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Daily Mail
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Senator Linda Reynolds lashes out after corruption watchdog clears Brittany Higgins' $2million payout
Senator Linda Reynolds is 'bitterly disappointed' by a watchdog's finding there was no corruption associated with a $2.4million compensation payout to former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins. Ms Higgins reached the agreement with the Commonwealth in December 2022 after her alleged rape in Parliament House in 2019, while she was working in Senator Reynolds' office. The settlement was referred to the National Anti-Corruption Commission by Senator Reynolds, who questioned the handling of the process by then-attorney-general Mark Dreyfus. 'I am bitterly disappointed by the NACC's decision not to investigate the circumstances surrounding the Commonwealth's multi-million dollar settlement with Ms Higgins,' Senator Reynolds said in a statement on Thursday. The senator claimed she had been given 'no opportunity to defend the serious and baseless claims against me' during a mediation process. 'I fail to understand how the Commonwealth and its lawyers could not appreciate the serious and probable consequences of settling such serious allegations on my behalf... and the message that it would send to the public about the truth of those matters,' she said. Senator Reynolds said it was one of the issues her Federal Court lawsuit against the Commonwealth over the settlement would explore. The commission found 'no corruption issue' with Ms Higgins' payout following an investigation. 'No corruption issue arises, and so there is no basis for any further action by the commission,' the watchdog said in a statement. 'There was no inappropriate intervention in the process by or on behalf of any minister. 'The then-attorney-general approved the settlement in accordance with the departmental advice. 'Documents produced showed that decisions made in relation to the settlement were based on advice from independent external solicitors and experienced senior and junior counsel.' The commission said there was 'no material difference' in the legal advice surrounding the payment during the term of the former coalition government and the current Labor government. The agreement of the settlement amount within one day during mediation was not unusual. 'It was the culmination of a process which took approximately 12 months. None of this is unusual for a non-litigated personal injury claim,' the commission said. 'A critical consideration during the settlement process was avoiding ongoing trauma to Ms Higgins.' Ms Higgins alleged she was raped by Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann in a Parliament House office in 2019. Lehrmann has always denied the allegations. Charges were brought against Lehrmann in a criminal trial in 2022, but were abandoned after juror misconduct. A retrial was ruled out because of the potential effect on the mental health of Ms Higgins. A defamation trial brought on by Lehrmann found that on the balance of probabilities he had raped Ms Higgins.
News.com.au
12-06-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
Linda Reynolds targets former Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus in Higgins lawsuit
Linda Reynolds has turned her attention to former Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus in her bid to sue the Commonwealth over its compensation payment to Brittany Higgins, as the nation's anti-corruption agency revealed there was 'no corruption issue' in the payment. The retiring former Liberal minister in May launched action in the Federal Court against the Commonwealth, with the crux of the claim over the $2.4m compensation payment to Brittany Higgins in 2022. Senator Reynolds argued the payment was 'publicly affirming' of Ms Higgins allegations against her that she didn't support her former staffer when she alleged she was raped by Bruce Lehrmann. The Federal Court has found Mr Lehrmann raped Ms Higgins on the civil standard of the balance of probabilities. A criminal trial was aborted due juror misconduct and a charge against him was dropped. Mr Lehrmann has always denied the allegation and is appealing the Federal Court's finding. An amended version of Ms Reynolds statement of claim was filed on Wednesday, just a day before the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) said there was 'no corruption issue' in the $2.4m payment. The NACC on Thursday announced there was 'no evidence that the settlement process, including the legal advice provided, who was present at the mediation, or the amount was subject to any improper influence by any Commonwealth public official'. Senator Reynolds' amended statement of claim was made public late on Thursday afternoon. Among the changes is a reference to a speech by Mr Dreyfus the then Attorney-General made to parliament on March 15, 2021. Mr Dreyfus is not a party to the claim. Mr Dreyfus recounted to the House of Representatives a speech by Ms Higgins just outside Parliament House, where she told a large crowd she was raped inside the building by a colleague, and how her story was 'a painful reminder to women that it can happen in Parliament House and can truly happen anywhere'. 'If a woman cannot feel safe from rape in Parliament House, a veritable fortress ringed with security cameras, with entrances protected by armed guards and with Federal Police officers on duty inside, where can women feel safe?' Mr Dreyfus told the House of Representatives, according to a transcript excerpt in the claim. 'How strong is the rule of law if it isn't able to protect a young woman working in the ministerial wing of Parliament House?' The amended statement of claim argued Senator Reynolds had suffered loss and damage as a result of Mr Dreyfus' conduct, including denying her the opportunity to rebut Ms Higgins' allegation 'in the appropriate forum'. It also argues Mr Dreyfus 'enabled and encouraged the falsity of Ms Higgins' claim to be maintained by Ms Higgins'. HWL Ebsworth, which acted on the Commonwealth's behalf, is also being sued by Senator Reynolds for negligence. Lawyers on behalf of Senator Reynolds argued HWLE breached its fiduciary duty to her by excluding her from the mediation conference where the $2.4m settlement was reached, and failing to conduct independent investigations to establish if there was 'at least a meaningful prospect of liability' by Ms Higgins. However, similar alleged breaches initially put forth against the Commonwealth were withdrawn in the amended document, with it now largely focusing on allegations of Mr Dreyfus' misfeasance of public office and alleged breaches of HWLE. Mr Dreyfus has been contacted for comment. He earlier welcomed NACC's statement. 'The NACC has conclusively found there was no improper interference by any Commonwealth official at any stage,' Mr Dreyfus said. 'I regret the baseless allegation of corruption has been so widely publicised ahead of this finding and hope future matters can be resolved in a more timely manner. 'I also regret any further distress caused to Ms Higgins as a result of this matter.'
News.com.au
12-06-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
One thing anti-corruption investigation into Brittany Higgins' $2.4m payout didn't reveal
There's been a great volume of ill-informed, misleading garbage flying around about the $2.4 million compensation payout to Brittany Higgins for a long time. This morning, the National Anti-Corruption Watchdog took out the trash. What did the long-running corruption investigation into the Albanese Government's decision to award the payout find after years of demands that it investigate? 'There is no evidence that the settlement process, including the legal advice provided, who was present at the mediation, or the amount, was subject to any improper influence by any Commonwealth public official,'' the NACC found. 'There is therefore no corruption issue.' In other words, claims that the Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus or the Albanese Government acted improperly were unfounded. Of course, citizens remain free to question the size of the payout, or argue that Senator Linda Reynolds, who was not present at the mediation despite her requests to attend, should have been granted greater taxpayer-funded rights to legally dispute the claim. As an aside, the Albanese Government did agree for taxpayers to pay for her lawyers to refer Brittany Higgins' payout to the NACC. Senator Reynolds' legal team is also arguing in the Federal Court that she was forced to run a defamation action in WA against Ms Higgins because of the Commonwealth's conduct in relation to the payout. But there was no evidence, according to the NACC, of corruption or improper behaviour in the decision to award Ms Higgins the compensation in 2022. 'Documents produced showed that decisions made in relation to the settlement were based on advice from independent external solicitors and experienced senior and junior counsel,'' the statement said. 'Initial advice was received during the period of the Liberal-National Coalition government, before the May 2022 election. 'There was no material difference in the updated legal advice later provided to the new Labor government. Nor was there any identifiable difference in approach to the matter before and after the change in government. 'There was no inappropriate intervention in the process by or on behalf of any minister. The then Attorney-General approved the settlement in accordance with the Departmental advice.' Mediation in one day 'unexceptional' According to the NACC, The Commonwealth engaged in mediation consistent with Departmental advice that was informed by legal advice,'' the statement says. 'That the mediation conference itself was concluded within a day is unexceptional,'' the NACC said. 'It was the culmination of a process which took approximately 12 months. None of this is unusual for a non-litigated personal injury claim. 'A critical consideration during the settlement process was avoiding ongoing trauma to Ms Higgins.' Settlement amount 'The settlement amount was less than the maximum amount recommended by the external independent legal advice,'' the statement says. 'There is no evidence that the settlement process, including the legal advice provided, who was present at the mediation, or the amount, was subject to any improper influence by any Commonwealth public official. 'To the contrary, the evidence obtained reflected a process that was based on independent external legal advice, without any inappropriate intervention by any minister of either government. There is therefore no corruption issue.' What the NACC didn't say And in the thousands of words written on this saga it's worth noting something the NACC did not mention when shooting down the conspiracy theories. The Morrison Government engaged in the exact same process when it agreed to payout $600,000 to former cabinet minister Alan Tudge's former press secretary and ex-lover Rachelle Miller in 2022. He wasn't interviewed. He was never asked about her claims as part of the final payout negotiations and he wasn't invited to the mediation. And that's the point. These settlements are not a finding of fact. They are not about making admissions about what did or did not occur. You can criticise the process by all means, but you can't say the Morrison Government didn't do the same. They are not a workplace investigation - not that many of them are much better. They are essentially 'go away' money that the government pays to people when it makes an informed decision that their claim could cost millions more if it is litigated. Payment made on no admission basis To understand the $2.4 million payout to Ms Higgins, it is important to understand a few things that are often forgotten in the thousands of words written on the matter. First, the claim was not solely based on the alleged rape. She alleged the two Liberal Senators exacerbated a 'toxic and harmful' working environment, subjected her to 'victimisation, ostracism' and pressured her not to discuss the assault. Her former employers, Linda Reynolds and Michaelia Cash, utterly reject those claims and do not concede for a moment they are true. Nor does assert they are true, only that they were made in a legal document subsequently published by the Federal Court. Crucially, neither did the Albanese Government despite making the payment. In making the settlement the government made 'no admissions'. It's hard to understand for the layperson, but the best way to describe it is 'go away' money. It's probably not surprising however that many people would assume a pay out of such magnitude meant something had gone wrong or that the government was admitting they did something wrong. In other words, the government's lawyers and insurers are making a judgment call about the likelihood of a successful case, how much damages would be paid and crucially how much the legals would cost. Inevitably, in fighting a case like this, it could cost taxpayers millions more than the payout alone. But the payout was never a finding of fact on those claims. Brittany Higgins herself was rebuked by Justice Lee in the defamation case for not understanding this and what the deed actually said. Linda Reynolds suing Brittany Higgins It's abundantly clear however that Ms Higgins' former employer, Linda Reynolds remains aggrieved and affronted by the process. She's now suing Ms Higgins for defamation over some social media posts in WA. The trial concluded in September but there's no judgment on that matter yet. In a statement released today, Ms Reynolds said she was bitterly disappointed with the decision. 'My primary concern has always been how the Commonwealth could possibly settle unsubstantiated and statute barred claims made against me, alleging egregious conduct on my part without taking a single statement from me or speaking to me at all,' Senator Reynolds said. 'The effect of the conditions was that I had no personal legal representation at the mediation and no opportunity to defend the serious and baseless allegations against me.' In her third day of witness testimony in her defamation case against Ms Higgins last year, she slammed Attorney General Mark Dreyfus over his handling of the former Liberal staffer's Commonwealth compensation claim. She accused him of trying to 'freeze' her out of the settlement process and said Mr Dreyfus denied her a chance to address Ms Higgins' criticism of the Senator's conduct in the wake of the alleged Lehrmann rape. 'I was utterly outraged because this was going to be finally my opportunity to defend against these allegations … which in my mind were utterly defendable,' she told the court. 'To be told my defence would be no defence, as you can see here, I was not to attend the mediation and not to make public comments about the mediation or the civil claims against me … I was outraged.' 'I could see immediately what the Attorney-General was trying to do, which is why I referred it to the National Anti-Corruption Commission,' she said. Ms Higgins's lawyer Rachael Young SC later told the court that Ms Higgins was 'the survivor of a serious crime which has affected every aspect of her life, including serious impacts on her mental health'. In the WA Supreme Court, the barrister said Senator Reynolds had disputed the merit of Ms Higgins's $2.4 million Commonwealth compensation payment and leaked details of that settlement to a newspaper, despite being told it was confidential information. 'The senator engaged in a course of conduct to disrupt and undermine the credibility and reliability of her former employee,' Ms Young said. 'That's why we say it's harassment.' That suggestion was fiercely denied by Ms Reynolds in the proceedings, with her legal team telling court she had kept her promise not to attack Ms Higgins at a great cost to her physical and mental health. Ms Higgins received a $2.445m settlement in December 2022 – more than three years after she was allegedly raped by her then colleague, Bruce Lehrmann, in March 2019 in Linda Reynolds' ministerial suite. Mr Lehrmann has always denied that there was any sexual contact, consensual or otherwise. Justice Michael Lee, on a civil basis in a defamation trial, disagreed. Will the NACC finding and these other inconvenient facts prompt Ms Higgins pitchfork-waving critics to consider their conduct? No chance. It will be time to shoot the messenger: the NACC. For critics of Ms Higgins and the Albanese Government who noisily demanded this be investigated for years, it is however a case of be careful what you wish for. The judgment is in and it's not pretty for those insisting that there was some vast conspiracy connected in the payout.
ABC News
12-06-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Corruption watchdog clears Brittany Higgins's $2.4 million payout
The national anti-corruption body has cleared a settlement paid by the federal government to former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins over corruption claims. Ms Higgins received a $2.4 million payout from the Commonwealth in 2022 as it sought to settle a compensation claim. The former staffer had alleged she was not adequately supported by her then-boss, Liberal senator Linda Reynolds, after she made allegations she was raped at Parliament House. Multiple figures had called for the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) to investigate the compensation payout, including former opposition leader Peter Dutton and Senator Reynolds. Mr Dutton had accused government figures of "duplicity" and "trickery" in organising the government settlement. "I think there are very serious, very serious allegations here. There's a multi-million-dollar payout," he said in mid-2023. Senator Reynolds had reportedly highlighted concerns about the speed of the mediation process and her exclusion from attending mediation. The NACC on Thursday said an "extensive preliminary investigation" found no evidence of corruption. "There is no evidence that the settlement process, including the legal advice provided, who was present at the mediation, or the amount, was subject to any improper influence by any Commonwealth public official," the statement read. "To the contrary, the evidence obtained reflected a process that was based on independent external legal advice, without any inappropriate intervention by any minister of either government. "There is therefore no corruption issue." The anti-corruption body said it made multiple "notices to produce" to various departments and lawyers, and analysed thousands of documents relating to the settlement. It found the initial legal advice on a settlement was provided to the Morrison government before the 2022 election. Advice later obtained by the Albanese government was "not materially different" and there was no difference in the approach taken by either government towards pursuing a settlement. The NACC also took no issue with the mediation conference lasting less than a day, finding that was not unusual given the substantial work done in the lead-up to mediation and efforts to "[avoid] ongoing trauma to Ms Higgins". It also found the $2.4 million settlement amount was "less than the maximum amount recommended by the external independent legal advice".
Sky News AU
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
'Extensive preliminary investigation': Corruption watchdog makes bombshell decision about Brittany Higgins' $2.4 million payout
The National Anti-Corruption Commission has shared a major update about Brittany Higgins' compensation payout by the Albanese government. Ms Higgins was paid about $2.4 million by the Commonwealth in compensation in 2022 after she was raped by Bruce Lehrmann in Parliament House in 2019. The multi-million dollar payout by the government was in recognition of lost earnings after she was diagnosed as 'medically unfit' to work due to the impacts of the rape. It is understood then-Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds, who employed Ms Higgins at the time of the assault, referred the payment to the National Anti-Corruption Commission. On Thursday, the NACC took the unusual step of addressing the 'scrutiny and speculation' surrounding the payout. 'The National Anti-Corruption Commission (the Commission) conducted an extensive preliminary investigation into the settlement and found no corruption issue,' the NACC said in a statement. 'During the preliminary investigation, the Commission issued multiple notices to produce to the relevant departments and legal representatives, and analysed thousands of documents tracking the claims and negotiation of the settlement.' Ultimately, the NACC said there was no evidence of corruption or any intervention by either the Coalition or Albanese governments in the mediation process. 'There is no evidence that the settlement process, including the legal advice provided, who was present at the mediation, or the amount, was subject to any improper influence by any Commonwealth public official,' the NACC said. 'To the contrary, the evidence obtained reflected a process that was based on independent external legal advice, without any inappropriate intervention by any minister of either government. 'There is therefore no corruption issue.' After receiving the payout, the ex-political staffer subsequently married longtime love David Sharaz in a lavish wedding on the Gold Coast last year and welcomed a son earlier this year. The couple also purchased a chateau in France but have listed the property for sale at a steep discount after relocating to Melbourne. It is understood that a significant portion of the multi-million dollar payout remains held in a trust managed by an entity called 'Power Blazers Pty Ltd'. Details about the trust were revealed in court during Ms Higgins' ongoing defamation lawsuit brought by her former employer Linda Reynolds. Ms Reynolds has alleged that Higgins is using the trust to shield her fortune from potential creditors that might pursue her.
