Jacinta Allan’s mystery private meeting with Brittany Higgins about a week before she had to pay Linda Reynolds
A secret “catch-up” between Premier Jacinta Allan and former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins and her high-profile lawyer has been uncovered in the release of ministerial diary disclosures.
Mystery surrounds a private meeting with Brittany Higgins, her lawyer and the Victorian Premier, after the “catch up” was uncovered in the release of ministerial diary disclosures.
The Herald Sun can reveal Ms Higgins met Premier Jacinta Allan in August, accompanied by her lawyer, Leon Zwier of Arnold Bloch Leibler, just over a week before she was ordered to pay former Liberal senator Linda Reynolds $315,000, plus $26,000 in interest, after a court found she and her husband, David Sharaz, had defamed Ms Reynolds in a series of social media posts.
The rendezvous was revealed in the Premier’s diary disclosures with the meeting labelled as a “catch up”.
It was also attended by Diana Tremigliozzi, special adviser to the Premier.
But the government have remained tight-lipped on the reason behind the visit.
Mr Zwier is the lawyer of Ms Higgins who raised headlines during her defamation case but he’s also a partner at the politically connected Melbourne law firm that was a favourite of former Premier Daniel Andrews.
The firm acted for the Labor government to negotiate for “legal services regarding withdrawal from hosting 2026 Commonwealth Games” in 2024 which ended in a $380m taxpayer-funded compensation package.
Ms Higgins, a former Liberal staffer with the Federal Government alleged she was raped in the senator’s office at Parliament House by her then colleague Bruce Lehrmann, who continues to deny the allegation.
In a separate defamation trial, Mr Lehrmann was found to have raped Ms Higgins on the balance of probabilities.
Ms Reynolds defamation case was not in relation to the allegations but about posts made by Ms Higgins and her partner Mr Sharaz in the aftermath in 2022 and 2023.
Ms Higgins has been contacted for comment.
Mr Zwier and the Premier declined to respond to the Herald Sun’s questions.
