The former chief of staff to a senator in Australia received a payment of 1.48 million Australian dollars
Fiona Brown, the former chief of staff to Australian Senator Linda Reynolds, received a payment of 1.48 million Australian dollars from the Commonwealth of Australia as part of a settlement. She claimed that her employment rights were violated after Brittany Higgins publicly alleged she had been raped in the Parliament building, according to ABC News Australia.
Brown was the first person to whom Higgins disclosed her rape allegation. At the time, Brown was the chief of staff to then-Senator Linda Reynolds of the Liberal Party. Last year, she filed a complaint with Fair Work, alleging that Scott Morrison’s government had effectively held her responsible for the fallout from the scandal.
The former civil servant also claimed that responses to media inquiries directed at her were provided without her oversight, and that she was not given the opportunity to defend herself. According to her, she felt frightened and intimidated after Morrison, she claimed, falsely stated in Parliament that he had discussed the Higgins case with her. Brown also claimed that after the story broke, the former prime minister refused to speak with her, except when he said that such a conversation between them had taken place.
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The case was scheduled to be heard in court next March, and Morrison and senior civil servants were named as potential witnesses. However, the parties settled the dispute during mediation earlier this month. The agreement does not involve an admission of liability or an apology from the Commonwealth of Australia, but it does allow Brown to disclose the amount of the settlement.
The Federal Court of Australia had previously found, on a balance-of-probabilities standard, that Higgins had been raped by Bruce Lerman in Senator Reynolds’s office. At the same time, Judge Michael Lee did not agree with the allegations that the government or Brown had covered up the assault. Lerman continues to maintain his innocence.
