Linda Reynolds reveals she was barred from Brittany Higgins mediation, compensation discussions
Brittany Higgins’ former boss has revealed how she was prevented from defending herself and told to keep away from a meeting to decide the size of her ex-staffer’s settlement.
National
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Senator Linda Reynolds has blasted the legal process that led up to former political staffer Brittany Higgins receiving a substantial compensation payout from the Commonwealth, saying there are “questions about the fairness, transparency and impartiality of the whole process.”
Ms Reynolds told The Daily Telegraph there were “serious issues” with the “swift” way Ms Higgins’ claim was settled after the Albanese government came to power.
She confirmed that she would refer the matter to the new National Anti-Corruption Commission, if no-one does so before her.
According to the senator, who was defence minister when Ms Higgins alleged that she had been sexually assaulted in her office in 2019, the payout deserved investigation because there were “serious questions about how this significant sum of public money was determined and allocated.”
The size of the compensation claim has never been established, though Ms Higgins has previously disputed claims that it was in excess of $3 million.
The Daily Telegraph understands, however, that the ultimate settlement was paid in compensation for, among other things, loss of future income.
It has also been reported that the claim was paid before the actual civil suit — which claimed among other things that Ms Reynolds did not support Ms Higgins properly after the alleged assault — was filed.
Ms Reynolds was sensationally prevented from participating in her own defence against Ms Higgins’ claim, with the Albanese government refusing to pay the senator’s legal fees, as would normally be standard, unless she stayed silent and did not attend the mediation at which the sum was agreed.
That mediation is thought to have taken less than a day.
In correspondence seen by The Daily Telegraph between Ms Reynolds’ lawyers and lawyers engaged by the Commonwealth, the Commonwealth demanded that Ms Reynolds not attend the mediation nor make any public comment about it.
Ms Reynolds’ lawyers responded with a seven page reply raising a number of issues including the nature of the settlement and statements made by “approving ministers” and the Attorney-General about the Higgins case.
“Considering the consistent public position taken by the prime minister and other senior members of his government on the claims made by Ms Higgins, it may be impossible to find a minister in the federal government who has not taken a similar position (supportive of Ms Higgins’ claims) and therefore who ought not to make any decision in relation to the exercise of the Commonwealth’s discretion to control the conduct of Senator Reynolds’ defence,” her lawyers wrote in December 2022.
“I was initially granted legal assistance to defend the civil claim made by Ms Higgins against me … but I was advised that … the Attorney General had decided to exercise … discretion to deny that,” she said.
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Originally published as Linda Reynolds reveals she was barred from Brittany Higgins mediation, compensation discussions
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