Latest / The Front / Linda Reynolds faces off with Brittany Higgins (Best of 2024)

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Linda Reynolds faces off with Brittany Higgins (Best of 2024) · The Front

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  Speaker 1: From The Australian. I'm Claire Harvey. We're hoping you're having
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  Speaker 1: a great holiday break and today we're bringing you one
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  Speaker 1: of our favorite episodes from the year. This episode originally
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  Speaker 1: aired on March four as the legal saga, prompted by
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  Speaker 1: Brittany higgins allegation she was raped by Bruce Lammon, entered
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  Speaker 1: a new phase. The Front will return with all new
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  Speaker 1: episodes on Monday, January thirteenth. Just hit follow or subscribe
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  Speaker 1: to make sure you don't miss an episode.
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  Speaker 2: The first thing that sort of awoke me was I
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  Speaker 2: was in a pain.
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  Speaker 3: My leg was kind of being crushed. The senior staff
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  Speaker 3: was on top of me.
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  Speaker 1: This is the moment that launched a thousand lawsuits.
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  Speaker 2: So I woke up med rate.
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  Speaker 1: Essentially, this is Britney Higgins's claim on Network Tends the
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  Speaker 1: Project that as a twenty three year old Liberal staffer
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  Speaker 1: she was raped by another twenty three year old later
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  Speaker 1: identified as Bruce Lahman, an allegation Lahirman completely denies. The
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  Speaker 1: Project's story wasn't just an allegation of rape. It was
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  Speaker 1: about Higgins's sweeping claim that the then Coalition government led
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  Speaker 1: by Scott Morrison had actively silenced her. Higgins accused two
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  Speaker 1: women of being core to the cover up, her then boss,
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  Speaker 1: Cabinet Minister Linda Reynolds, and reynolds then chief of staff
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  Speaker 1: Fiona Brown. Both women have since said they're devastated by
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  Speaker 1: higgins allegation and that in fact they encouraged Higgins to
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  Speaker 1: go to the police and gave her their full support.
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  Speaker 1: Fiona Brown, the former staffer, has indicated she wants only
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  Speaker 1: to move on. Linda Reynolds, the former minister, is not
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  Speaker 1: going anywhere. She's fighting for her reputation, firing defamation lawsuits
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  Speaker 1: at everyone who's accused her of wrongdoing, including Higgins, her
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  Speaker 1: partner David Scharaz and Shane Drumgold, the former Chief Prosecutor
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  Speaker 1: of the Act, and today the Australians revealing Reynolds has
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  Speaker 1: had a big win in the case against drum Gold.
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  Speaker 1: The Act government has quietly settled the defamation matter out
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  Speaker 1: of court by giving Reynolds a substantial payout.
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  Speaker 2: Lenna Reynolds was and has been for a long time
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  Speaker 2: now very distressed about the way that she was represented
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  Speaker 2: and indeed misrepresented through the whole Higgins Lherman saga.
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  Speaker 1: Stephen Rice is the Australian's New South Wales editor that.
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  Speaker 2: Of course states back to the claims by Higgins that
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  Speaker 2: Reynolds took no care of her, ignored her claims of
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  Speaker 2: being raped at the hands of British lherman, did a
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  Speaker 2: little or nothing about it afterwards, and indeed washed the
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  Speaker 2: hands of it for political reasons at the time. Now,
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  Speaker 2: those misrepresentations obviously gnawed away at Reynolds, and I guess
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  Speaker 2: partly because you'll recall that at one point Linda Reynolds
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  Speaker 2: was forced to apologize to Higgins and indeed pay her
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  Speaker 2: money because she was discovered to have called her a
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  Speaker 2: lying cow.
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  Speaker 1: This comment lying cow is something another political staffer said
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  Speaker 1: she'd heard Linda Reynolds say while watching that TV interview.
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  Speaker 1: Reynolds admitted saying those words. But and this goes to
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  Speaker 1: the heart of Linda reynolds gripe. She says she was
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  Speaker 1: not denying Higgins had been raped. She was objecting to Higgins'
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  Speaker 1: claim that Reynolds was part of a politically motivated cover up.
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  Speaker 1: This is believed to be the fifth successful legal action
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  Speaker 1: brought by Linda Reynolds. She sued radio hosts and others
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  Speaker 1: for airing allegations against her, and on Tuesday she'll face
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  Speaker 1: off with her main accuser.
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  Speaker 2: There is another case coming up very soon. In fact,
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  Speaker 2: on Tuesday, Linda Reynolds in mediation will be meeting Britney
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  Speaker 2: Higgins and David Sharraz over a claim that she's taken
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  Speaker 2: against them. So this is an ongoing process for Reynolds.
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  Speaker 2: She's determined to clear her name, no matter what it costs,
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  Speaker 2: no matter how far she has to go. And indeed,
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  Speaker 2: Higgins and Charras have had to fly back from France,
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  Speaker 2: as I understand it, the first time that they've been
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  Speaker 2: back to Australia since they left a few months ago
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  Speaker 2: to take part in this mediation in Perth to try
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  Speaker 2: of the latest case that Reynolds has brought against them.
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  Speaker 1: A brief recap for you of the way events unfolded
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  Speaker 1: after that alleged incident. In the early hours of March
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  Speaker 1: twenty three, twenty nineteen, after Friday night drinks, Higgins and
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  Speaker 1: Lemon took an uber to Parliament. Higgins says she fell
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  Speaker 1: asleep in the Ministerial suite on Reynold's sofa, then woke
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  Speaker 1: up to find Lemon raping her. Lemon denies any sexual
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  Speaker 1: contact at all. On the following Tuesday, March twenty six,
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  Speaker 1: Lemon and Higgins were both in the office when Chief
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  Speaker 1: of Staff Fiona Brown called Leamon into her room and
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  Speaker 1: told him he'd breached security by entering Parliament and had
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  Speaker 1: to pack up his desk and leave. Higgins says that
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  Speaker 1: day she told Fiona Brown she'd woken up to find
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  Speaker 1: Lemon on top of her. Brown says Higgins didn't tell
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  Speaker 1: her this, and when Brown asked, did something happen you
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  Speaker 1: didn't want Higgins indicated no. Brown says it was only
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  Speaker 1: later she realized Higgins had been found naked on the
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  Speaker 1: sofa by a security guard and realized there might be
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  Speaker 1: something more sinister. Brown says it wasn't until the Thursday
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  Speaker 1: that Higgins told her Lamon had been on top of her.
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  Speaker 1: Brown alleges Reynolds and another senior politician, Alex Hawk, wanted
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  Speaker 1: her to go to police at this stage and report
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  Speaker 1: that something had happened. Brown said she refused that she
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  Speaker 1: didn't believe that was right because Higgins was insisting she
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  Speaker 1: didn't want the police involved. On April one, Brown says
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  Speaker 1: she and Reynolds met with Higgins and the minister encouraged
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  Speaker 1: Higgins to go to the police. Brown says she walked
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  Speaker 1: Higgins to the police office in Parliament House, and that
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  Speaker 1: subsequently Higgins told her she decided not to pursue a
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  Speaker 1: formal complaint. During the criminal trial of Bruce Lammon, which
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  Speaker 1: ended without a verdict and saw the charges dropped, droum
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  Speaker 1: Gold had taken the dramatic step of asking the trial
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  Speaker 1: judge Lucy McCallum for permission to question Reynolds as a
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  Speaker 1: hostile witness. Under Drumgold's questioning, Reynolds said all she knew
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  Speaker 1: at the time of her April one meeting with Higgins
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  Speaker 1: at Brown was that there'd been a security breach with
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  Speaker 1: the two young staff entering the office after hours. At
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  Speaker 1: that trial, Drumgold put it to Reynolds that she knew
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  Speaker 1: there was what he called a sexual element to the incident.
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  Speaker 1: Reynolds denied it that later, Reynolds admitted she did, in
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  Speaker 1: fact know by the time of that Monday meeting that
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  Speaker 1: there was an allegation of sexual misconduct. Both Brown and
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  Speaker 1: Reynolds say Higgins did not tell them at any point
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  Speaker 1: she'd been raped. Now, the beef between Reynolds and Drumgold
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  Speaker 1: seems to go pretty deep, and like most things in
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  Speaker 1: this matter, it's extremely complicated. But boiling it down Ricey,
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  Speaker 1: it centers on a letter that Drumgold wrote. Who was
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  Speaker 1: that to and what did he say?
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  Speaker 2: Well, this is a letter that Shane Drumgold had written
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  Speaker 2: to the Chief of Police immediately after the criminal trial finished,
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  Speaker 2: in which he made a number of allegations that the
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  Speaker 2: police had acted poorly, in fact disgracefully through the trial,
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  Speaker 2: that they'd gaged up on him, that they'd instead of
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  Speaker 2: helping the prosecution, they'd help the defense.
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  Speaker 1: Drumgold also alleged in the letter that Linda Reynolds had
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  Speaker 1: been politically motivated throughout the trial and had sought to
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  Speaker 1: coach Bruce Lemmon's lawyers. Drumgold was so motivated about this
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  Speaker 1: ask the act Government to call a special inquiry into
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  Speaker 1: the matter, but that didn't go as it hoped. Here's
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  Speaker 1: what drum Gold told the inquiry, chaired by eminent jurist
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  Speaker 1: Walter Soffronoff kc into these allegations of political interference. You'll
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  Speaker 1: hear him being questioned by counsel assisting the inquiry eron
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  Speaker 1: longbottom case. She's asking him about this letter. So did
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  Speaker 1: you think there was a conspiracy of foot.
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  Speaker 3: I had not formed a view solidly one way or another,
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  Speaker 3: but I thought that there was enough incidences to make
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  Speaker 3: it possible, if not probable.
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  Speaker 1: These are very serious allegations you make in this letter,
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  Speaker 1: their allegations made with the authority.
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  Speaker 3: Of your office.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think possible is the right state of mind
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  Speaker 1: to make those allegations?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I mean you get stuck on adjectives. I felt
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  Speaker 3: that there was enough evidence there to justify an inquiry
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  Speaker 3: into it.
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  Speaker 1: In his final report, Sofronoff was scathing about Drumgold's claims,
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  Speaker 1: saying they were completely baseless coming up. So was there
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  Speaker 1: a conspiracy or not? While I've got you, we'd love
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  Speaker 1: you to subscribe to The Australian this week. We'll have
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  Speaker 1: more coverage on this matter, plus all the big stories
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  Speaker 1: and the best analysis. It's about the price of a
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  Speaker 1: sandwich per week. Check us out at the Australian dot
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  Speaker 1: com dot a U and we'll be back after this break.
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  Speaker 1: If you've been listening to the front, you'll know there
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  Speaker 1: are a bunch of other court cases going on, including
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  Speaker 1: Bruce Lammon suing Network ten for defamation Shane Drumgold suing
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  Speaker 1: the Board of Inquiry for effectively ending his career in
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  Speaker 1: the defamation case being heard by Justice Michael Lee and
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  Speaker 1: the Federal Court. Network ten has denied it. Ever put
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  Speaker 1: the imputation there was a political cover up simply that
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  Speaker 1: it aired higgins belief that this was so. The Commonwealth
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  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two paid Brittney Higgins two point four
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  Speaker 1: million dollars over her claims Reynolds and Brown had told
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  Speaker 1: her to be quiet about the alleged rape. Brown and
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  Speaker 1: Reynolds have both strongly denied these claims. Russie, You've sat
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  Speaker 1: through hundreds of hours of various court hearings in relation
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  Speaker 1: to this matter. What's your instinct about it?
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  Speaker 2: You know?
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  Speaker 1: Was there a grand political conspiracy to cover this matter up?
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  Speaker 3: Or two?
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  Speaker 1: No?
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  Speaker 2: Not prosecute Bruce Lean Absolutely not. I mean I couldn't
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  Speaker 2: be clear about that. And let me make it clear.
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  Speaker 2: I am not talking about the allegation of a rape.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not talking about whether or not Bruce Lehmon raped
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  Speaker 2: Brittney Higgins in that suite. What I'm talking about is
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  Speaker 2: her later allegation that there was a political conspiracy involving
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  Speaker 2: people like Linda Reynolds and her chiefest staff Fiona Brown,
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  Speaker 2: to cover the thing up, to make it go away
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  Speaker 2: because somehow it was going to be embarrassing for the
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  Speaker 2: Liberal Party in the middle of a federal election. Absolute nonsense,
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  Speaker 2: And in fact, everybody who's examined this case ever since
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  Speaker 2: has concluded that Walter Sofronoff, who spent months going through
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  Speaker 2: all of this, has absolutely stated clearly there was no
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  Speaker 2: political cover up. And in fact, I'd suggest, without wanting
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  Speaker 2: to put words in his mouth, that when Justice Lee
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  Speaker 2: makes his inevitable findings in the defamation case bought by
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  Speaker 2: Bruce Lherman, that he may also find that, regardless of
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  Speaker 2: the truth of the rape allegation, that there was no
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  Speaker 2: political cover up. You know, the only political interference, I
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  Speaker 2: should say, occurred sometime later when the Labor Party seized
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  Speaker 2: upon this events and went for her, just savaged her
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  Speaker 2: as a woman who stood by silently after another woman
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  Speaker 2: had been raped.
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