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The Kitching rebuttal of Reynolds narrative is a massive setback.Exactly.
Which is why Reynolds lawyer has put forward this notion of a tortuous conspiracy - i.e. that the handful of instagram posts from Ms Higgins and her partner that are listed front and centre in her statement of claim should not be viewed on their own but as part of a long series of inter-connected events, starting from Ten's Project interview that aired in March 2021.
It's this idea of of a coordinated and planned conspiracy by Ms Higgins targeting Reynolds that included prepping Labor MPs and Senators such as Katy Gallagher, Penny Wong and Tanya Plibersek for Parliamentary Question time that is central to the Reynolds case. It's why her lawyer subpoenaed Higgins and her partner's text msgs, emails and social media app postings from her mobile devices going back years. Her despicable attempt to subpoena two rape victim survivors (Saxony Mullins and Nina Funnell) who organised an online campaign to raise funds for Brittany Higgins defence costs was also a part of that plan.
But Reynolds and her shifty lawyer Martin Bennett may have been too clever by half in trying to make this catch all claim of a coordinated conspiracy. Because its pretty clear that proving it relied heavily on entrapping Ms Higgins by her own words during cross examination when she gives evidence. Ms Higgins not being able to give evidence on medical grounds has denied them that opportunity.
So as a fall back Reynolds must now rely on tabling all the evidence they captured in terms of emails, txt messages and the like and crafting their own case proving that it all points to a carefully coordinated political conspiracy.
Reynolds' lawyer told journalists yesterday that 'a huge number of documents would need to be tendered to the court now that Ms Higgins is not testifying. This includes 56,287 pages of documents extracted from Ms Higgins's phone by the Australian Federal Police, including WhatsApp messages.'
Both he and Ms Higgins' lawyer, Rachel Young SC, indicated they would need some time – probably days – to sort out which of these communications would be most relevant to each of their cases, and to then tender them to the court so Justice Paul Tottle could easily see the most pertinent parts.
EDIT: One thing that is odd about the witnesses called by Senator Reynolds to prove this idea of a politically motivated 'tortuous conspiracy'. And that is that she did not call any of the Labor politicians that she claims are the other end of this conspiracy. I wonder why? My view is that Senator Reynolds and her lawyer fear what they might reveal about events surrounding the alleged rape in Senator Reynolds' office and subsequently. That and the fact Reynolds seems to be only capable of punching down when it comes to legal action - this being the SIXTH defamation action she has launched in her political career (five have been settled in her favour).
I do love that Morrison and Reynolds are screaming from roof tops that there was no political cover up whilst simultaneously building their narrative of a grand political conspiracy.
The hypocrisy of the Liberals knows no bounds.