Senator Reynolds Justifies Leaking Higgins' Confidential Documents, Calls It 'Evidence' Of 'Corruption'

Senator Linda Reynolds has defended sending confidential documents about Brittany Higgins to a journalist, saying she was "incredibly angry" at Attorney General Mark Dreyfus for manipulating the law to muzzle her during the Commonwealth payout claim.

Reynolds is suing Higgins in the Western Australia supreme court over social media posts shared by the latter after she went public with rape allegations against former colleague Bruce Lehrmann, Sky News reported.

During the cross-examination Thursday, Reynolds was questioned about her correspondence with The Australian's journalist Janet Albrechtsen related to confidential documents about Higgins' AU$2.4 million Commonwealth compensation claim.

The senator insisted that she shared information with a journalist, who enjoyed a wide readership, because she wanted to challenge Higgins' claims about her mishandling the rape allegations, AAP reported. She said she believed the journalist would not be favorable to Higgins, adding that she was pleased about the published article later.

"I provided her with evidence of my claims of corruption and then it was up to her in how she reported it," she said. "I never saw the final claims against me, the statement of liability and I was not provided any opportunity to defend the claims."

She also stated that she was concerned about the Commonwealth's handling of the settlement claim and on excluding her from the mediation process.

Reynolds claimed Dreyfus had excluded her from the mediation process to keep her silent.

"I was incredibly angry because I could see the attorney-general of this nation was stitching me up. So absolutely I did want her to know and I wanted the public to know. I never saw the final claims against me, the statement of liability and I was not provided any opportunity to defend the claims," Reynolds said. "I believe the Attorney General manipulated the law to muzzle me, I saw it as government corruption."

"I could see immediately what the Attorney-General was trying to do, which is why I referred it to the National Anti-Corruption Commission," she stated.

Reynolds is fighting a five-week defamation fight against Higgins, who was her former staffer. The former defense minister alleged that the social media posts, shared by Higgins and her husband David Sharaz in 2022 and 2023, damaged her reputation.

Higgins alleged that Lehrmann raped her while they were working for Reynolds when the latter was defense minister in 2019. The criminal trial was derailed following juror misconduct.