Liberal senator Linda Reynolds has admitted she requested transcripts of Brittany Higgins's evidence in the ACT Supreme Court trial of Bruce Lehrmann.
Mr Lehrmann is accused of raping Brittany Higgins inside Senator Reynolds's office at Parliament House after a drunken night out with colleagues.
He has pleaded not guilty.
During questioning this afternoon from Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold, Senator Reynolds also admitted her partner had sat in on the trial.
Senator Reynolds said she didn't realise it was inappropriate that she had sought to obtain information about Ms Higgins's testimony through lawyers.
"You wrote an SMS to my friend [defence lawyer Steven Whybrow] asking him to send [a] transcript to your lawyer at the commencement of Ms Higgins's cross-examination, didn't you?" Mr Drumgold asked Senator Reynolds.
"Yes, but I was advised it wasn't appropriate," she responded.
"My lawyer made it very clear that it wasn't very appropriate."
Senator Reynolds also rejected the suggestion by Mr Drumgold that she was "attempting to coach" the defence when she sent a text about Ms Higgins and Nicole [Nicky] Haymer, her former media advisor.
"You're alerting the defence lawyer two hours into the cross-examination of Brittany Higgins; 'if you have text messages between Brittany and Nicky [Haymer], they may be revealing," he said.
"As I said I haven't been through this process before and I talked to both you and the defence, which I understood was appropriate — going through this mentally I've done nothing but for the last 18 months go through all of this and it seemed appropriate," Senator Reynolds responded.
Mr Drumgold also asked Senator Reynolds why her partner was in the back of the court for Ms Higgins's testimony.
"During Ms Higgins's evidence you're in Rwanda and your partner lives in Perth and your partner finds himself in the back of the court listening to Ms Higgins's evidence, correct?"
Senator Reynolds said they also had a home in Canberra but had not asked her partner to tell her what was said in court.
The court later heard that Senator Reynolds was in fact not in Rwanda, but in Perth, at the time her partner was in Canberra.
She said her lawyer had told her that seeking out information about another witness's testimony was inappropriate.
"I wanted to know what had been said but my lawyer advised against it," she said.
"I wasn't aware it wasn't appropriate."
'She thanked me'
Senator Reynolds also rejected the allegation that she was concerned about any political repercussions of Ms Higgins's alleged rape.
"If you're invested enough to text my friend from Perth and we're not in an election… I'm suggesting that on the first of April 2019 when you're meeting with Brittany Higgins, you're very politically invested in what's happening in that room aren't you?," Mr Drumgold asked.
"Absolutely not, I categorically reject that assertion," Senator Reynolds said.
Senator Reynolds said she did not ask for more information about the security breach inside Parliament House from Ms Higgins, as she believed it was up to her to disclose her version of events.
"I didn't and I made a point of not asking because when I talked to the [AFP Commissioner Leanne Close] … she said you take your lead from Ms Higgins," Senator Reynolds told defence lawyer Steven Whybrow.
Senator Reynolds said the advice from the commissioner was: "It's their story, their circumstance that you take your lead from her".
Senator Reynolds also said she didn't believe there was any animosity with Ms Higgins, and told the court Ms Higgins gave her flowers on her last day.
"She gave me a lovely big bunch of flowers and she thanked me."
She also said she never indicated to Ms Higgins that her job was at risk if she were to relocate to the Gold Coast for the election campaign.
'I don't know how it could be politically embarrassing'
Ms Higgins worked for Liberal senator Michaelia Cash from June 2019 until February 2021, who also took the witness stand on Monday.
In court, Senator Cash said she was not told about the "sexual element" of the alleged assault until February 2021, when Ms Higgins tried to resign.
"Not a sexual element, no," Senator Cash said.
Mr Drumgold asked Senator Cash if she was aware of the alleged incident earlier than she had said.
"The question is, I'm putting to you that you were aware, you were fully aware in October 2019 that Brittany Higgins had made an allegation that she was sexually assaulted by Bruce Lehrmann," he said.
"I can't accept that," Senator Cash said.
"I don't accept that."
Mr Drumgold asked Senator Cash if it would be a political issue for her party if the allegations were to be released publicly.
"Absolutely not… I don't know how it could be politically embarrassing," she responded.
Mr Drumgold also asked Senator Cash if she denied any knowledge of the event in court.
"Are you familiar with the term plausible deniability?" Mr Drumgold asked.
"I'm not quite sure what you're referring to," Senator Cash responded.
"Plausible deniability with regard to an allegation of sexual assault by one staff member against another staff member in a government minister's office," he said.
"I do apologise, I don't understand what you're trying to ask me," Senator Cash said.
"I'm suggesting that you were aware of what Ms Higgins alleged during the course of her employment with you." Mr Drumgold said.
Senator Cash denied that she had heard of the alleged sexual assault earlier than February 5, 2021, and said she had offered support to Ms Higgins to go to the police.
Chief of staff alerted to rape allegation following media enquiry
Senator Cash's chief of staff Daniel Try also appeared as a witness in court on Monday.
Mr Try was asked if one of the duties of a political chief of staff was to protect against political fallout.
He said it was, but he did not know about Ms Higgins's alleged sexual assault until early 2021.
"This was an event I didn't have any knowledge of at that time," he said.
He told the court he was called by Ms Reynolds in October of 2019 after a media enquiry had been made about the alleged rape.
"Linda Reynolds called me — she basically said she was about to send someone around from her office to talk to Brittany because there had been a media enquiry about an incident that happened in Linda's office when Brittany worked for her," he said.
"It really came out of the blue.
"You usually don't have a minister from another office calling you directly."
When asked what Senator Reynolds told Mr Try, he said the conversation was vague.
"Didn't go into detail but said it wasn't Brittany's fault, basically — looking back it seems she was careful not to go into detail," he said.
However, Mr Try maintained that he did not know about the alleged assault until early 2021 when Ms Higgins told him in a meeting in his office.
"In this particular circumstance, I was actually quite surprised that she was so upset — I don't think I'd ever seen Brittany cry so much before."
'A super f****d up thing that happened'
Queensland politician and friend of Ms Higgins's, Sam O'Connor, was also called to the stand.
He told the court Ms Higgins told him about the alleged assault in April 2019, and it made him "very angry".
"I think she described it as a 'super f****d up thing that happened," he told the court.
Mr O'Connor said he had discussed with Ms Higgins what allegedly happened on that night many times after she first told him.
"I definitely remember her being concerned that this would define her, that she would be known for this instead of being good at her job," he said.
The prosecution has now closed its case and the trial will continue on Tuesday.
