Brittany Higgins’ former boss revealed five key points when she was on the witness stand this week.
Fiona Brown was Ms Higgins and Bruce Lehrmann’s boss in March 2019 when they were both working at Parliament House as advisors to then-defence industry minister Linda Reynolds.
She was cross-examined by Lisa Wilkinson’s barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC in the Federal Court on Monday and Tuesday during Mr Lehrmann’s defamation trial against Network Ten and Wilkinson, but her evidence was not livestreamed.
Justice Michael Lee received submissions from Ms Brown’s lawyers stating she was particularly traumatised after taking the witness stand during Mr Lehrmann’s criminal trial last year.
The court heard she had panic attacks over the prospect of doing it all over again during this civil trial, so arrangements were made to ensure the situation was as comfortable for her as possible.
The livestream was temporarily disabled while she was on the stand, but her evidence was recorded and broadcast on the court’s YouTube channel at 10.15am on Wednesday – when court was not in session.
Her evidence was key because she had meetings with Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann within the week after the alleged assault, and she is the only person who took notes of what was said during those conversations.
Daily Mail was in the courtroom when Ms Brown gave her evidence. Here’s what she said.
Fiona Brown is pictured outside court on Tuesday, after finishing her evidence
Brittany Higgins was ‘thinking quickly on her feet’
Fiona Brown told the court on Monday she had a meeting with Brittany Higgins on the afternoon of March 26, 2019 – three days after the alleged assault.
It was a disciplinary meeting because a security breach was triggered when Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann entered Parliament House while drunk in the early hours of Saturday, March 23.
Ms Higgins previously told the court she disclosed her alleged assault during that meeting, which Ms Brown firmly denies.
In court on Monday, Ms Chrysanthou was suggesting to Ms Brown that the former staffer did disclose her alleged rape during that meeting and asked if Ms Higgins’ demeanor changed after their conversation that day.
Ms Brown told the court Ms Higgins’ demeanor only changed when she walked into her office and saw the ministerial code of conduct on her desk, along with the employees assistance handbook.
‘She saw the papers on my desk and I could see her eyes shifting,’ Ms Brown said.
‘She was thinking quickly on her feet.’
Brittany Higgins is pictured outside the Federal Court on December 1
Ms Chrysanthou asked Ms Brown why she took notes of what was said during that conversation, but omitted that particular detail.
Ms Brown said she specifically recalled Ms Higgins’ eyes shifting when she entered her office that day, but agreed she hadn’t included that information in her records at the time.
‘I regret it, actually,’ she told the court.
She maintained that Ms Higgins did not disclose her alleged assault during that meeting.
Fiona Brown says two ministers were ‘covering themselves’ when they ordered her to report Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation to police
Fiona Brown was told by two ministers, Alex Hawke and Linda Reynolds, to report Brittany Higgins’ allegations to police – without the former staffer’s consent – six days after the alleged assault, on March 29, 2019.
Under cross-examination on Tuesday, Ms Brown said she did not think the ministers were looking out for Ms Higgins’ welfare.
Ms Chrysanthou suggested to Ms Brown that Mr Hawke, the former immigration minister, had asked her to report the matter to n Federal Police because a breach of the law had been alleged and it would look ‘utterly terrible’ if ministers didn’t act on it.
Ms Reynolds had also asked her to report the alleged offence to police.
Ms Brown told the court she didn’t want to report it herself, partly because she said Ms Higgins hadn’t actually made a rape allegation at that point, and because she did not think there was any consideration of what the former staffer actually wanted.
Lisa Wilkinson is pictured, left, outside the Federal Court on Tuesday with her barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC
Ms Chrysanthou said: ‘The reason you were engaging in heated conversations through Mr Hawke and Ms Reynolds to report the matter to the AFP was not because they cared about Ms Higgins, but because they were worried about covering themselves?’
Ms Brown agreed.
She told the court she was concerned she could be fired for disobeying two ministers, but she strongly believed going to police without Ms Higgins’ permission was ethically wrong.
Ms Chrysanthou put to Ms Brown: ‘You understood, didn’t you, from your conversation with Minister Reynolds that Minister Reynolds understood there had been an allegation of a crime.’
Ms Brown replied: ‘No.’
She told the court that Ms Higgins had not made a ‘straight-out accusation’ against Mr Lehrmann, but Ms Reynolds still believed she should go to the police and say two staffers entered Parliament House while drunk and ‘the female had a recollection’.
‘To me I needed more than that and I didn’t have the right – it was Ms Higgins’ right,’ she said.
‘Ms Higgins still had not given me an allegation… She’d had a recollection but she never stated.’
Fiona Brown ‘blindsided’ by rape allegation and took HR advice from the Department of Finance
Ms Brown said she was ‘blindsided’ when Ms Higgins said, on March 28, 2019, ‘I remember him on top of me.’
By that stage, Ms Higgins and Ms Brown knew a Parliament House security guard had found her naked and asleep on a couch in Linda Reynolds’ office at about 4am on March 23.
Ms Brown had been asking the former staffer about the situation and said Ms Higgins was about to leave her office before she turned around and made the disclosure.
‘It took me by surprise, it came out of the blue, there was no hint,’ Ms Brown said.
She had been given instructions on how to conduct the conversation by the Department of Finance, which acted as a pseudo-human resources department at the time.
Bruce Lehrmann is pictured arriving at the Federal Court on Tuesday
Ms Brown was told not to use accusatory or assumptive language, so she asked Ms Higgins: ‘Did something happen that you did not want to happen?’
She did not probe Ms Higgins properly because the Department of Finance didn’t ask her to investigate the situation and told the court she believed Ms Higgins, who was 23 at the time, would say if anything untoward had happened.
Ms Chrysanthou pointed Ms Brown to her affidavit, which stated her question to Ms Higgins was actually: ‘If this is something you had not wanted, then you should report it to the police.’
She said that question was very different to, ‘Did something happen that you did not want to happen?’, and asked Ms Brown why she put different information in her affidavit to what she told the court.
Ms Brown said she gave information to the best of her recollection, ‘due to the mental trauma’ she sustained in the aftermath of Ms Higgins’ allegations.
Ms Chrysanthou asked why she didn’t make note of the fact the Department of Finance had told her to say to Ms Higgins, ‘Did something happen that you did not want to happen?’
She told the court the notes she took after those conversations at the time were ‘not verbatim’ but said she did her best.
She reiterated that she asked Ms Higgins if anything happened.
‘At that time in March 2019, it was a very different period,’ she said, noting that the situation would be dealt with very differently if it happened today.
Fiona Brown said it was ‘not unreasonable’ to think Brittany Higgins and Bruce Lehrmann had sex in Parliament House
Ms Brown told the court she thought Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann may have had sex in Parliament House after they entered the building while drunk on March 23, 2019.
‘Couldn’t rule it in, couldn’t rule it out,’ she said.
Ms Chrysanthou asked whether she was concerned when she found out Mr Lehrmann left at about 2.30am, before Ms Higgins was found naked on Linda Reynolds’ couch about two hours later.
Ms Brown said she was concerned.
Ms Chrysanthou said: ‘You suspected they may have had sexual intercourse?’
Fiona Brown (pictured on Tuesday) maintains she didn’t know about Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation on March 26, 2019
Ms Brown said: ‘It was not unreasonable to have that thought.’
She acknowledged she hadn’t dealt with a matter like that before and agreed she didn’t have the training to handle it, but maintained she didn’t know there was a sexual assault allegation until much later.
Ms Brown held meetings with both staffers the following week, on March 26, because their entry into the building after hours triggered a security breach.
Ms Chrysanthou said: ‘So a man and a woman came in, one of them left, the other was found naked on the couch.’
Ms Brown said: ‘It was 2019 and it wasn’t considered an assault – it was a matter of people coming in after hours.’
Fiona Brown was ‘traumatised’ by an unsolicited text from a Network Ten producer
Ms Brown told the Federal Court on Monday afternoon she kept handwritten notes of HR-style meetings with Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann.
She said the originals had been ‘destroyed’ because it was impossible to keep large volumes of notes when moving between offices, but she had typed them up and was able to find the metadata to prove they were contemporaneous.
Ms Brown told the court she gave those notes to former Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s press secretary Andrew Carswell in February 2021, after she received a text from The Project producer Angus Llewellyn.
The text was sent just days before Brittany Higgins’ allegations were broadcast on program. She told the court she was ‘deeply upset’ upon receiving that text.
Ms Brown explained she gave her personal notes and texts to Mr Carswell to explain her position after the alleged assault, but said she didn’t know he would use that information to respond to Network Ten.
Mr Carswell did respond to the network with information gathered from Ms Brown’s notes, claiming Ms Higgins was supported when she disclosed her rape allegation to her bosses.
Ms Chrysanthou asked Ms Brown if she knew Mr Carswell would respond to The Project on her behalf.
‘No,’ she replied.
Ms Chrysanthou said: ‘I suggest it was reasonable that he would have.’
Ms Brown said she didn’t know he was going to do that.
She recalled feeling traumatised when The Project was aired on February 15, 2021.
‘I have no recollection other than trauma,’ she said.
‘I was in my office and I was deeply upset.’
The defamation hearing will resume at 10.15am on Thursday.