Former prime minister Scott Morrison may be among those called to testify as a witness at the defamation trial Senator Linda Reynolds has brought against her ex-staffer Brittany Higgins, a Perth court has heard.
Senator Reynolds is suing Ms Higgins and David Sharaz — who married in a ceremony in France earlier this month — over a series of social media posts.
Lawyers for Mr Sharaz have previously indicated he will not contest the allegations, with any damages he may have to pay expected to be determined after the trial between Senator Reynolds and Ms Higgins.
The posts were about Senator Reynolds’ conduct after Ms Higgins was allegedly raped in Parliament House in 2019 by her former colleague Bruce Lehrmann.
A civil case in the Federal Court found, on the balance of probabilities, that the sexual assault did occur, but Mr Lehrmann has always denied the allegations and there are no criminal findings against him.
Mr Lehrmann has appealed against that civil ruling.
Mr Morrison has provided a written witness statement to the court, and may be called to give evidence via video-link.
Timetable clash
Senator Reynolds made an unexpected appearance at a directions hearing related to the trial in the WA Supreme Court on Tuesday, when lawyers for Ms Higgins tried to delay the start of the trial from July 24 to August 5 because of timetable conflicts.
Senator Reynolds’s lawyer Martin Bennett said this would inconvenience witnesses who were involved in parliamentary sittings, including Mr Morrison and Senator Michaelia Cash.
Mr Bennett said Mr Morrison would be overseas at the time of the trial, and would give evidence via video link if required.
Speaking after the hearing, Senator Reynolds said she appreciated her colleagues’ support.
“I’ve been particularly grateful in recent times for the support from Scott Morrison and from many other witnesses in this trial in terms of the impact this has had on me and many other people as well,” she said.
“I’ve always hoped we could reach settlement before this point, but it doesn’t look like we will, so we are going to court because it is far too important.
“I need to clear my name finally after well over three years and so many people have been so damaged by this.”
Senator Reynolds said the case continued to affect her health.
She said other witnesses who could testify included a number of her doctors.
Another hearing has been scheduled for next week to attempt to resolve the timetabling matter.
The proceedings are set down for six weeks.
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