Brittany Higgins has opened up about the years of trauma unleashed by her legal battle over her rape allegations against Bruce Lehrmann, and the impact on her loved ones.
She slammed the legal system that ‘brutally’ focused on the alleged victim over the accused – and demanded Prime Minister Anthony Albanese overhauls the process.
‘There wouldn’t have been a need for a #MeToo movement [in Australia] if our criminal justice system was actually working the way it was intended for victims,’ she said on Thursday
‘It’s hard on you as the person going through that process
‘It’s also hard on your loved ones. Trauma is real and the people around you will also absorb a lot of what you’re going through.’
Ms Higgins revealed she had been asked to give advice to someone launching a legal case, but had warned them of what lay ahead.
‘In the court, the focus shifts quickly and brutally not to the actions of the accused, but to the behavior, the history and the credibility of the complainant,’ she added.
Brittany Higgins (pictured, centre) described how family members ‘absorbed’ the trauma she experienced while going through her embittered legal case after alleging she was raped by former parliamentary colleague Bruce Lehrmann
Ms Higgins slammed the Australian court system for putting survivors through ‘brutal’ cases
After giving birth to her son Freddie (pictured with Higgins’ husband David Sharaz), she compared the powerlessness of him having surgery to her mother supporting her legal battle
‘Her sexual past, her alcohol abuse, her social media posts, her supposed motives: she becomes the one on trial.
‘Why is it that our justice system demands perfection from traumatized but accepts silence from the accused?’
Ms Higgins was addressing a crowd of 300 people about ending gendered violence at Conversations That Matter 2025 Geelong’s GHMBA Stadium in Victoria.
She called on the Albanese government, which proudly announced its caucus was 56 per cent women, to take more tangible action on the issue.
‘(Violence against women) was the preeminent election issue in 2022 and we’re at a point where it was barely a blip on the radar,’ Ms Higgins said.
Citing the 12-month Australian Law Reform Commission inquiry responding to sexual violence, she criticised the $21.4 million government package to fund victim support.
‘(This) boils down to more reviews and more trials, both of which are necessary. (But) That’s not a lot of action,’ she told the audience, who had paid $130-a-head to attend.
Alongside her advocacy Ms Higgins announced on Wednesday that she has re-entered the workforce, joining the same company where her husband is employed.
Ms Higgins described how violence against women had fallen off the Labor Government agenda during her keynote speech at Geelong’s GHMBA Stadium
Ms Higgins is now the director of public affairs at the public relations agency Third Hemisphere.
Reflecting on how she has processed the legal battle now that she is a mother, Ms Higgins opened up about how she has a newfound respect for her own mum.
The former political staffer shared how she sees her mother as a ‘hero’ for supporting her.
‘My son had surgery not too long after he was born and my heart broke into a million pieces at seeing him in pain,’ she told event MC and former ABC journalist Mary Gearin.
‘So I extend so much more empathy to my own mother, who had to experience all this stuff (the legal battle) as a parent, not being able to do anything.’
Her son Freddie, born in March, was in attendance, quietly sitting in the arms of her husband David Sharaz among the charity officials, experts and advocates.
The proud mother has been a staunch advocate for ending violence against women, attending Brisbane’s march to prevent the issue in early May.
She said connecting with mental health support systems is important for survivors of violence to ‘make it through to the outside of these processes’.
Already an advocate for an end to violence against women, Ms Higgins announced a day before her speech that she would be joining the world of public relations
It comes four years after she was awarded $2.4million from the federal government after claiming she was ‘diagnosed as medically unfit for any form of employment’.
Ms Higgins made a compensation claim for damages in March 2022 after alleging she was raped in parliament by former colleague Bruce Lehrmann.
He has always denied the claims but was found to have raped Ms Higgins on the balance of probabilities by Justice Michael Lee in April last year – a decision Lehrmann is currently appealing.
The former Liberal staffer made a compensation claim for damages in March 2022 after the alleged rape.
After settling the suit against the federal government for $2.4million, Ms Higgins fled to France after purchasing a three-bedroom chateau in 2023 in Lunas, a tiny village 100km east of Bordeaux.
Higgins said she held onto about $1.9million after fees and taxes.
The property has since been listed for sale, with the proceeds to cover costs of a defamation suit brought against her by former boss, Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds.
Higgins and Sharaz now reportedly plan to live in Melbourne’s east after marrying last year on the Gold Coast.
