In short:

Brittany Higgins was a liar who tried to ruin Linda Reynolds's career and bring down the then-Morrison government after her rape allegations were made public, a WA court has been told.

Martin Bennett made the comments as part of his closing submissions to the high-stakes defamation action Senator Reynolds's has brought against her former staffer.

Senator Reynolds made a surprise appearance in court on Tuesday morning, her first attendance since she gave evidence three weeks ago.

Brittany Higgins "arrogantly" tried to claim she was the person most hurt in the aftermath of her Parliament House rape allegation and used her own trauma as a "catch-all excuse" for the "litany of lies" she told, a WA court has heard.

In an explosive final submission to the high-stakes defamation proceedings, Senator Linda Reynolds's lawyer Martin Bennett has tried to eviscerate Ms Higgins's defence of the case by painting her as a deliberate liar who tried to ruin her former boss's career and bring down the Morrison government.

"This is Ms Higgins's truth, not the truth," he said.

Senator Reynolds is suing Ms Higgins over three 2023 social media posts she claims accused her of mishandling the alleged rape and damaged her physical and mental health.

Ms Higgins did not testify at the trial for medical reasons, but Mr Bennett has sought to cast aspersions on that decision.

"Ms Higgins arrogantly, from the sanctity of France, claims the status of the person most seriously affected by this matter and trivialises the hurt to others," Mr Bennett told the court.

"We've never sought to trivialise the hurt, the damage that that would cause to Ms Higgins, unlike her trivialisation of the hurt caused to Senator Reynolds."

Brittany Higgins's lawyer gives final closing submission in defamation case

 

Photo shows Brittany Higgins walking into the ACT court with her head down.

Yet the Senator could not have done more to assist Ms Higgins in the aftermath of the rape, Mr Bennett said.

"The evidence will show that instead of harassing her or challenging the veracity of her rape allegations, Senator Reynolds, at great cost to herself, personally, both physically and mentally, in an act we would describe as quite extraordinary moral courage, kept her promise to … never attack Miss Higgins for her obvious lies."

"She did everything she could to ensure that Ms Higgins's principle and most significant allegation that she had been raped by [Bruce] Lehrmann could be properly and fully investigated and prosecuted for a period of virtually two years."

The only exception to this, he said, was when she called Ms Higgins a "lying cow" in front of staff in March 2021 while watching the younger woman's interview on Channel 10's The Project.

Ms Higgins accused Senator Reynolds of failing to support her during the interview and said she felt forced to choose between reporting the rape or keeping her job.

That interview, Mr Bennett said, was "the expression of a visceral hatred" on the part of Ms Higgins and not based in truth.

While Mr Lehrmann has always denied raping Ms Higgins, he was found to have done so in civil proceedings in the federal court earlier this year.

He is appealing that decision.

'Jumping on a bandwagon'

Mr Bennett also cast doubt on a statement sent to media outlets in 2021 that Ms Higgins's lawyer Rachael Young SC quoted from in her closing submission.

In the statement, Ms Young said Ms Higgins had spoken of her desire to achieve lasting workplace reform at Parliament House by speaking out about her experiences and to try to ensure nobody else experienced the same trauma.

But Mr Bennett sought to cast doubt on the authenticity of the document, telling the court that it was not Ms Higgins but Sky News reporter Peta Credlin and Ms Higgins's partner David Sharaz who were the true authors.

"It's the voice of people jumping on a bandwagon," Mr Bennett said.

Ms Young, however, said it was completely normal for a media statement to go through several drafts before a final version was agreed on, and the words were Ms Higgins's.

Mr Bennett also said Ms Higgins's account of her time in Perth in the weeks after she was raped, in which she told journalists she was isolated in a Perth hotel room and shunned by Senator Reynolds, could not be believed.

He said numerous text messages from Ms Higgins to her then boyfriend Ben Dillaway showed she was having a great time in Perth, attending campaign events, drinking at local pubs and attending an "awesome" birthday dinner for Senator Reynolds at an upmarket hotel.

Ms Young said Ms Higgins appearing happy in photographs and at campaign events did not mean she was not suffering, but Mr Bennett rubbished that claim.

"This is some woman who's meant to be trauma-affected and [hiding her] tears behind the smile," he said, showing the court texts in which she spoke of enjoying her time in Perth and describing it as a "work-cation".

Claiming she was actually traumatised and isolated was a "preposterous misstatement of the position by Miss Higgins," Mr Bennett said.

Senator Reynolds made a surprise appearance in court late on Tuesday morning to hear the start of Mr Bennett's closing remarks.

She hasn't appeared at the case since wrapping up her five days of testimony about three weeks ago.