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Brittany Higgins’ former superior is set to confront the federal government over allegations it neglected to safeguard her following her shocking claims of being raped inside Parliament House.
Fiona Brown, who served as chief-of-staff to then-Defence Minister Linda Reynolds in 2019, was in charge when Higgins accused her co-worker Bruce Lehrmann of raping her in Reynolds’ office.
Federal Court Justice Michael Lee recognized Brown for her compassionate and principled response to Higgins’ complaint, noting that she had been wrongly “vilified as an unfeeling apparatchik” accused of attempting to conceal a crime.
In a high-profile ruling in April 2024, Justice Lee determined there was no evidence supporting Higgins’ claims of a cover-up, though he acknowledged that Lehrmann likely committed the rape.
Meanwhile, Lehrmann is currently awaiting the outcome of his appeal against a substantial defamation defeat to Network 10.
After playing a key role in the defamation proceedings, Brown returned to the Federal Court on Monday for her own fight against the Commonwealth.
Justice Nye Perram set the matter down for a four-week hearing beginning in March 2027, noting it could be shorter.
He ordered the Commonwealth to notify Brown by December 19 if it intends to make an application for part or all of her case to be struck out.
The dispute will return to court in February.
If the trial proceeds, it will take place eight years after Higgins told Brown she had woken semi-naked in their boss’s office.
The then-chief-of-staff was shocked when Higgins later said Lehrmann had been on top of her, Justice Lee found.
He ruled that Lehrmann had been so “hell-bent” on having sex with Higgins that he didn’t care whether she was consenting.
Lehrmann has long denied raping Higgins. A criminal trial was abandoned in 2022 with no findings made against him.
His defamation lawsuit against Network 10 resulted in a finding to the lesser civil standard of the balance of probabilities that Higgins was proven to be a victim of sexual assault.
“Having escaped the lions’ den, Lehrmann made the mistake of going back for his hat,” Justice Lee quipped.