National Anti-Corruption Commission declares no corruption issue with Brittany Higgins’ $2.4m payout

A corruption body has made a major call on the $2.4m payout awarded to Brittany Higgins after she alleged she was raped by Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann.

The national anti-corruption agency has made a rare statement, doubling down against claims the $2.4m payout given to Brittany Higgins was political amid a legal suit mounted by former Liberal minister Linda Reynolds.

Ms Higgins settled a civil claim with the Commonwealth in December after the former political staffer alleged she had been raped by her colleague Bruce Lehrmann at Parliament House.

The payment was made in relation to future lost earnings, medical bills, legal bills and the distress she endured.

Mr Lehrmann has always denied the allegation. A criminal trial was aborted due to juror misconduct and a charge against him dropped, and he is appealing a Federal Court finding, made on the civil standard of the balance of probabilities, that he raped Ms Higgins.

The NACC statement comes as former senator Linda Reynolds has launched a law suit against the Commonwealth over the payout given to Brittany Higgins. Picture: NewsWire/ Sharon Smith

However on Thursday, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) said 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”.

It came to the conclusion after trawling through “thousands” of documents provided by the Attorney-General’s Department, the Department of Finance, and solicitors and senior counsel who advised the government.

“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,” the NACC said in a lengthy statement.

“There is therefore no corruption issue.”

The body said the mediation undertaken by the government during the process was “informed by legal advice” and said the single session was “unexceptional” and followed “approximately 12 months” of prior discussions.

“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,” the statement said.

The lengthy statement comes after Ms Reynolds launched a civil defamation case against the Commonwealth over the payment, stating she was not able to defend herself in the mediation.

Ms Reynolds said she was “bitterly disappointed” in the NACC’s findings.

She also took aim at former attorney general Mark Dreyfus, who she claimed “exercised his discretion to place last minute, onerous and unjust conditions on the grant of the existing approval for financial assistance”.

Approval for the Commonwealth to pay Ms Reynolds’ legal fees during the mediation had been given by the former Morrison Coalition government, and she said she had been “working with my lawyers to prepare to defend the claim” and had consistently expressed desire to attend the mediation, but was not invited to do so.

The NACC said the process behind awarding Ms Higgins the $2.4m settlement was not corrupt. Picture: NewsWire

“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, which included claims for gender-based discrimination, disability discrimination and victimisation and the message that it would send to the public about the truth of those matters,” she said.

However the NACC countered Ms Reynolds’ concerns about why she was not allowed to participate in the mediation, stating witnesses do not give evidence during mediations and that a settlement is not an admission of liability.

The statement also said that the $2.445m received by Ms Higgins was “less than the maximum amount recommended by the external independent legal advice”.

Ms Reynolds also said the NACC’s statement only strengthened her Federal Court claim.

“Importantly the NACC highlighted that whether or not a corruption issue exists is a different issue to whether there has been any breach of duty, misfeasance or negligence by the Commonwealth or its lawyers in relation to the settlement,” she said.

“This distinction further reinforces the importance of my decision to pursue these issues in the Federal Court.”

Mr Dreyfus welcomed comments made by the NACC.

“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,” he said.

“I also regret any further distress caused to Ms Higgins as a result of this matter.”

Originally published as National Anti-Corruption Commission declares no corruption issue with Brittany Higgins’ $2.4m payout