Brittany Higgins and her current husband David Sharaz allegedly fed Anthony Albanese’s closest allies false information in a bid to destroy the Morrison government, new court documents filed by Linda Reynolds’ defence team have revealed.
The former Defence Industry Minister is separately suing Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz in the Federal Court of Western Australia over comments they made on social media which she claims defamed her.
A lawsuit is scheduled for early August, after several mediation talks between the parties failed.
It has since emerged that court documents filed by Ms Reynolds’ legal team have been altered. The documents now allege that her former employee Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz were involved in a political conspiracy designed to use her rape allegations as a weapon against the Liberal government.
An updated summons, obtained by The Australian newspaper, alleges that Ms Higgins acted ‘maliciously’ by posting the messages on social media.
“They were published in support of a plan by the defendant and Mr. Sharaz to use the defendant’s allegations of rape and the political cover-up … as a weapon to inflict immediate political damage on the plaintiff and the then government,” the summons said.
Senator Reynolds alleges that part of that plan involved arranging meetings with Labor figures such as Finance Minister Katy Gallagher and Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who were allegedly fed false information.
Senators were then encouraged to ask “aggressive questions” during Question Time in February 2021, shortly after Ms Higgins went public with her rape allegations against her former colleague Bruce Lehrmann in March 2019.
Brittany Higgins and her current husband David Sharaz (both pictured) are alleged to have passed false information to Anthony Albanese’s closest allies in a bid to destroy the Morrison government, according to shocking new court documents.
Senator Linda Reynolds (pictured) claims part of their plan included arranging meetings with Labor figures such as Katy Gallagher and Penny Wong, who were allegedly fed false information
In a text message included in court documents, Mr Sharaz sent the following message to Ms Higgins at the time: ‘Katy is coming to me with some questions that you need to be prepared for… she is really involved now.’
On 17 February 2021, during Question Time, Senator Gallagher accused Senator Reynolds of engaging in a “cover-up” by failing to answer questions about whether Ms Higgins had been encouraged not to report the incident to the police.
“By withholding information, she is continuing a two-year cover-up that has caused Ms. Higgins great trauma,” Sentaro Gallagher said.
‘It is often the cover-up that is as traumatic as other aspects of a serious crime like this, because it compounds the trauma.
“It means that the people she worked for, the people she looked up to and expected to treat her well, didn’t do that.”
Senator Reynolds claims that these “aggressive” questions and the aftermath of The Project interview, which aired that same month, led to Ms Higgins being hospitalised.
In addition to alleging a conspiracy, the indictment also refers to several text messages between Ms. Higgins and Mr. Sharaz.
On 17 February 2021, during Question Time, Senator Katy Gallagher (pictured) accused Senator Reynolds of engaging in a “cover-up” by failing to answer questions about whether Ms Higgins was encouraged not to report the incident to police.
In a message sent in March 2021, Ms Higgins wrote: ‘He (Scott Morrison) is about to get screwed. Just you wait. We’ve got him.’
On March 28, 2021, Mr. Sharaz wrote: ‘Suck shit Linda… You horrible human being.’
The claim also refers to the five-hour meeting prior to the interview between The Project presenter Lisa Wilkinson, her producer Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz.
In it, Mr Sharaz outlined a timetable for the interview, which was in line with the Senate’s estimates.
“Mr. Sharaz stated, ‘I finally asked Britt, what do you want to get out of this? And she said, ‘Well, I want Bruce to have a hard time finding a job forever, like it’s going to be hard for me,'” the statement of claim said.
‘Mr. Sharaz apparently addressed the suspect directly and then said, “And then you said, at best, Linda Reynolds…”, at which point the group burst out laughing.’
The indictment also alleges that Sharaz arranged meetings with other senior Labor figures, including then-opposition leader Anthony Albanese, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and deputy leader Tanya Plibersek.
According to the newspaper, Ms Higgins defends the claims.
In April of this year, Judge Michael Lee handed down a 324-page ruling in the defamation case against Bruce Lehrmann, finding that rape had indeed occurred.
But Judge Lee also found no evidence of the political “cover-up narrative” he said was promoted by Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz “from the very first moment” of their decision to speak to Lisa Wilkinson about The Project in February 2021.
He described the conspiracy story as “objectively lacking in facts, but a lot of speculation and internal inconsistencies.”
Shortly after the verdict, Ms Reynolds told Daily Mail Australia that to say she was pleased with Judge Lee’s ruling would be an “understatement”, describing the whole affair as “the cover-up that never was”.
“For three years I have endured intense public scrutiny, vilification, vile trolling, and being demonized as the villain in a political cover-up story that I always knew was untrue,” she said.
Ms Reynolds said she was “determined to fully defend her reputation” following Judge Lee’s ground-breaking finding.
The case will be heard on August 2.
