Saxon Mullins Caught in Legal Battle Over Fundraiser

A sexual assault survivor advocate, Saxon Mullins, who initiated the fundraiser #StandWithBrittanyHiggins raising more than $51,000 for the parliamentary employee who was allegedly raped by a male colleague, has become a target of a legal conflict. Mullins, who has been famous for many years as a defender of those who have experienced sexual assault and as a campaigner at the Rape & Sexual Assault Research & Advocacy and the Centre for Social Research in Health, now is involved in a defamation lawsuit together with Senator Linda Reynolds and her former employee, Brittany Higgins. The legal conflict, which is based on allegations that Higgins was raped by a male at Parliament House, has long-lasting consequences for the sexual assault victim advocate.

Higgins and Reynolds’ solicitor, Martin Bennett, filed a subpoena in the Western Australia Supreme Court that required Mullins to give evidence. According to Funnell, Bennett suggested that this fundraising event “may give the public the impression that Ms Higgins and Ms Mullins have similar aims and similar views on the parties to the ongoing litigation”. Consequently, Funnell launched another fundraiser, #SupportSaxonMullins, which is led by the #Let Us Speak movement. The fundraiser aims to cover Mullins’s costs to avoid any consequences of her fundraising activities, which may impact the other legal battle. Justice Paul Tottle will announce his decision on this issue this Friday.