00:00Ms Higgins was due to be the key witness in the trial, alongside Senator Reynolds, who
00:06testified for the whole first week. But Ms Higgins' lawyer, Rachel Young, told the Western
00:12Australian Supreme Court she had a significant matter of timing to announce, and said she
00:16would not be calling Ms Higgins. She listed three reasons. Firstly, that Ms Higgins did
00:22not need to give oral evidence. Secondly, that she did not believe she needed to call
00:26Ms Higgins to successfully defend the case. Ms Young said she would expand on that in
00:31her closing submissions. Thirdly, Ms Young mentioned the matter of Ms Higgins' medical
00:35state. She didn't go into any detail, but she did tender several medical reports to
00:40the court. Senator Reynolds' defamation action centres around social media posts by
00:45Ms Higgins, which she claims damaged her reputation and caused her distress. Ms Higgins' defence
00:51in the defamation trial relies in part on the truth defence, claiming Senator Reynolds
00:56did mishandle the rape allegation and did not fully support her. The trial could now
01:01finish next week.
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