“If Ms Higgins does not accept Justice Lee’s findings on the claims of cover-up and mistreatment then,regrettably,it will have to be proved again in our trial set for July this year.”

While not naming Reynolds,Higgins seemingly responded to the news in a since deleted Instagram post on Sunday evening. She shared an image of tire tracks on sand to her story,alongside the caption,“Ah. Wonderful. Keep showing people the truth of who you really are.”

In a historic decision in the Federal Court last Monday,Lee upheld Network Ten and TV presenter Lisa Wilkinson’s truth defence to Lehrmann’s defamation claim over an interview with Higgins broadcast onThe Project on February 15,2021.

Lee’s finding that there was no political cover-up,which he said was the most important theme ofThe Project story,fuelled media and opposition scrutiny of a $2.4 million federal compensation payment to Higgins. The payment was arranged in December 2022 after prosecutors dropped charges against Lehrmann after a mistrial due to juror misconduct.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said Higgins’ statement was gracious and noted the improvements in parliamentary standards since her claims were aired.

He and opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham put the blowtorch on senior ministers Katy Gallagher and Penny Wong,who led the questioning of the Morrison government over the affair.

“I don’t think the problem in relation to the payout is on Brittany’s side – I think it’s on the government’s side,and I think others have pointed that out,” Dutton said on the ABC’sInsiders program on Sunday.

“If there’s an inappropriateness to the political opportunism that Katy Gallagher and others tried to eke out of an alleged sexual assault,then firstly,I think that reflects poorly on Katy Gallagher,but also on the government as well.”

Birmingham pointed to Lee’s judgment about “politicisation of the matter impeding the criminal prosecution” of Lehrmann.

”There are those within the media and there are those within the parliament,and I think they all know who they are in terms of the way in which they pursued this in the parliament,the types of questions that were presented and the way in which they were relentlessly presented,” he said on Sky News’Sunday Agenda.

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