A pair of high-profile defamation cases pitting Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds against Brittany Higgins and her fiance are likely to go to trial after mediation efforts failed to resolve the matter.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The former defence minister, who plans to retire from politics at the next election, is suing Ms Higgins and David Sharaz over a series of social media posts she says have damaged her reputation.
Senator Reynolds said she was disappointed the talks did not resolve the matter "for all of those who have been damaged and wounded by this saga for the last over three years now".
"Unfortunately, it appears at this stage that we still will be heading to trial in July," she told reporters outside the WA Supreme Court in Perth on Tuesday.
Senator Reynolds also said it was time for the parties to accept "the truth, as Justice Lee ... found (in the Federal Court) in relation to this matter ... and for us all to find a way to move on".
"Far too many people have been damaged irreparably by this," she said.
When she arrived at the court for the talks, Senator Reynolds said it was time for her opponents "to admit they got it wrong".
She also said Finance Minister Katy Gallagher and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus should accept Justice Lee's findings and that Ms Higgins shouldn't have been awarded $2.4 million in compensation.
Senator Reynolds' lawyer Martin Bennett said the comment was a reference to paragraphs 236 to 241 of the judgement.
"Where Justice Lee identified that the warranties given by Ms Higgins in the Deed of Settlement were false," he said.
Justice Lee's judgment in Bruce Lehrmann's defamation case against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson found that on the balance of probabilities he did rape Ms Higgins, but the allegation of a political cover-up "was objectively short on facts but long on speculation".
Senator Reynolds and Mr Bennett declined to comment on why the mediation had not resolved the matter.
"Mr Sharaz thought it appropriate to comment on mediation in breach of the Supreme Court Act when he made that announcement a week or two ago," Mr Bennett said.
"We can't comment. It's confidential."
Asked if Ms Higgins' compensation payout was "protected" in her row with Senator Reynolds, Mr Bennett said he had started legal work to explore the matter.
Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz are understood to have attended the mediation session from France via audio-visual link.
The parties in the WA case attended closed-door mediation in March but it was also not successful.
Mr Sharaz in April tweeted he would no longer fight the case because he could not afford to pay the legal cost associated with going to trial in July.
Senator Reynolds is suing him over tweets he made and a Facebook comment in 2022.
One defamatory imputation claimed against Mr Sharaz's tweets was that Senator Reynolds pressured Ms Higgins not to proceed with a genuine complaint to police about being raped in her ministerial office.
Other claimed imputations were that the senator "is a hypocrite in her advocacy for women's interests and empowerment", interfered in Lehrmann's trial and bullied Ms Higgins.
Ms Higgins is accused of posting defamatory material on her Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) accounts.
Lehrmann has always denied the sexual assault allegation. His trial was aborted due to juror misconduct and Ms Higgins' mental health was cited as the reason for no retrial.
Australian Associated Press
