Speaker 1: Before we begin. This episode contains detailed allegations of sexual
Speaker 1: assault from the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Christinamio.
Speaker 1: It's Tuesday, July ninth. The government is upping the Defense
Speaker 1: Forces drone game, but former commanders say it's not doing
Speaker 1: enough to protect against airborne attacks. The Historic Defense Strategic
Speaker 1: Review delivered last year recommended urgent investment in anti drone capabilities,
Speaker 1: but they say a lack of funding could leave personnel
Speaker 1: and bases vulnerable for.
Speaker 2: At least a decade.
Speaker 1: It's time to change the rules. That's according to Labor
Speaker 1: Party MPs and officials who've backed an overhaul of century
Speaker 1: old caucus voting rules. It follows the resignation of Western
Speaker 1: Australian Senator Fatima Payman, who crossed the floor to side
Speaker 1: with the Greens on the issue of Palestinian statehood. That
Speaker 1: story is live right now at the Australian dot com
Speaker 1: dot AU. An Australian senator alleges Brittany Higgins conspired with
Speaker 1: David Cherraz to leak false information to some of the
Speaker 1: government's most senior ministers. Linda Reynolds says the former Liberal
Speaker 1: staffer and her new husband orchestrated a campaign to ruin
Speaker 1: her career and bring down the Morrison government following her
Speaker 1: alleged rape by Bruce Lherman inside Parliament House. That's today's episode,
Speaker 1: Senator Gallagher.
Speaker 3: I did answer your questions to the point that you
Speaker 3: ground me to the ground and ended me ended up
Speaker 3: in hospital.
Speaker 4: But I'm answering questions.
Speaker 1: That's Western Australian Senator Linda Reynolds at a Senate estimates
Speaker 1: hearing held a couple of years ago. She's being questioned
Speaker 1: by Labour Senators Katie Gallagher and Penny Wong, and things
Speaker 1: are getting tense.
Speaker 3: Well, you just stage that we put you in hospitals.
Speaker 3: You just said I put you in hospital, Senator Reynolds.
Speaker 2: Well, if so, you're visitor is Notiggins or Senator wal Nobody.
Speaker 3: Questions. Nobody takes pleasuring.
Speaker 1: A few months earlier, a young Liberal staffer named Britney
Speaker 1: Higgins had publicly alleged she was raped in Linda reynolds
Speaker 1: Parliament House office by one of her colleagues. We don't
Speaker 1: now that colleague was Bruce Lhriman. He worked as an
Speaker 1: advisor to Reynolds, who was the Defense Minister. In twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1: Brittney Higgins also alleged in that interview with the Project
Speaker 1: that her assault had been covered up by the government
Speaker 1: of the day.
Speaker 4: I would try and raise it and I would try
Speaker 4: and bring it up.
Speaker 5: Then it was always it always sort of came back
Speaker 5: to sort of being a me issue.
Speaker 2: And if you can't deal with it then then you
Speaker 2: can leave.
Speaker 1: It was suggested that the Labor Party, which was in
Speaker 1: opposition at the time, had seized upon the allegation for
Speaker 1: political gain. That's because Labor used the Senate estimates process
Speaker 1: to put the heat on Reynolds.
Speaker 3: My final question, Senator Reynolds, was it your decision to
Speaker 3: send miss Higgins to Perth for the duration of the
Speaker 3: election campaign? Senator Gallagher, again, that's also subject sleech investigation.
Speaker 3: How hans As that was your final question, Thank Senator Gallagher,
Speaker 3: that was beneath you.
Speaker 1: Bruce Lehreman was subsequently charged with rape and stood trial
Speaker 1: in the Act Supreme Court later in twenty twenty two,
Speaker 1: but the proceeding was sensationally aborted due to dura misconduct,
Speaker 1: and the former Director of Public Prosecutions, Shane Drumgold, declined
Speaker 1: to pursue a retrial out of concern for Britney Higgins's
Speaker 1: mental health. That means Lehreman was never criminally convicted of
Speaker 1: rape and has always denied any sexual contact occurred. He
Speaker 1: sued Network ten and the Project presenter Lisa Wilkinson for
Speaker 1: defamation earlier this year and lost. Federal Court Justice Michael
Speaker 1: Lee found on the balance of probabilities that Bruce Larriman
Speaker 1: did rape Britney Higgins in Linda Reynolds's office in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 4: Having escaped the lines dead, mister Lehman made the mistake
Speaker 4: of coming back.
Speaker 5: For his hat.
Speaker 1: He also found there was no cover up of the
Speaker 1: alleged assault by Linda Reynolds or her former chief of
Speaker 1: staff Fiona Brown, or anyone else in the former coalition government.
Speaker 4: As we will see when examined properly and without partiality,
Speaker 4: the cover up allegation was subjectively short on facts, but
Speaker 4: long on speculation and internal inconsistencies. Trying to particularize it
Speaker 4: during the evidence was like trying to grab a column
Speaker 4: of smoke.
Speaker 1: Now, an explosive legal document filed by Linda Reynolds could
Speaker 1: flip the whole thing on its head, she says. Higgins
Speaker 1: and Chiraz were out to destroy her career and bring
Speaker 1: down the government when they leaked information to some of
Speaker 1: the PM's most senior ministers. Linda Reynolds is suing Britney
Speaker 1: Higgins and her husband David Schiraz for defamation in the
Speaker 1: Western Australian Supreme Court. She says critical comments posted by
Speaker 1: the pair to social media damaged her reputation and that
Speaker 1: she suffered from severe anxiety and serious physical symptoms as
Speaker 1: a result. The matter will go to trial in August
Speaker 1: after a long and ultimately unsuccessful mediation process. Sharaz has
Speaker 1: already indicated he doesn't have the funds to defend the claims,
Speaker 1: meaning his new wife will go it alone. But Reynold's
Speaker 1: statement of claim, obtained by The Australian's Legal affairs correspondent
Speaker 1: Ellie Dudley, reveals the senator sees this as much more
Speaker 1: than a nock to her reputation. She appears to suggest
Speaker 1: there was a political conspiracy, but she didn't have anything
Speaker 1: to do with it. A voice actor is reading an
Speaker 1: excerpt from the senator's statement of claim about the allegedly
Speaker 1: defamatory social media posts made by Higgins and Charatz.
Speaker 2: They were published in furtherance of a plan by the
Speaker 2: defendant and mister Schiraz to use the defendants allegations of
Speaker 2: a rape and the political cover up as a weapon
Speaker 2: to inflict immediate political damage upon the plaintiff and the
Speaker 2: then government.
Speaker 1: Reynolds also says further posts made by Britney Higgins throughout
Speaker 1: the mediation process were designed to taunt and harass her,
Speaker 1: and the Senator claims they breach a deed signed by
Speaker 1: Higgins in which they agreed not to publicly criticize or
Speaker 1: disparage each other. Coming up more from Senator Linda Reynolds's
Speaker 1: explosive statement of claim. Subscribers to The Australian get first
Speaker 1: access to exclusive stories like this one. Join us at
Speaker 1: the Australian dot com dot au and we'll be back
Speaker 1: after this break. We know from evidence presented in the
Speaker 1: defamation action brought by Bruce Leherman against Network ten that
Speaker 1: it was David Shiraz who pitched Brittney higgins interview with
Speaker 1: Lisa Wilkinson to the project.
Speaker 2: At all times thereafter, mister Charraz acted as a conduit
Speaker 2: for communication between Miss Wilkinson and executive producer Angus Llewellyn
Speaker 2: and the defendant.
Speaker 1: The month before the interview went to air, Higgins, Charraz, Wilkinson,
Speaker 1: and the project's producer, Angus Llewellyn hunkered down for a
Speaker 1: five hour brainstorming session.
Speaker 2: One for a chand thanks your gym and tonic. Now, yeah,
Speaker 2: those friend.
Speaker 1: Rolls are actions they Recordings made of that session revealed
Speaker 1: the group kicked around ways to drum up interest in
Speaker 1: the interview. That included recruiting politicians who they believed could
Speaker 1: put pressure on the government.
Speaker 4: Got it. Do you have friendly.
Speaker 2: And that could find questions at question time?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 2: Certainly, Albo. Yeah, I tell you, curvasyly.
Speaker 1: Also on that list was Labor Senator Katie Gallagher, who
Speaker 1: you heard at the top of this episode. A charge
Speaker 1: of text messages between Higgins and Chiraz published by The
Speaker 1: Australian last year revealed this was a tactic the pair
Speaker 1: had explored before. In those texts, Charraz, a former journalist
Speaker 1: and media advisor, boasted to his then girlfriend about his
Speaker 1: close relationship with Gallagher. Higgins responded that Chiraz should go
Speaker 1: ahead and share everything with her. The thing is, Gallagher
Speaker 1: claimed in that Senate Estimates hearing that nobody from Labor
Speaker 1: knew about Britney higgins alleged rape by Bruce Laherman before
Speaker 1: the story broke in an article by Samantha Maiden, and
Speaker 1: later that night on the Project when the text between
Speaker 1: Higgins and Chiraz became public. The Finance Minister conceded she
Speaker 1: did know some of the details, but them to herself,
Speaker 1: and that meant accusations that she'd misled parliament were unfair.
Speaker 3: So no, the answer to the question about the allegation
Speaker 3: of mislead is now, I did not mislead the Parliament.
Speaker 3: I was responding to an assertion that was being made
Speaker 3: by the Minister Reynolds at the time that we had
Speaker 3: known about this for weeks and had made a decision
Speaker 3: to weaponize it. That is not true. It was never true.
Speaker 3: I explained that to Senator Reynolds that night. She accepted
Speaker 3: that explanation.
Speaker 1: In her statement of claim, Senator Linda Reynolds has kicked
Speaker 1: things up a notch. She says some of the government's
Speaker 1: highest ranking politicians were deliberately fed false information by Higgins
Speaker 1: and Chiraz.
Speaker 2: It can be inferred that the defendant provided Senators Wong
Speaker 2: and Gallagher with the information forming the basis of those
Speaker 2: questions referred to above in circumstances where the defendant knew
Speaker 2: this information was false.
Speaker 1: Reynolds also states that messages exchanged by the pair show
Speaker 1: their strategy was designed to inflict maximum political damage. In
Speaker 1: one text included in the senator's statement of claim, Sharaz rights.
Speaker 5: Just need to make sure this whole thing comes out
Speaker 5: in a sitting week, and she.
Speaker 1: Says it's backed up by comments made in that five
Speaker 1: hour Brainstorm session with Lisa Wilkinson and Angus Llewellyn, where
Speaker 1: Shiraz suggested timing the broadcast of the project interview with
Speaker 1: a sitting week. Senator Linda Reynolds also says that conversation
Speaker 1: is proof there was a target on her back. In
Speaker 1: her statement of claim, she says Higgins wanted Lerriman to
Speaker 1: be rendered unemployable and for Reynolds to be booted from
Speaker 1: Parliament as a result of her taking her story public.
Speaker 5: I asked Britt, ultimately, what do you want out of this?
Speaker 5: And she goes, well, I want Bruce to forever have
Speaker 5: it difficult getting a job, like it's going to be
Speaker 5: difficult for me. And then you said, best case scenario
Speaker 5: Linda Reynolds.
Speaker 1: The defamation trial gets underway in WA's Supreme Court on
Speaker 1: August two. Brittney Higgins is expected to defend the allegations
Speaker 1: against her. The case continues, and you can read our
Speaker 1: ongoing coverage of all parties arguments, as well as Elie
Speaker 1: Dudley's full breakdown of Linda Reynolds' statement of claim right
Speaker 1: now at the Australian dot com dot au