David Sharaz’s “biggest fear” was that Australians would think he was the mastermind behind the media storm surrounding Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations, according to hundreds of texts released by a court.
The messages between Sharaz and News Corp Australia journalist Samantha Maiden were released by the Western Australian Supreme Court on Wednesday as part of Senator Linda Reynolds’ defamation case against Higgins.
Ms Maiden was summoned to give evidence because she was the one who revealed the story about Ms Higgins’ rape and was in regular contact with Mr Sharaz at the time it was published on 15 February 2021.
Ms Higgins claimed her former colleague Bruce Lehrmann raped her inside Senator Reynolds’ ministerial suite in Parliament House in 2019. She also claimed the senator tried to cover up the assault, which Ms Reynolds denies.
In the texts, Sharaz outlined a number of concerns, including an apparent conspiracy that the former Liberal government purchased bots to spread negativity about him on X, formerly Twitter, comparing his appearance to that of Lehrmann.
He said: “I’ve been getting it all the time, like being called a rapist and that I look like him.”
At one point, he promised to “refrain from posting tweets critical of the government.” Now, Reynolds is suing him for tweets written the following year, in 2022.
At another point, he told Ms. Maiden, “I feel like (her) producer haha” because she was giving him so much information.
However, Mr Sharaz seemed primarily concerned that Ms Higgins’ story would disappear from the public radar the day after Ms Maiden published her story and the government “got away with it” by allegedly covering up a rape.
Pictured: David Sharaz with Brittany Higgins after moving to France last year.
Samantha Maiden (pictured) was the first to break the story about Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations.
About two weeks before the story broke, Sharaz told Maiden: “Journally speaking, do you think this will cause a stir or will it be a story without follow-up? Is it worth it for me to do it?”
“Ultimately, all she wants is for (her rape) to not happen again. It’s a pretty pure motive.”
Ms Maiden replied: “Yes, it is worth doing. Yes, there will be follow-up.”
A week after the story broke, he told Ms Maiden: “Britt and I now regret all of this. But oh well.”
Mrs. Maiden asked: Really?
Mr Sharaz replied: “Because the government seems to have got its way and we are both unemployed.”
Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz resigned from their jobs just before the allegations became public. At the time, she was working as a Liberal staffer for Senator Michaelia Cash and he was working for the government.
Ms Maiden noted that the Coalition was grilled about Ms Higgins’ rape allegations during question time in Parliament, to the point that Ms Reynolds was hospitalised.
“If the aim is to bring about changes in Parliament, all these investigations are nothing,” he said.
Mr Sharaz replied: “I can say with certainty” that the government got its way and said then Prime Minister Scott Morrison was “standing by Linda”.
Twitter users compared David Sharaz’s appearance to that of Bruce Lehrmann (both pictured)
David Sharaz told Samantha Maiden that he and Brittany Higgins regretted going public with their story (text mockup shown)
David Sharaz told Samantha Maiden his “biggest fear” was that people would think he incited Ms Higgins to speak publicly about her rape.
Three months later, in May, he explained to Maiden why he had posted a tweet criticising the government.
He told Maiden he knew it was “not a smart decision” to write the tweet, but “I think I would have regretted not fighting back on my deathbed.”
“I hope this is the last time I appear in the media and I will refrain from posting tweets critical of the government in the future,” he added.
‘My biggest fear is that people will say that I made her do this. We all know Britt. You can’t force her to do anything.
“I’m not the evil genius the Prime Minister’s Office seems to think I am. I don’t actually think they do. But I do feel like they hate me.”
“And being hated is a relatively new concept to live with.”
In April this year, a Federal Court judge found Sharaz liable for the publicity surrounding Higgins’ rape allegations and allegations that Reynolds and the Liberal government tried to cover up her assault.
In June 2021, after Lehrmann was charged with rape, Sharaz again said he and Higgins thought the government “got away with murder” by mishandling the assault.
Ms Maiden said: ‘We’ve had this discussion before but it didn’t work out.
“They were named in parliament… The idea that they got away with it is the expression of depression. I think it’s a strange interpretation of what happened.”
In July, he sent Maiden a screenshot of a social media post that showed him in a negative light.
David Sharaz was frustrated that Twitter users said he looked like Bruce Lehrmann
David Sharaz said he knew for a fact that the government had hired bots to spread negativity. Samantha Maiden asked where that information came from, but did not respond.
He said: “I’ve been getting it all the time, like being called a rapist and that I look like him.”
“Is it just boring people or the government? It’s very strange.”
Ms Maiden said: ‘The madmen on Twitter – it’s good when they identify with the block with vigour.’
He later denied his suggestion that the government paid bots to discredit him on Twitter.
“Of course it’s not the government! Come on!” he said.
Mr Sharaz replied: “I know for a fact that they outsourced bots. They may not do that anymore, but they did at the beginning of all this.”
Ms Maiden asked: “What does ‘outsourced bots’ mean? And what are the ‘facts’?”
He did not respond.
In August, Mr Sharaz spoke out about an investigative report that followed an independent review into whether the former Liberal government attempted to cover up Ms Higgins’ rape allegations, known as the Gaetjens report.
Ms Maiden said the report was probably already finished but was unlikely to be published because Lehrmann’s criminal trial was due to start in two months.
Mr Sharaz said: “Good point, and I’m glad they don’t!”
Mrs Maiden asked: ‘Why are you glad they don’t?’
Mr Sharaz said he believed this could have an impact on the criminal case, but he also did not believe the government would want to “admit” to having knowledge of the attack on Ms Higgins and the way it was handled.
“The government will never admit to having any knowledge of what happened. They have already made themselves convinced of this. I know we are giving them the benefit of the doubt, but I do not believe that this review is a truly independent process,” he wrote.
Ms Maiden said the government would likely have taken the view that the report could not be published before the criminal trial.
Linda Reynolds is pictured, left, outside the Supreme Court in Washington in early August.
He replied: “You’re much more confident than me, haha. No way!”
She said: “It’s not a question of trust. It’s a question of common sense. They would be very cautious about doing anything that could affect the trial.”
Sharaz said: “I don’t think that’s true. I don’t think they care or want justice for Britt. It’s a mess for them.”
Ms Maiden strongly disagreed and told him the decision not to publish it was based on legal advice and not emotion.
“This has nothing to do with silencing anyone. It’s really about protecting Brittany’s right to a trial that doesn’t fail,” he said.
Mr Sharaz replied: “I think we have different views on the government. I don’t want to sound like a crazy conspiracy theorist, but given everything they’ve done to keep him silent for two years, I don’t think they’re morally right.”
Lehrmann was tried for rape in the ACT Supreme Court in October 2022, but the case collapsed due to misconduct by a juror. The Director of Public Prosecutions then withdrew the charge citing fears for Higgins’ mental health.
In April, a Federal Court judge found on a balance of probabilities that Lehrmann raped Higgins in Parliament in 2019. He has lodged an appeal.
Ms Reynolds is now suing Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz for continually alleging on social media that she tried to cover up the rape and that she pressured the former staff member not to go to the police about his assault.
Mr Sharaz acknowledged defeat earlier this year, but the matter has not been resolved.
