Ex-senator Linda Reynolds has been awarded $315,000 in damages with a judge finding alleged sexual assault victim Brittany Higgins defamed her in social media posts.

Higgins’ former boss Reynolds launched a defamation lawsuit over a series of social media posts that the ex-defence minister believed damaged her reputation.

Western Australian Supreme Justice Paul Tottle found today that three Instagram and Twitter posts were defamatory and awarded the damages plus $26,109 interest.

Reynolds’ claim over a tweet she alleged implied she was seeking to silence sexual assault victims failed.

Her claim that Higgins and her husband David Sharaz engaged in a conspiracy to injure her also failed.

Reynolds claimed Higgins’ social media posts carried imputations she harassed her former staffer, mishandled her alleged rape and failed to support her, wanted to silence sexual assault victims and engaged in questionable conduct during Bruce Lehrmann’s aborted criminal trial.

Higgins’ lawyer Rachael Young said her client was a courageous woman who was sued for speaking up and her motive for doing so was not to harm the senator but to drive workplace reforms and stop anyone else from experiencing what she had gone through.

She said the social media posts were not defamatory because they were true, and any comments Higgins made were her honestly held opinion and protected by qualified privilege.

Higgins was entitled to share her opinions because there was wide public interest, she said.

Higgins did not give evidence at the trial for medical reasons.

Higgins alleged she was raped by Lehrmann in the senator’s ministerial suite in March 2019.

A Federal Court judge overseeing a defamation case launched by Lehrmann against Network Ten found Higgins was, on the balance of probabilities, raped by Lehrmann in the office.

Lehrmann is appealing that finding.

He has always denied the rape allegation and his criminal trial was derailed by juror misconduct.

1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)

National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028