Federal Senator and perjurer Linda Reynolds is able to shake people down for defamation because the West Australian Labor Party have deliberately failed to keep up with the rest of the country with uniform defamation laws.

Linda Reynolds, who is a Senator for WA, has instituted numerous defamation proceedings in the Supreme Court of Western Australia, who still have the old defamation laws, against other parties in other states who all have the new defamation laws.

It gives Reynolds a huge advantage as the new defamation laws are designed to weed out the frivolous defamation cases that the old laws allowed such as the cases Reynolds has instituted. Other federal MP’s and Senators from other states would not be able to get away with what Senator Reynolds is doing.

While Linda Reynolds might have still had a small chance of winning the defamation cases, she has already won, under the new defamation laws she would have stood no chance in her current defamation cases against Brittany Higgins and her fiancé David Sharaz.

Linda Reynolds defamation cases

In April 2023 Linda Reynolds won defamation settlements from “journalist Aaron Patrick and publisher HarperCollins over a book that the former minister alleged made defamatory statements about her response to Brittany Higgins’ allegations of rape.”

Reynolds filed a writ against Patrick and the publisher in Western Australia’s supreme court in January (2023), seeking aggravated damages over allegations in the book Ego: Malcolm Turnbull and the Liberal Party’s Civil War. (Click here to read more)

In December 2023, “Liberal senator Linda Reynolds launched another high-profile defamation action, this time against the ACT government and former chief prosecutor Shane Drumgold.”

“A writ lodged in the West Australian supreme court says Drumgold sent a letter accusing the senator of “disturbing conduct” during Bruce Lehrmann’s rape trial.” (Click here to read more)

In March 2024, “The retiring Liberal senator Linda Reynolds has been awarded a $90,000 settlement and an apology from the Australian Capital Territory government after its former director of public prosecutions made defamatory allegations against her.”

The compromise settlement, which was finalised on Friday, included $70,000 in damages and $20,000 in legal costs. The agreement means the matter is considered finalised and will not continue to court.

“Reynolds launched the action against the ACT government and former chief prosecutor Shane Drumgold in December over allegations Drumgold made in a letter to the Australian federal police accusing the senator of “disturbing conduct” during the Bruce Lehrmann trial.” (Click here to read more)

Linda Reynolds cases against Brittany Hoggins and David Sharaz are currently in mediation which is due to start again in a week or so. “The legal row began in January 2023, when Reynolds launched legal action against Sharaz, claiming the former press gallery journalist published five social media posts that were falsely defamatory of her.”

Reynolds’ defamation suit against Higgins centred around two social media posts made to Instagram and Twitter in July 2023 in which Higgins accused Reynolds of using the press to harass her.

Australia’s new defamation laws

Under Australia’s old defamation laws, you only had to prove you were defamed in a minor and/or trivial way and you would win.

Since 2005 Australia has had uniform defamation laws across the country were every state and territory introduced the same laws. This stopped people going jurisdiction shopping.

For example, if someone claimed they were defamed across the country on Channel Nine’s national A Current Affair show they could not shop around and sue in a state or territory with defamation laws that suited their case because the laws were the same everywhere.

The defamation laws were updated again in 2021 with “serious harm” and mandatory “concerns notice” elements which are probably the most important updates for social media users.

But Western Australia and the Northern Territory are the last state or territory that have failed to update their defamation laws to bring them into line with the rest of the country.

The law firm Clayton Utz states the obvious:

Insofar as the 2021 reforms were aimed at reducing trivial claims, they introduced:

• Concerns notice process: Prospective plaintiffs are now required to issue a “concerns notice” to the publisher identifying the allegedly defamatory material, the serious harm suffered, and the imputations of concern, before commencing proceedings. This is a mandatory step, and proceedings cannot be commenced without a valid concerns notice. The process is aimed at facilitating non-litigious resolution of claims.
• Serious harm: The reforms introduce a new element to the defamation cause of action: the publication caused, or is likely to cause, serious harm to the reputation of the plaintiff. The new element has not yet received substantial consideration by superior courts.

“We expect to see the Federal Court become even more attractive to defamation plaintiffs if they do not have to establish serious harm before trial. The Supreme Courts of Western Australia and the Northern Territory are also currently an attractive prospect, since under the law of those jurisdictions, serious harm has not been introduced, and the concerns notice process is not mandatory.” (Click here to read more)

Senator Linda Reynolds

Linda Reynolds has done more damage to her own reputation than anyone else can do so for her to sue for defamation is a scandal.

The West Australian Labor Party who has allowed Linda Reynolds to run her frivolous defamation claims by not bringing WA’s defamation laws into line with other states have a lot to answer for.

Kerry Stokes’ defamation SLAPP lawsuits against me would not have survived under the new laws. So, I suspect the reason West Australia have not updated their defamation laws is because of lobbing by billionaires like Kerry Strokes and Gina Rinehart who are well known for suing for defamation and making threats to sue for defamation. If that is not the reason, I wonder what it is and the WA Labor Party should explain themselves.

Senator Linda Reynolds the Perjurer

Linda Reynolds lawyers threatened myself and this website with defamation after I published an article on the 20th of August 2023 titled “Did Senator Linda Reynolds’ perjury in the Bruce Lehrmann trial cost Brittany Higgins justice?” (Click here to read the article)

On the 23rd of August I received an email from Linda Reynolds lawyers demanding I take down the article. (Click here to read the letter)

On the 24th of August 2023 “Linda Reynolds’ lawyers discussed this website, Kangaroo Court of Australia and its publisher Shane Dowling (me), in the Supreme Court of Western Australia (24/8/23) in Reynolds’ defamation case against Brittany Higgins’ partner David Sharaz.” (Click here to read more)

I haven’t heard from Linda Reynolds or her lawyers since because she wouldn’t get any money out of me and also because she has a lot of explaining to do regarding her perjury during the rape trial. Linda Reynolds has admitted lying during the rape trial but she says it wasn’t deliberate but that doesn’t stack up as I wrote in the article.

For social media user – know your rights

The bottom line to the new serious harm element and concerns notice is that you have to send a concerns notice 28 days before you file a claim in court and it must outline the “serious harm” that the defamatory matter has caused, or is likely to cause, to the reputation of the person.

If you are ever threatened with defamation, besides in WA the NT, this is a good judgement to read, Randell v McLachlain [2022] NSWDC 506 (27 October 2022). Karina McLachlain was sued for defamation over a Facebook post but it was thrown out as the applicant’s concerns notice was defective because it failed to identify any serious harm.

People in power, and a few nutters on the internet, are still making frivolous threats to sue for defamation but their ability to follow through has greatly diminished with the new defamation laws. But of course, there is Linda Reynolds taking advantage of WA’s out of date laws.

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