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 substantial truth defence may miscarry. I will proceed to do so, but first I will turn to some aspects of what next happened, being the immediate post-incident conduct.

IFINDINGS AS TO RELEVANT POST-INCIDENT CONDUCT

I.1Introduction

630 It is important to stress the relevance of any immediate post-incident conduct. As I have indicated in Section G.5, alleged counterintuitive behaviour after the incident cannot be assessed in a vacuum and, to get a complete picture, it is appropriate to have regard to all relevant contemporaneous actions of Ms Higgins, that is, not just alleged counterintuitive conduct but also conduct not inconsistent with her being a victim of sexual assault.

631 Moreover, given the central importance of the creditworthiness of Ms Higgins and the care necessary in dealing with her evidence, as I have explained, it is relevant to ascertain whether Ms Higgins has made false representations (both in and out-of-court), including as to matters other than just leading up to her being in the Minister's office. All these matters need to be considered in evaluating her credit and factored into my assessment as to whether the respondents discharged their onus (as I have done). As I have already noted, the findings in this section, although considered by me in assessing the credit of Ms Higgins for the purposes of the determination of the substantial truth defence, only appear in this part of my reasons to keep my findings in roughly chronological order as an aid to comprehension.

I.2The Immediate Aftermath: Miscellaneous Matters Referred to in Submissions

632 I have already touched upon some aspects of the immediate post-incident conduct. What also relevantly happened in 2019 is set out below. These facts, like those above, are found primarily by reference to the contemporaneous records, objectively established facts, and the apparent logic of events.

633 The contemporaneous records reveal that the security incident was escalated quickly and further demonstrate the lack of substance in the notion (implicit and sometimes explicit in the respondents' submissions) that Ms Higgins was treated poorly by members of the Department of Parliamentary Security (DPS). These records, usefully collected in MC, demonstrate that:


 * (1) At approximately 6:10am, Ms Anderson rang her team leader to let him know that Ms Higgins had not left; she was told to apprise her day shift relief and to keep it as discreet as possible "given the compromising position the female had been in" and her Lehrmann v Network Ten Pty Limited (Trial Judgment) [2024] FCA 369