By Aaron Bunch in Perth

Brittany Higgins’ decision to speak to the media two years after her alleged rape at Parliament House was courageous and she was entitled to do it, a defamation trial has been told.

Senator Linda Reynolds is suing Ms Higgins over a series of social media posts she says damaged her reputation as she pursues vindication for a series of alleged mistruths.

Ms Higgins went public in 2021, speaking to journalists Lisa Wilkinson on Network Ten’s The Project and Samantha Maiden from News Corp, about the rape allegation and the senator’s handling of it.

Ms Higgins’ lawyer Rachael Young SC told the court on Monday her client, then 24, finally found the “courage” to speak up about the alleged rape and workplace culture at Parliament House.

“Ms Higgins had every right to give press interviews as she did on The Project in 2021,” she told the Western Australian Supreme Court during her opening submissions.

Ms Young also targeted the claim that Ms Higgins and her husband David Sharaz created and executed a plan to use the rape and political cover-up allegations as a weapon to inflict damage on the senator and the Morrison government.

“Two young adults in their 20s, in effect, plan to bring down the Liberal government,” she said.

“One doesn’t need to know much about politics to know such aspirations would be, to put it mildly, bold in a representative democracy like Australia.”

Ms Young rebutted as implausible the senator’s claim she wasn’t aware Ms Higgins had been raped when the pair met on April 1, 2019, eight days after the alleged incident.

“It became increasingly clear that Ms Higgins was in significant distress,” she said.

“Her (alleged) rapist had been fired.

“The notion that the senator had no suspicion of any criminal activity … On the evidence that will not pass muster.

“She ought to have known or believed or suspected, that Ms Higgins had been sexually assaulted.”

Ms Young said Senator Reynolds already knew Ms Higgins was found naked on a couch in the ministerial suite after Bruce Lehrmann “fled” Parliament House when the pair met.

“The senator did not tell Ms Higgins everything that she had learned,” she said.

“We say also that the senator suggested to Ms Higgins that she was not the right person to be talking about it.

“So that’s not the right response of an employer, and suggesting that Ms Higgins go and speak to someone else about it, effectively telling her to go elsewhere is not supportive and is not handling the allegation correctly.”

Ms Young zeroed in on Senator Reynolds’ claim Ms Higgins was not ill-treated when she was sent to Perth three weeks later to help with campaigning before the 2019 election.

“She felt isolated, traumatised, depressed and confused,” she said.

She said Ms Higgins was working hard for the political party she supported and it was surprising she was seen smiling at campaign events, which the senator has said was evidence her staffer was not suffering after the alleged rape.

Text messages illustrating Ms Higgins’ distress were read to the court.

“I’m not sure why but I just feel super angry at the moment, probably misdirected and should be aimed at Bruce, but so pissed at people in the party,” Ms Young said reading one.

“She’s clearly trying to process it. She’s clearly experiencing distress and anger.”

Senator Reynolds is scheduled to give evidence after Ms Young completes her opening submissions and Ms Higgins is slated to testify in the last week of August.

The court was told on Monday she’s still in France and travelling to Paris to sign an affidavit at the Australian Embassy.

Lehrmann has always denied sexually assaulting Ms Higgins. His criminal trial was aborted because of juror misconduct and Ms Higgins’ mental health was cited as the reason for no retrial.