita spoke of how Senator Reynolds was constantly receiving "dirty looks" and stopped going out in public.
The senator's close friend also described how Senator Reynolds broke down after failing to secure a shadow ministry following the 2022 election loss. She said the senator told her friends that the decision had "in effect, stopped her career."
Meanwhile, a former staffer to Senator Reynolds, Dean Carlson, described how the senator and her then chief of staff, Fiona Brown, exchanged a flurry of calls over whether to report the allegations to police in 2019. He told the court that after further calls, a compromise was reached that Ms Brown would reach out to Ms Higgins and offer to support her in going to the AFP.
Ms Higgins has claimed Senator Reynolds forced her to choose between pursuing the rape allegations with police and her career, after being pressured into travelling to Perth to work on the 2019 election campaign where she was "isolated" and unsupported.
The defamation trial is ongoing, and it remains to be seen how the court will rule on the matter.