Brittany Higgins’ former boss Fiona Brown has said she is vindicated after settling a lawsuit against the Commonwealth, but did not receive an apology.

Fiona Brown was chief of staff to then-defence minister Linda Reynolds in 2019 when Ms Higgins alleged she had been raped by former colleague Bruce Lehrmann in the senator’s office. 

Federal Court Justice Michael Lee found there was no evidence of the cover-up alleged by Ms Higgins but that on the balance of probabilities, Lehrmann raped her in his April 2024 judgment. 

Lehrmann has consistently denied raping Ms Higgins. A criminal trial was abandoned in 2022 because of juror misconduct and no findings were made against him. 

Ms Brown, who played a key role in the defamation proceedings, returned to the Federal Court in November last year for her own case to sue the Commonwealth. 

She alleged then-prime minister Scott Morrison and senior staff did not allow her to publicly defend herself against allegations she was involved in a ‘cover-up’ when the incident became public knowledge in 2022. 

The matter was resolved last month following mediation and this week it was revealed Ms Brown had won a payout of $1.48million, almost $1million less than Higgins’ $2.44million from the Commonwealth. 

The Commonwealth did not accept liability or apologise to Ms Brown.

Brittany Higgins’ former boss Fiona Brown has said she is vindicated after settling a lawsuit against the Commonwealth (Pictured, Brittany Higgins with Lisa Wilkinson)

On Thursday, it was revealed Ms Brown (pictured) had won a payout of $1.48million, almost $1million less than Higgins’ $2.44million from the Commonwealth 

Ms Brown said she fought a ‘good fight’ and described the payout as fair, but said there was no compensation for the toll the case had taken on her. 

‘I think it’s fair, but it certainly doesn’t replace what I could have earned and what I lost,’ she told The Australian on Wednesday.

‘I lost my career, I lost my independence and I lost my identity as a woman because, the women, I felt like they came after me. 

‘There is more road behind me than ahead of me. I didn’t want to spend what remains of it fighting a case to my last breath.’

In his 2024 judgment, Justice Lee found that Ms Brown had shown compassion and integrity in her handling of Ms Higgins’ complaint but had been unfairly ‘vilified as an unfeeling apparatchik’ seeking to cover up a crime during a previous court matter. 

Ms Brown’s standing was then strengthened after the Supreme Court of Western Australia ruled in favour of Ms Reynolds in her defamation case against Ms Higgins, rejecting allegations that Senator Reynolds had participated in a political cover-up. 

In the settlement, Ms Brown received $450,000 in general damages for hurt, humiliation and distress and $490,000 for lost future earning capacity and employment opportunities. 

She was also provided with $40,000 for medical expenses and $500,000 for legal fees. 

Ms Brown had alleged that she was stopped from responding to claims Ms Higgins was not correctly supported after she reported the rape 

Ms Brown said she had not received an apology from Ms Higgins, members of the Labor party and TV presenter Lisa Wilkinson who first aired the allegations against her.

But she had recently attended the premiere of Ms Higgins’ documentary Silenced wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with ‘Untold Story’. 

She said she approached Wilkinson and they had a conversation that was ‘pleasant… it just put an end to it’.

‘You can only hope that in time they’ll find a place of understanding, but sorry seems to be the hardest word in Canberra,’ Ms Brown said. 

‘And it would need to be a genuine apology. An apology is not an apology if it’s asked for or if it comes with an if or a but.’