Senator Linda Reynolds has welcomed Brittany Higgins’s “olive branch” but says she will continue with her defamation proceedings against her if she does not accept Justice Lee’s findings on claims of a cover-up.
Ms Higgins released a statement on Saturday responding to Bruce Lerhmann’s failed defamation case against Network 10 and Lisa Wilkinson.
Federal Court Justice Michael Lee found, on the balance of probabilities, Bruce Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins at Parliament House in 2019.
In his judgement, delivered last Monday, he found the pair had sex in the office of Senator Linda Reynolds, that Ms Higgins did not consent, and that Mr Lehrmann was indifferent to whether she had consented.
A criminal trial against Mr Lehrmann was abandoned, leaving no findings against him.
He has always maintained his innocence.
Senator Reynolds has launched separate defamation action against her former staffer, Ms Higgins and her partner David Sharaz, over social media posts which she argues damaged her reputation.
In her statement posted to her various social media accounts, Ms Higgins apologised to Senator Reynolds and then chief of staff Fiona Brown.
“[They] have also been hurt and for that I am also sorry,” Ms Higgins said.
“My perceptions and feelings about what happened in the days and weeks after my rape are different from theirs. I deeply regret we have not yet found common ground.
“I hope we can resolve our differences with a better understanding of each other’s experience.”
In a statement, Senator Reynolds said she appreciated the apology to her and Ms Brown and hoped the findings would give Ms Higgins peace.
“My legal action against both Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz were never about the allegation of rape,” Senator Reynolds said.
“My action deals with what Justice Lee exposed as false allegations raised two years after the rape. Allegations that I and my staff, specifically Fiona Brown, not only failed to support Ms Higgins but subjected her to a dreadful and damaging political cover-up.”
Senator Reynolds said she welcomed Ms Higgins’s olive branch and she hoped for a similar approach from Ms Higgins’s partner.
In his findings, Justice Lee criticised Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz, for crafting a narrative accusing others — including federal ministers — of putting up roadblocks and making her choose between her career and justice.
“The cover-up allegation was objectively short on facts, but long on speculation and internal inconsistencies,” he said.
Senator Reynolds said if Ms Higgins does not accept these findings she would continue with the trial set for July this year.
“What still lies between us are not different perceptions. It is a fact that Ms Higgins received our support and that there was no cover up. The common ground we now find must be based on the truth,” Senator Reynolds said.
“As a matter of law, neither of us, nor Mr Sharaz, are bound by Justice Lee’s decision.
“If Ms Higgins does not accept Justice Lee’s findings on the claims of coverup and mistreatment then, regrettably, it will have to be proved again in our trial set for July this year.”