Former Australian defence minister Linda Reynolds has initiated bankruptcy proceedings against her former staffer Brittany Higgins in an effort to recover more than £1 million in damages and legal costs following a defamation victory in August.
The action, filed in the federal court on Friday, seeks to force payment of the £315,000 in damages awarded against Higgins, plus £26,109 in interest, after a Western Australia supreme court judge found that Higgins had defamed Reynolds in social media posts. Higgins’ husband, David Sharaz, was found jointly liable for the damages due to his role in publishing a defamatory tweet and Instagram story. The couple also face 80% of Reynolds’ legal costs, estimated to exceed £1 million.
Higgins’ legal team lodged an appeal against the ruling in September, contesting both the finding and the order to pay legal fees. Reynolds’ bankruptcy action mirrors similar steps taken against Sharaz last week.
The dispute stems from Higgins’ allegations that she was sexually assaulted by a colleague in Reynolds’ ministerial office in March 2019, and that Reynolds mishandled the matter. In July 2023, Higgins shared an Instagram story accusing Reynolds of waging a campaign of harassment and referring a personal injury settlement to the anti-corruption body. The court found that post defamatory, but dismissed a separate claim over a tweet, ruling that Higgins had established defences of honest opinion and fair comment.
The case is part of a broader legal saga in Australia, including a separate defamation case in which a federal court judge ruled that Bruce Lehrmann had raped Higgins, on the balance of probabilities. Lehrmann denies the allegation and his criminal trial was aborted.
