A Queensland judge has knocked back Bruce Lehrmann's attempt to get his hands on every frame of footage from Silenced, the documentary that features Brittany Higgins. In the Toowoomba District Court on Monday 29 June, Judge Deborah Richards set aside Lehrmann's subpoena for a copy of the film, all of its unused footage and its distribution schedule, finding there was "no legitimate forensic purpose" to the demand.
Lehrmann, 30, is due to stand trial in Queensland from 2 November on two counts of rape, alleged to have happened in Toowoomba in October 2021. He has said he'll contest the matter, is yet to enter a plea, and is presumed innocent. His Queensland trial is a separate matter and does not concern Higgins.
Lehrmann's solicitor, Zali Burrows, had subpoenaed a copy of the film and any raw, unedited footage, arguing her client should be able to see whether any of it should be subject to an injunction stopping it being published before or during his trial. She told the court the film's promotion was likely to confuse the potential jury pool, and the court heard it could be prejudicial to potential jurors.
For the producers, barrister Dauid Sibtain called the subpoena an abuse of process that lacked a legitimate forensic purpose, telling the court Silenced made no reference to Lehrmann's trial and was already screening.
The producers, Stranger Than Fiction Films, are now chasing their legal costs from him. Silenced bills itself as a post #MeToo documentary that reveals how defamation laws are "weaponised to silence survivors", and it lists Higgins as a major interview subject alongside human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson and actor Amber Heard. It's a striking pitch, given a court has already found Higgins used her own public platform to defame the senator she once worked for.
Brittany Higgins was declared bankrupt and is now working for Vida Fund
Higgins was declared bankrupt on 12 December 2025, owing Reynolds over the defamation case. An undischarged bankrupt can't act as a company director or manage a corporation without the court's permission, which is why her role at the Vida Impact Fund is listed as executive director rather than a directorship. It's a long fall from December 2022, when Higgins received a $2.445 million Commonwealth settlement, most of it earmarked for lost earnings.
These days Higgins back campaigning, running the Vida Fund to raise money for independent female candidates and to take on Pauline Hanson's One Nation.
The WA Supreme Court found Higgins and David Sharaz defamed Linda Reynolds
In 2025, Justice Paul Tottle of the WA Supreme Court found Higgins had made 26 false or misleading statements about Linda Reynolds and, with her husband David Sharaz, had defamed the former defence minister. Reynolds was awarded $315,000 in damages plus $26,000 in interest and 80% of her legal costs, a bill that could climb past $1 million. Sharaz, whom GetUp hired to a senior role in February, was also found to have defamed Reynolds and has since been declared bankrupt.
The court found the pair's posts carried false claims that Reynolds had "mishandled Higgins' rape allegation, orchestrated harassment and sought to silence sexual assault victims".
David Sharaz and a Press Club stunt now sitting with police
Sharaz was in the room on 17 June when a mechanised banner dropped behind Pauline Hanson during her National Press Club address. GetUp claimed the stunt in a statement that read "It was us". ACT Policing is investigating a complaint about interference with the club's equipment, with AFP Forensics examining the rig that was left behind. One Nation senator Sean Bell has called for GetUp and Sharaz to be banned from Parliament House.
Sharaz hasn't been charged with any offence, and filming an event you hold a ticket to isn't a crime. What the club has done is close its doors to him. Its chief executive, Maurice Reilly, told One News:
David Sharaz's application has been declined. He is not welcome at the club in the future.
The narrative keeps travelling further than the court record
None of this will slow Silenced as it continues to keep screening at festivals, the Vida Fund will keep raising money for candidates, and Higgins will keep being sold to audiences as a silenced survivor.
The court record tells a plainer story. A senator was defamed and is still chasing a seven figure costs bill, a taxpayer settlement worth $2.445 million has come and gone, and both Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz have been declared bankrupt. Sharaz is also locked out of the National Press Club, where the GetUp stunt he filmed is now in the hands of police.
