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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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Speaker 1: You can read all the nation's best news, sport, politics

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Speaker 1: and business anytime at the Australian dot com dot au