Linda Reynolds' court win over Brittany Higgins as former political staffer is ordered to reveal secret detail in $2.4million settlement

Senator Linda Reynolds had a win in her defamation case against Brittany Higgins, with the WA Supreme Court forcing Ms Higgins to reveal who is responsible for administering her $2.4million Commonwealth settlement.

Senator Reynolds brought the action against Ms Higgins as part of her defamation case against her former staffer.

The senator is seeking damages over social media posts she and her husband David Sharaz made, which the senator claims damaged her reputation.

Talks to settle the matter have failed, with the court on Wednesday hearing that Senator Reynolds will see a copy of the Brittany Higgins Protective Trust to find out the trustee in the event the proceedings go in her favour.

The court heard Ms Higgins established the trust a day after she signed a deed of settlement with the Commonwealth of Australia in December 2022.

The settlement was part of a personal injury claim submitted by Ms Higgins over allegations she had been sexually assaulted by her colleague Bruce Lehrmann at Parliament House.

Ms Higgins was awarded $2.4million in compensation as part of that claim.

Martin Bennett, Senator Reynold's lawyer, told the court the trust was set up to protect Ms Higgins from any potential future creditors, including his client.

He said an article published in Daily Mail Australia on August 21, 2023, talked about how Ms Higgins had been running out of money when she received a '$3million lifeline'.

He said it was easy to draw an inference that the trust was created to protect Ms Higgins from creditors when a person had cried poor, then received a financial lifeline which was placed in a protective trust.

He said Ms Higgins must have known the potential for future action against her because of untruths she allegedly told the Commonwealth in her personal injury claim.

'You do not need to be a creditor, it can be a future creditor, which falls squarely within the law,' he said.

Mr Bennett also told the court that Senator Reynolds had made a complaint to the National Anti-Corruption Commission about the compensation payment made to Ms Higgins.

He said the senator told the commission that the money should be given back to the Commonwealth and that she wanted a finding made against the people who authorised the 'extraordinarily fast payment.'

The court heard that Ms Reynolds was excluded from mediation talks that led to the compensation payment being made to Ms Higgins in December 2022.

Mr Bennett told the court that the Commonwealth had taken over the proceeding and refused to let Senator Reynolds attend the mediation or defend herself.

He said it was the conduct of Labor ministers Katy Gallagher and Mark Dreyfus and how they dealt with the compensation payment that needed to be investigated by the commission.

Representing Ms Higgins, Rachel Young SC argued that the senator's actions were based on speculation and there was no intent to defraud creditors.

Ms Young said the trust was set up on December 14, 2023 to hold the proceeds of the Commonwealth payment, not what was suggested in media articles.

Ms Young argued that the senator's claims that the trust was established to protect Ms Higgins from other creditors such as the Commonwealth, Penguin Random House and Bruce Lehrmann was also speculation since no other claims had been made against her client.

She said the senator's argument that she was a future creditor was without merit and there was no evidence other than speculation.

'She relies on the fact that she commenced action against Mr Sharaz in Jan 2023, so what,' she said.

'She then relies on her defamation proceeding against Brittany Higgins, the publications sued upon were made at earliest on July, 4 Jul 2023.

'It is not an irrelevant factor to think about the time intention formed, how can any intent be formed to defraud Senator Reynolds when publications had not even been made.'

Ms Young also argued that since no finding had been made in the defamation case that it was premature to obtain a copy of the trust.

She said it presumed the senator's defamation proceeding would be successful, and in the case it was successful then there were processes in place.

'This is an attempt to get a document to bring an action brought to early which may never come to arise,' she said.

In his ruling, Chief Justice Damien Quinlan said that Ms Higgins was at least indebted to Senator Reynolds for costs, which would not become due and payable until the end of the defamation proceeding.

He made orders for pre-action discovery allowing Senator Reynolds to obtain a copy of the trust but it must remain confidential between the senator and her lawyer.

Outside of court, Mr Bennett said it was a good result for his client who was about to embark on a very expensive trial.