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Speaker 1: You can listen to the Front on your smart speaker

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Speaker 1: every morning to hear the latest episode. Just say play

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Speaker 1: the news from The Australian. From the Australian, here's what's

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Speaker 1: on the Front. I'm Claire Harvey. It's Wednesday, September five.

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Speaker 1: Fresh grief and anger are gripping the Middle East. As

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Speaker 1: Hamas shares video of six murdered Israeli hostages begging for

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Speaker 1: freedom before they were executed. It's put extra pressure on

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Speaker 1: Israel's PM Benjamin ettan Yahoo as desperate families of the

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Speaker 1: remaining hostages demand he do more to secure a deal

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Speaker 1: for their return. Brittany Higgins has told a litany of

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Speaker 1: lies about Senator Linda Reynolds, and Linda Reynolds has harassed

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Speaker 1: Britainney Higgins at every turn. Those of the competing claims

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Speaker 1: by barristers in the defamation trial the Senator brought against

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Speaker 1: her former staffer today on the Front. How this highly

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Speaker 1: charged trial wound up. Brittney Higgins was a true blue

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Speaker 1: Liberal who wanted the party to win the twenty nineteen election.

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Speaker 1: That's the contention from her senior council Rachel Young, who

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Speaker 1: in the West Australian Supreme Court has laid out in

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Speaker 1: her closing address Higgins's defense against a defamation claim brought

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Speaker 1: by her former boss, Senator Linda Reynolds. We've used voice

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Speaker 1: actors to bring you the words spoken in court.

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Speaker 2: Miss Higgins, a junior staffer who has long associations with

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Speaker 2: the Liberal Party has campaigned for them, described mister Morrison's

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Speaker 2: win as absolute elation. The alleged plan is that she

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Speaker 2: wanted to bring down her senator and that government. We

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Speaker 2: say that will not be found.

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Speaker 1: But Council for Reynolds Martin Bennett sc said in his

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Speaker 1: closing that in fact, Higgins and Chiraz had a visceral

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Speaker 1: hatred for Reynolds, revealed in a five hour pre production

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Speaker 1: meeting for the project, which was played in an earlier

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Speaker 1: federal court defamation trial.

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Speaker 3: What was said in that five hour interview was the genuine, unguarded, unrehearsed,

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Speaker 3: true expression of the motive for what was taking place

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Speaker 3: as part of the planning for a premeditated attack on

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Speaker 3: Senator Reynolds.

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Speaker 1: Martin Bennett told the court Brittany Higgins's claim in the

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Speaker 1: project interview that she'd been told she would have to

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Speaker 1: wait months to see a counselor provided by the employee

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Speaker 1: assistance program was not true. Bennett said. Messages on higgins

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Speaker 1: phone showed she had in fact been offered assistance within weeks,

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Speaker 1: but didn't go ahead with the appointment as she'd already

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Speaker 1: engaged a psychologist via a local rape crisis service.

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Speaker 3: It's just palpably false, and it's not the trauma of

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Speaker 3: a rape victim getting it wrong. It was on her phone.

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Speaker 1: Bennett said Linda Reynolds had acted properly when confronted with

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Speaker 1: a young woman new to her employment who came to

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Speaker 1: her with a serious allegation.

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Speaker 3: She did everything she could to ensure that Miss Higgins's

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Speaker 3: principal and most significant allegation that she had been raped

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Speaker 3: by Bruce Leherman, could be properly and fully investigated and

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Speaker 3: prosecuted for a period of virtually two years.

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Speaker 1: Bennett said, Reynolds, who has told the court she was

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Speaker 1: deeply distressed by being criticized for her reaction to Higgins's allegation,

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Speaker 1: had refrained from quibbling with aspects of Higgins's story.

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Speaker 3: Miss Higgins arrogantly from the sanctity of France claims the

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Speaker 3: status of the person most seriously affected by this matter

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Speaker 3: and trivializes the hurt to others. We've never sought to

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Speaker 3: trivialize the hurt the damage that that would cause to

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Speaker 3: Miss Higgins, unlike her trivialization of the herd couse to

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Speaker 3: Senator Reynolds. The evidence will show that instead of harassing

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Speaker 3: her or challenging the veracity of her rape allegations, Senator Reynolds,

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Speaker 3: at great cost to herself personally, both physically and mentally,

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Speaker 3: in an act we would describe as quite extraordinary moral courage,

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Speaker 3: kept her promise to never attack Miss Higgins for her

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Speaker 3: obvious lies.

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Speaker 1: This trial is all about Linda reynolds claim that she's

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Speaker 1: been unfairly villified by Britney Higgins claim in social media

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Speaker 1: posts and in media interviews that she was not properly supported.

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Speaker 1: Higgins is running a defensive truth, which means she has

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Speaker 1: to show that, in fact, Reynolds did not support her.

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Speaker 1: Here's how Rachel Young, barrister for Higgins, framed the difference

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Speaker 1: of interpretation between the two women in court on Tuesday.

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Speaker 2: Senator reynolds approach discharging her duty of care to Miss

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Speaker 2: Higgins was to invoke Miss Higgins's agency. Miss Higgins had

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Speaker 2: no agency when she was raped on the twenty first

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Speaker 2: of March twenty nineteen on the couch in Senator Reynolds's

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Speaker 2: private office. She had little agency when, as a twenty

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Speaker 2: four year old recent employee facing deferment in a forthcoming election,

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Speaker 2: met with her boss her chief of staff around a

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Speaker 2: table near a couch where she was found undressed when

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Speaker 2: the rape occurred. She had no agency when she started

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Speaker 2: to speak about her experience and was told by the

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Speaker 2: Senator that she was not the right person to speak to.

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Speaker 2: She had no agency when she was relocated to Perth

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Speaker 2: for the duration of the election campaign, absent her support

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Speaker 2: network and being in the awful position a feeling like

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Speaker 2: she wanted to keep her job but she couldn't talk

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Speaker 2: about her rape.

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Speaker 1: Young quoted Higgins saying from.

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Speaker 2: The outset, I have been driven by my desire to

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Speaker 2: ensure that no other person would have to go through

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Speaker 2: the trauma that I experienced during my time at the

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Speaker 2: parliament House.

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Speaker 1: Young said that was the perfect summation of what this

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Speaker 1: trial is all about.

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Speaker 2: That's why she spoke up, that's what she's been sued about,

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Speaker 2: and that's why we say this action should be wholly dismissed.

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Speaker 1: Linda Reynolds sued over posts to social media by Britney

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Speaker 1: Higgins and her husband David Shiraz made early last year.

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Speaker 1: We've used voice actors to bring you some of those posts.

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Speaker 4: This is from a current Australian senator who continues to

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Speaker 4: harass me through the media and in the parliament. My

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Speaker 4: former boss, who is publicly apologized for mishandling my rape allegation,

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Speaker 4: who has had to apologize publicly after defaming me in

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Speaker 4: the workplace, who had a whole bunch of questionable conduct

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Speaker 4: during my rape trial. Who was suing my fiance for

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Speaker 4: a tweet. This has been going on for years now.

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Speaker 4: It is time to stop.

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Speaker 5: There is a very real chance Linda Reynolds will be

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Speaker 5: called to court this year to answer questions on her

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Speaker 5: involvement in Britney Higgins. Feeling pressured by her office not

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Speaker 5: to continue with a complaint to police, she uploads this

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Speaker 5: to her official website.

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Speaker 1: Reynolds said her life had been gravely affected and she

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Speaker 1: alleged Higgins and Schiraz had cooked up a conspiracy to

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Speaker 1: bring down the Morrison government. This saga begins in Linda

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Speaker 1: Reynolds's ministerial suite in the early hours of March twenty three,

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Speaker 1: twenty nineteen. It's there that Britney Higgins alleges she was

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Speaker 1: raped by her colleague Bruce Lammon. He maintains no sexual

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Speaker 1: contact occurred and vehemently denies any wrongdoing. Higgins says she

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Speaker 1: was blackout drunk and only recalls snippets of her return

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Speaker 1: to Parliament House with Lamon after they'd been drinking at

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Speaker 1: a bar.

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Speaker 5: Home Bruce Lherman here with Minister Linda Reynolds. Ben request

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Speaker 5: to pick up some documents I've forgotten.

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Speaker 1: My past, he says. He only went back to the

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Speaker 1: office to finish some work, then left to go home alone.

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Speaker 1: The Australian Federal Police eventually charged Lairman with rape and

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Speaker 1: the case went a trial in mid twenty twenty two,

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Speaker 1: but it was aborted due to DURA misconduct.

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Speaker 6: Good Evening. In an extraordinary turn of events, the rape

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Speaker 6: trial of former Liberal staff at Bruce Lherman has been

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Speaker 6: aborted after a dura's misconduct was discovered by a court sheriff.

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Speaker 1: The former act Director of Public Prosecutions, Shane Drumgold, didn't

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Speaker 1: pursue a retrial out of concern for Brittney Higgins's mental health.

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Speaker 7: I've made the difficult decision that it is no longer

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Speaker 7: in the public interest to pursue a prosecution at the

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Speaker 7: risk of the complainant's life.

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Speaker 1: In December of that year, Higgins received a two point

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Speaker 1: four million dollar compensation payout from the Commonwealth, including about

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Speaker 1: one point five million in lost earnings and four hundred

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Speaker 1: thousand for the distress and humiliation she's alleged to have

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Speaker 1: suffered during her employment. Fast forward about a year and

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Speaker 1: Lamban sued Network ten and to present Elsa Wilkinson for defamation.

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Speaker 1: Federal Court Justice Michael Lee found, on the balance of probabilities,

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Speaker 1: Bruce Lammon did rape Brittany Higgins on the sofa in

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Speaker 1: Linda Reynolds's ministerial suite. Laman is appealing that finding.

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Speaker 7: Mister Lherman raped New Higgins. I hasten to stress this

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Speaker 7: is a finding on the balance of probability.

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Speaker 1: Justice Michael Lee also found there was no government conspiracy

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Speaker 1: to cover up the alleged assault.

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Speaker 7: As we will see when examined properly and without partiality,

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Speaker 7: the cover up allegation was subjectively short on facts, but

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Speaker 7: long on speculation and internal inconsistencies. Trying to particularize it

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Speaker 7: during the evidence was like trying to grab a column

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Speaker 7: of smoke.

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Speaker 1: And it's now in the WA Supreme Court that Linda

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Speaker 1: Reynolds says she was the target of a conspiracy by

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Speaker 1: Higgins and Chiraz coming up the bit players who've had

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Speaker 1: huge roles in this drama. In her closing address, Rachel

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Speaker 1: Young zeroed in on Linda Reynolds's actions in the days

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Speaker 1: after she found out something had happened in her office.

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Speaker 1: Reynolds has always said Higgins never directly told her she

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Speaker 1: had been raped, but a senior police officer, Leanne Close,

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Speaker 1: gave evidence during the trial that Reynolds had, during a

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Speaker 1: meeting with Close in her office, pointed to the office

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Speaker 1: sofa and said it happened over there. Here's what Rachel

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Speaker 1: Young said about that in her closing we.

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Speaker 2: Say you should accept the evidence of Deputy Commissioner Close

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Speaker 2: over the senator's evidence, which can't be believed Clothes had

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Speaker 2: a particular memory of his meeting. Contrary to the plaintiff's submission.

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Speaker 2: Deputy Commissioner Close explained that she had not thought it

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Speaker 2: occurred in the Senator's office. She was quite surprised because

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Speaker 2: she did not realize they were talking about a sexual

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Speaker 2: assault in her office and they were sitting in a

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Speaker 2: crime scene. A highly experienced police officer with that kind

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Speaker 2: of memory peg that we were sitting in a crime

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Speaker 2: scene is entirely believable. If there was any suspicion that

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Speaker 2: the activity occurred in her private office, the fact the

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Speaker 2: senator chose her office for the meeting was problematic. The

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Speaker 2: office was an inappropriate place for a private meeting.

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Speaker 1: One of the most intriguing characters in this sad drama

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Speaker 1: is Fiona Brown, the former chief of staff in Reynold's office.

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Speaker 1: She's given evidence in the previous federal court trial about

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Speaker 1: her reaction when she learned Higgins and Lamon had entered

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Speaker 1: Parliament after hours. Brown said she ordered Laman to pack

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Speaker 1: up his things and leave the office immediately. She says

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Speaker 1: she could tell Higgins was upset and sent her home

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Speaker 1: for the day, then continued to check in on her

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Speaker 1: and offer to have her work at home, then made

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Speaker 1: arrangements for her to go to Perth to work on

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Speaker 1: the election campaign. Brown told the federal court trial when

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Speaker 1: she realized Higgins was alleging a sexual assault, she walked

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Speaker 1: her down to the Police Office in Parliament and said

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Speaker 1: she firmly believed it was higgins call as to whether

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Speaker 1: to pursue a police complaint. Fiona Browne said the effect

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Speaker 1: of the whole matter has been to devastate her mental health.

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Speaker 1: Here's what Martin Bennett said in the WA Supreme Court

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Speaker 1: about that on Tuesday. We've used a voice actor.

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Speaker 3: Miss Higgins would seek to trivialize Miss Brown's trauma as

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Speaker 3: being as result of public scrutiny, but it wasn't public scrutiny.

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Speaker 3: She was vilified by Miss Higgins. We would say that

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Speaker 3: your Honor should unhesitatingly accept the veracity of the contemporaneous

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Speaker 3: notes made by Miss Brown. They're fortified by the oral

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Speaker 3: evidence of Senator Reynolds, who was unshaken in cross examination,

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Speaker 3: vigorous as it was, as to what was supposedly said,

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Speaker 3: and against that, you've got flaky evidence from Miss Higgins

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Speaker 3: that varies over time, and when pressed exactly on that

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Speaker 3: point by Justice Lee, her answers have come woefully short

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Speaker 3: of confirming anything.

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Speaker 1: Rachel Young's fundamental submission in her closing was that Senator

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Speaker 1: Reynolds had harassed her client.

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Speaker 2: First by calling her a lying cow, which was then

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Speaker 2: disseminated widely. Two by repeatedly backgrounding a journalist by giving

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Speaker 2: her confidential and privileged communications and by giving public interviews

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Speaker 2: undermining Miss Higgins. And thirdly by engaging in partisan conduct

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Speaker 2: during the criminal trial of mister Lamman.

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Speaker 1: That's a reference to Reynolds sending texts to Bruce Lammon's

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Speaker 1: lawyer during the criminal trial, which was aborted to DURA misconduct.

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Speaker 1: Young said it was also wrong of Reynolds to suggest

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Speaker 1: Higgins should not have been given a two point four

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Speaker 1: million dollar settlement from the Commonwealth.

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Speaker 2: Questioning miss higgins settlement publicly through the media was harassment

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Speaker 2: of Miss Higgins.

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Speaker 1: Justice Paul Tottle will retire to consider his decision. The

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Speaker 1: Australian subscribers have followed this saga second by second and

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Speaker 1: they'll be the first to know when a result is

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Speaker 1: handed down. Join us at the Australian dot Com dot

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Speaker 1: a U