<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>327039</docID> <postdate>2024-08-19 16:19:41</postdate> <headline>Reynolds’ preselection standing damaged: Liberals elder</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-327036" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20231219001879901491-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> <caption>Lawyers will argue about evidence to be accepted from Fiona Brown instead of her being in court. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Aaron Bunch</strong> in Perth</span></p> <p><strong>Linda Reynolds would be unlikely to win top spots on a Liberal election ticket because of her handling of Brittany Higgins' alleged rape and accusations it was covered up, a senior party figure has told a defamation trial.</strong></p> <p>Senator Reynolds is suing her former staffer Ms Higgins - who is defending the claim - over a series of social media posts containing alleged mistruths she believes damaged her reputation.</p> <p>Western Australian Liberal Party selection committee chair Jeremy Buxton told a Perth court if the senator had stood for preselection and not retired she would have probably been relegated to position three or lower on the ticket.</p> <p>"Linda Reynolds has been a well-regarded senator but it is very likely ... there would be a feeling among a considerable number of delegates that (she) had mishandled the situation in her office, that she may have been unethical in her cover-up," he told the Supreme Court on Monday in answer to a hypothetical question from the senator's lawyer Martin Bennett.</p> <p>"She may well have been judged a little more harshly as a female senator that she did not adequately support a young female staff member, even if not all the allegations would be believed across the mass of the delegates, there would be a very considerable reservation putting her at a disadvantage to other colleagues who didn't have to answer those sorts of questions.</p> <p>"She would have been struggling ... to get the third position."</p> <p>Mr Buxton said position three on the ticket was problematic and position four put a candidate in an unwinnable position unless there was a landslide.</p> <p>He said Justice Michael Lee's Federal Court judgment in Bruce Lehrmann's failed defamation against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson when he debunked allegations of a cover-up by the Morrison government would have been helpful.</p> <p>But Mr Buxton wasn't sure it would have "covered all doubts, problems and insinuations on the matter".</p> <p>Medical doctor Antonio Di Dio was called to parliament after the senator broke down in February 2021 in the days after Ms Higgins appeared on Network Ten's The Project.</p> <p>"I recall that Senator Reynolds was very anxious and very stressed," he said.</p> <p>"I had been asked to see her because of acute anxiety and this was confirmed during my meeting."</p> <p>Dr Di Dio said the senator told him she had been experiencing chest pain.</p> <p>"Sometimes on the chest is a symptom of the anxiety itself, but sometimes it's a symptom of the targeted separate issue, such as a cardiovascular problem that is exacerbated by the concurrent anxiety or exists entirely separate to it," he said.</p> <p>The senator was referred to a cardiologist and later to a psychologist and a psychiatrist.</p> <p>"I was concerned about the high level of anxiety and the profound effect that that was having Senator Reynolds' work at the time," he said.</p> <p>"She was obviously was doing important work and was incapable of attending which was causing her emotional distress."</p> <p>He said he referred the senator to a psychiatrist for a diagnosis and to ensure there weren't underlying issues causing the symptoms.</p> <p>The psychologist was tasked with implementing a course of therapy to reduce her anxiety symptoms.</p> <p>Dr Di Dio said a cardiologist found the senator's prolonged chest pain was triggered by anterior T-wave abnormalities triggered by heightened emotional stress and likely microvascular disease.</p> <p>Senator Reynolds announced she would not recontest the next election in February 2024.</p> <p>Lehrmann denies raping Ms Higgins in the then defence minister's office and his criminal trial was derailed by juror misconduct.</p> <p>https://citynews.com.au/2024/beat-up-or-stuff-up-its-still-dangerously-wrong/</p> </body>