Brittany Higgins regrets public attack on former ‘hero’ Samantha Maiden

Brittany Higgins admits she shouldn’t have criticised journalist Samantha Maiden to defend Lisa Wilkinson.

Brittany Higgins with Lisa Wilkinson at the Canberra Womens March 4 Justice in March. Picture: Getty Images

Brittany Higgins concedes she “made a mistake” by publicly ­attacking News Corp journalist Samantha Maiden online after she wrote a story about the former political staffer’s close friend, ­Project co-host Lisa Wilkinson.

Earlier this week, Ms Higgins posted a series of tweets criticising Maiden, news.com.au’s political editor, who in February broke the story about the 26-year-old’s ­alleged sexual assault inside Parliament House in 2019.

Ms Higgins said her Twitter posts were born out of frustration after Maiden wrote an article about Wilkinson being paid more than former colleague Karl Stefanovic for a period of time while she was on the Today show.

The story revealed Wilkinson was earning twice what Stefan­ovic earned despite claims in her soon-to-be-released autobiography that she earned less than him.

Maiden tweeted on Tuesday evening, “Equal pay twist: @karlstefanovic earned HALF of what his co-host earned for years @newscomauHQ,” and included a link to the article she had written for the news website.

Equal pay twist: ⁦@karlstefanovic⁩ earned HALF of what his co-host earned for years ⁦@newscomauHQ⁩ https://t.co/YKJ98gViDU

— Samantha Maiden (@samanthamaiden) October 19, 2021

Within two hours Ms Higgins tweeted back: “Pressing update in the midst of a sitting week from the political reporter of news.com.au.”

Pressing update in the midst of a sitting week from the political reporter of https://t.co/hT4R2rKfnb. 🤷‍♀️

— Brittany Higgins (@BrittHiggins_) October 19, 2021

Australian of the Year Grace Tame replied to Ms Higgins’ ­comment, writing “indeed”.

Ms Higgins has more than 44,200 Twitter followers and her comments attracted dozens of retweets and more than 1100 likes.

But on Thursday she told The Australian she had “made a mistake” for posting the sarcastic comments about Maiden online.

Ms Higgins told The Australian that earlier this year she had fallen out with Maiden – who she had once described as her “hero” – because she was dismayed by the journalist’s coverage of the so-called Kunkel Review.

News Corp journalist Samantha Maiden.

Australian of the Year 2021 Grace Tame.

That investigation, conducted by Scott Morrison’s chief of staff John Kunkel, looked into reports that media advisers were giving negative briefings against Ms Higgins’ partner, David Sharaz, to journalists, after Ms Higgins made public allegations she had been raped.

But the Kunkel report revealed in May there wasn’t strong evidence this had happened.

Mr Sharaz also wrote on Twitter this week: “The Kunkel ­Review – among other things – was a contributing factor in Brittany ending up in hospital.”

The Kunkel Review - among other things - was a contributing factor in Brittany ending up in hospital. https://t.co/4oMfn6JmPs

— David Sharaz (@SharazDavid) October 19, 2021

Ms Higgins said she was frustrated with Maiden’s handling of the review at the time and she was further frustrated this week when Maiden wrote the story about her friend Wilkinson.

“I stand by my opinion but in hindsight it’s something that I should have expressed to her (Maiden) personally and I can cop that,” Ms Higgins said.

“I was feeling a little impassioned but at the end of the day I have to delineate between the fact that I have a different profile, I can’t just comment freely on things in the same way that I would have before.”

She went on to say she had the “utmost respect” for Maiden, but they were no longer on good terms. “Sam had facilitated me in being able to speak publicly about my assault. At the same time, we had a major difference of opinions about the role of journalists calling out bad behaviour, particularly around the Kunkel review,” Ms Higgins wrote on Twitter.

Maiden first broke the story on Ms Higgins on news.com.au in February, and that evening Wilkinson conducted an interview with Ms Higgins on The Project.

Bruce Lehrmann, 26, was charged with one count of sexual intercourse without consent which allegedly occurred in the Parliament House office of senator Linda Reynolds in 2019. He has pleaded not guilty.

Maiden told The Australian: “I am a huge supporter and ­champion of Brittany and that will never change.”