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Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.

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Speaker 1: It's Friday, October seventeen, twenty twenty five. Australia is about

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Speaker 1: to get caught in the middle of a vicious trade

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Speaker 1: war between the US and China, with Beijing flagging new

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Speaker 1: export controls on the critical minerals essential for modern technology.

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Speaker 1: One of Donald Trump's most powerful officials, US Treasury Secretary

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Speaker 1: at Scott Bessant, is now talking about America and its

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Speaker 1: allies decoupling from China. It's an unassuming suburban home in

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Speaker 1: Western Australia, but now it's at the center of allegations

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Speaker 1: of a vote rigging scandal involving a huge Native title settlement.

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Speaker 1: More than one hundred nunar people who are eligible to

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Speaker 1: vote for the board of an indigenous corporation are registered

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Speaker 1: to the same address, adding to fears within Aboriginal commit

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Speaker 1: unities about the integrity of the system. That's an exclusive

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Speaker 1: by our Indigenous Affairs editor Paige Taylor, live now at

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Speaker 1: Beaustralian dot com dot A. Former Coalition Cabinet minister Linda

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Speaker 1: Reynolds is taking aim at Labour's most powerful women. Finance

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Speaker 1: Minister Katie Gallagher and Foreign Minister at Penny Wong, and

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Speaker 1: it all goes back to Brittany Higgins. Today, the Australians

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Speaker 1: revealing Reynolds, who's already won defamation proceedings against Higgins and

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Speaker 1: her husband, David Scharraz, now wants Federal Parliament to investigate

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Speaker 1: whether Wong and Gallagher misled the Parliament or committed an

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Speaker 1: active contempt in their furious pursuit of false claims Reynolds

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Speaker 1: covered up higgins rape. Today, Stephen Rice and I look

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Speaker 1: at Reynolds's seemingly unstoppable crusade. Linda Reynolds is a woman

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Speaker 1: on a mission to clear her name, and it would

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Speaker 1: seem to pursue some righteous vengeance against the people who

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Speaker 1: she believes has wronged her. Stephen Rice is The Australian's

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Speaker 1: new South Wales editor and he's been covering this story

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Speaker 1: since the beginning. Stephen, this is all part of the

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Speaker 1: ongoing Brittney Higgins matter. Linda Reynolds was Brittney Higgins's boss

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Speaker 1: in Federal Parliament. When Britney Higgins said that she was

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Speaker 1: sexually assaulted, Linda Reynolds sacked Bruce Lemmon, the man whom

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Speaker 1: Britney Higgins accused basically on the spot because he'd come

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Speaker 1: back to the office after hours against the rules. But

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Speaker 1: it's what happened after that that has caused her a

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Speaker 1: huge amount of distress. She's won a defamation action in

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Speaker 1: the WA Supreme Court against Britney Higgins and her husband.

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Speaker 1: Now and now she's going after some of her political enemies.

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Speaker 1: Who are they and what does Linda Reynolds want?

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Speaker 2: Okay, well, there's quite a long list of Linda Reynolds's

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Speaker 2: political enemies. Let's exclude Britney Higgins and David she has

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Speaker 2: for the moment, because what Reynolds is trying to do

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Speaker 2: now really is to look at what happened to her,

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Speaker 2: especially in Parliament during these last four or five years,

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Speaker 2: when she's been under an extraordinary level of attack by

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Speaker 2: the Labor government and previously when Labor was in opposition

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Speaker 2: by the then opposition. So there are two or three

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Speaker 2: main characters who Reynolds believes not only went after her

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Speaker 2: in a very vicious and immoral way but also may

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Speaker 2: have misled Parliament, and in particular Katie Gallagher, who is

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Speaker 2: now the Finance Minister of very senior Labor minister. But

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Speaker 2: was then, let's call her one of Labour's chief attack dogs,

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Speaker 2: and she went after Linda Reynolds in Parliament and later

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Speaker 2: in estimates committees, very very viciously.

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Speaker 3: My final question, Senator Reynolds, was it your decision to

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Speaker 3: send miss Higgins to Perth for the duration of the

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Speaker 3: election campaign? Senator Gallagher again, that's also subject, so please investigation,

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Speaker 3: how hands that was your final question.

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Speaker 1: Thank Senator Gallagher, that was beneath you. When this scandal

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Speaker 1: first aired on the Channel ten show The Project, Katie

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Speaker 1: Gallagher and Petti Wong were up in Parliament very quickly afterwards,

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Speaker 1: asking questions about what Linda Reynolds had known about this beforehand,

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Speaker 1: because the implication in the project, no matter what Channel

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Speaker 1: ten says Ricey, is that this was a political cover up,

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Speaker 1: that Linda Reynolds had deliberately concealed a sexual assault for

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Speaker 1: her own political purposes or to protect the government of

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Speaker 1: the day, the Morrison government. Linda Reynolds has always denied that.

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Speaker 1: So what is wrong we in Linda Reynolds argument Labor

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Speaker 1: senators asking questions.

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Speaker 2: Well, I guess there are a couple of things wrong,

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Speaker 2: and the main one is that Linda Reynolds believes that

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Speaker 2: this was a stitch up from the beginning, a political

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Speaker 2: stitch up, that these allegations against her and against various

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Speaker 2: members of the.

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Speaker 4: Coalition were false.

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Speaker 2: She's not saying that the Britney Higgins rape allegations were false,

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Speaker 2: but she's saying that the whole idea that there was

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Speaker 2: a political conspiracy to shut down these allegations to you know,

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Speaker 2: essentially fob off Britney Higgins rape allegations because there was

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Speaker 2: a federal election coming up and nobody wanted to think

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Speaker 2: that they'd been of this dreadful thing happened in the

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Speaker 2: office of a prominent Liberal Party person. As it turned out,

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Speaker 2: it became very clear that in fact, the opposition had

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Speaker 2: known about the fact that these allegations, the rape allegations

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Speaker 2: were going to be made. You know, the then Labor

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Speaker 2: opposition had known right from the beginning that they were

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Speaker 2: going to be made. So Reynolds is saying that there

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Speaker 2: was a counter conspiracy, if you like, by the Labor

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Speaker 2: Party to weaponize these allegations against the Morrison government. And

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Speaker 2: she's saying that she never stood a chance in Parliament.

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Speaker 2: There was a complete onslaught of questions against her. And

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Speaker 2: then later on, when this came before an Estimates committee

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Speaker 2: in Parliament, Reynolds confronted Katie Gallagher with the allegation that

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Speaker 2: she had known all along about these allegations before they

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Speaker 2: were made public and had weaponized them. Now, Katie Gallagher

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Speaker 2: was outraged by this. She said, how dare you how

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Speaker 2: dare you suggest that.

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Speaker 3: You just did aged that we put you in hospitals?

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Speaker 3: You just said I put you in the hospital at

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Speaker 3: Senator Reynolds withdraw.

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Speaker 1: Well, if so, you're order, Senator.

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Speaker 3: Wal nobody, nobody takes pleasure.

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Speaker 4: Well.

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Speaker 2: Not long afterwards, the Australian that is Janet Orbertson and

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Speaker 2: I got hold of texts that David Sharraz had sent

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Speaker 2: to Britney Higgins, where it becomes very clear that Katie

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Speaker 2: Gallagher knew all along. You know, Sharaz was messaging Brittany,

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Speaker 2: his partner, four days before she appears on the project, so,

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Speaker 2: in other words, four days before this becomes public, saying Katie,

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Speaker 2: that is Katie Gallagher is going to come to me

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Speaker 2: with some questions you need to prepare for. She's really

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Speaker 2: invested now, ha ha. And then later on Sharaz says

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Speaker 2: to Brittany, Oh, Katie Gallagher messaged me. She's angry and

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Speaker 2: wants to help. She's got the context. Says they knew

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Speaker 2: something was wrong because they fired Bruce and not you

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Speaker 2: and so on and so on. So very very clear

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Speaker 2: that Gallagher knew what was going on before it became public. Now,

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Speaker 2: Labor had always denied and consistently denied that it ever

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Speaker 2: knew anything. So what's happening now is that Linda Reynolds

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Speaker 2: is it's a bit blunt. She's pissed off. She's been

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Speaker 2: through the courts, She's won in the courts. The courts

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Speaker 2: have recognized that there was never any political cover up

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Speaker 2: by her, that she didn't treat Britney Higgins badly in

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Speaker 2: the aftermath of this rape. Linda Reynolds is very wounded

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Speaker 2: by all this. She's got justice from the courts. Now

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Speaker 2: she wants justice from Parliament. You know, she's saying that

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Speaker 2: Parliament never acknowledged what had happened to her, never acknowledged

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Speaker 2: its own responsibility for the kind of merciless onslaught that.

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Speaker 4: She was subjected to.

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Speaker 2: That she eventually wound up in hospital with heart problems

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Speaker 2: as a result of all this, so she's now to

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Speaker 2: essentially get some change affected in Parliament the way that

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Speaker 2: Parliament deals with these kind of issues.

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Speaker 1: It's so understandable that Labor would have been frothing at

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Speaker 1: the mouth at this story. Risey, that the idea that

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Speaker 1: in the coalition government there was a senior minister and

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Speaker 1: other staff who were willing to cover up a rape

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Speaker 1: of shocking allegation. But it really strains credulity, doesn't it

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Speaker 1: if you think about it for more than a minute.

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Speaker 1: You know, would this middle aged woman and her chief

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Speaker 1: of staff conspire to conceal the rape of a young woman?

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Speaker 1: You know, probably not. It just it just only bears

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Speaker 1: a minute thinking about.

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Speaker 4: And for what purpose really?

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Speaker 2: I mean Linda Reynolds and as you say, Theona Brown.

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Speaker 2: What's wounded them most out of all of this is

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Speaker 2: that the idea, the claim that they walked past another

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Speaker 2: woman's rape. For both of these women, that's just been unbearable.

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Speaker 2: It's at the root of Linda Reynold's continuing battle to

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Speaker 2: get some kind of justice, and I don't mean justice

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Speaker 2: in a monetary way, although obviously she's hugely in debt

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Speaker 2: now as a.

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Speaker 4: Result of the civil legal.

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Speaker 2: Actions that she's taken, but some justice out of the Parliament.

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Speaker 4: That's what she's seeking here.

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Speaker 2: She wants Parliament to examine its own rules and indeed

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Speaker 2: examine its own conscience about the way this was allowed

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Speaker 2: to unfold.

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Speaker 1: This whole saga Rice has the elements of a morality

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Speaker 1: play for me, especially as someone who thinks a lot

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Speaker 1: about issues of feminism. You hear about a young woman

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Speaker 1: being badly done by and you think that's terrible. But

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Speaker 1: then Britney Higgins, as a twenty three year old, very quickly,

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Speaker 1: I think, got co opted by a movement that was

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Speaker 1: much bigger than her, that wanted this to be about

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Speaker 1: much more than just an interaction between two individuals. They

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Speaker 1: wanted it to be systemic. Big, powerful forces kind of

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Speaker 1: swept her up and suddenly she was all dressed in white,

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Speaker 1: addressing rallies out the front of Parliament talking about a

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Speaker 1: culture of rape apology allowing this kind of thing to

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Speaker 1: go on that has turned out to just not be

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Speaker 1: true at all. But now there are big ethical questions

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Speaker 1: for Linda Reynolds as she pursues some financial justice as

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Speaker 1: well as the legal justice that she's got. She has

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Speaker 1: initiated bankruptcy proceedings against both David Charaz and Britney Higgins.

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Speaker 1: Now because she's concerned she's not going to ever get

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Speaker 1: her legal bills paid. That's a real moral quandary, isn't

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Speaker 1: it for someone who, as Linda Reynolds said, has devoted

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Speaker 1: her life to the a'smen of women pursuing a rape victim.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I mean it doesn't sit easily with her,

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Speaker 2: I think. And look, this was something that Brittany Higgins

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Speaker 2: lawyers expressly threatened her with as they were trying to

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Speaker 2: negotiate their way out of this defamation action. They wrote

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Speaker 2: to Linda Reynolds saying, well, look, how does it look

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Speaker 2: for you chasing after this rape victim.

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Speaker 4: It's not a good look.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think actually Reynolds is beyond that now.

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Speaker 4: She believes that lots of other people.

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Speaker 2: Have been wronged in the course of this whole episode,

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Speaker 2: and in particular her chief of staff Fiona Brown, who

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Speaker 2: to this day has never recovered from the accusations that

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Speaker 2: she knew about Britney Higgins's rape and not only did

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Speaker 2: nothing about it, but actively conspired somehow to cover it up.

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Speaker 2: It's essentially destroyed Fiona Brown's life, and I think those

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Speaker 2: kind of things for Reynolds make this idea that, oh,

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Speaker 2: she's going after a rape victim. I think it's gone

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Speaker 2: beyond that. I think in her mind, Brittany Higgins made

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Speaker 2: more than two and a half million dollars out of

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Speaker 2: the Commonwealth by making demonstrably false allegations about Reynolds, and

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Speaker 2: now Reynolds simply would like at least some of that

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Speaker 2: money back to cover the enormous costs that she's had

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Speaker 2: to bear in fighting to clear her name.

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Speaker 1: Coming up, will Linda Reynolds ever actually get the money

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Speaker 1: the courts have awarded to her? Where do you think

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Speaker 1: it ends up?

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Speaker 4: Rice?

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Speaker 1: He I mean, do you feel think she's likely to

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Speaker 1: get any money from Higgins Insurance?

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Speaker 2: Look, I doubt it. I think that money is long gone.

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Speaker 2: I would hope that Reynolds has more chance of succeeding

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Speaker 2: in the action that she's taken against the Commonwealth. Both

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Speaker 2: she and Fiona Brown are are suing the Commonwealth on

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Speaker 2: the grounds that they were never given an opportunity to

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Speaker 2: defend themselves in that case, in that Commonwealth negotiation with

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Speaker 2: Britney Higgins, where they were both slammed as being these

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Speaker 2: uncaring monsters who just hung their employee out to dry

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Speaker 2: after she'd been raped. Reynolds was actively told that she

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Speaker 2: couldn't even attend the mediation meeting to defend herself. The

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Speaker 2: then Labor Attorney General told her, do not attend. You

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Speaker 2: cannot attend this meeting, or we will not cover any

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Speaker 2: of your costs. So I think Reynolds would be very

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Speaker 2: happy if the Commonwealth just finally lentered. At the moment,

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Speaker 2: the Commonwealth has hired two very expensive barristers to defend

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Speaker 2: the action that Reynolds is taking against them, and it's

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Speaker 2: clear they're essentially trying to bankrupt their former political enemy,

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Speaker 2: and it's something that Reynolds feels very deeply that she

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Speaker 2: must fight.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: You don't often meet a litigant who is prepared to

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Speaker 1: almost sacrifice everything in the pursuit of justice, do you

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Speaker 1: rise people usually give up before.

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Speaker 2: Now, Yeah, especially when you're fighting a litigant like the

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Speaker 2: Commonwealth now with the current labor government of political enemy.

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Speaker 2: It's an enormously expensive process for her, and it's not

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Speaker 2: as if she's been getting a lot of money along.

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Speaker 4: The way to help with this process.

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Speaker 2: In another world, perhaps she might have recovered some of

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Speaker 2: the money from Britney Higgins and David Shiraz, but as

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Speaker 2: I said, I think the chances of that are slim.

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Speaker 1: Stephen Rice is The Australian's new South Wales editor. You

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Speaker 1: can check out his reporting right now at the Australian

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Speaker 1: dot com dot au