Brittany Higgins is planning to sell her taxpayer-funded chateau in the south of France, ahead of the blockbuster defamation trial against her old boss.
The former Liberal staffer and her new husband David Sharaz bought the rustic five-bedroom home in Lunas, country’s historic Dordogne region, last year for about $600,000.
They made the purchase almost two years after Ms Higgins was awarded a $2.4million compensation payment from the Commonwealth based on claims her political career was in ruins following her rape in Parliament House in 2019.
On the day of what was supposed to be their permanent move in December, they arrived at the departures lounge at Brisbane Airport dressed in suffragette white – which was supposed to symbolise ‘strength’ and new beginnings.
However, their European dream was short-lived.
Daily Mail Australia understands the couple are now strapped for cash amid the ongoing defamation battle with Ms Higgins’ former boss, Senator Linda Reynolds who is suing them both over a series of social media posts.
They have to cover the cost of defamation lawyers, who can charge more than $11,000 per day. If they lose, they would also have to cover Senator Reynolds’ legal fees – which means they could be slapped with a $1million legal bill.
It is further understood they may be planning a move back Australia, ahead of the birth of their first child.
Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz are pictured just after moving to France last year
Pictured: Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz’s French home
Since the payout in 2022, the couple have enjoyed a range of holidays in the Maldives, Europe, to the ski slopes in Australia, and Disneyland in Paris.
They tied the knot on June 1 at a lavish ceremony at The Valley Estate – a sprawling luxury venue on the Gold Coast – with the wedding rumoured to have cost more than $100,000.
Ms Higgins’ lace gown was a bespoke design by South Australia dressmaker Paolo Sebastian, which cost up to $30,000.
Her new husband has not held a fulltime job since he left his media role at Southern Cross Austereo in Brisbane in 2023, shortly after Ms Reynolds announced she was suing him.
Ms Reynolds matter against them is down for six-week hearing in the WA Supreme Court on August 2.
Talks to settle the matter have failed, with the court last week hearing that Senator Reynolds will see a copy of the Brittany Higgins Protective Trust to find out the trustee in the event the proceedings go in her favour.
The court heard Ms Higgins established the trust a day after she signed a deed of settlement with the Commonwealth of Australia in December 2022.
The settlement was part of a personal injury claim submitted by Ms Higgins over claims she had been sexually assaulted by her former colleague Bruce Lehrmann.
Martin Bennett, Ms Reynold’s lawyer, told the court the trust was set up to protect Ms Higgins from any potential future creditors, including his client.
He said an article published in Daily Mail Australia on August 21, 2023, talked about how Ms Higgins had been running out of money when she received a ‘$3million lifeline’.
Mr Bennett said it was easy to draw an inference that the trust was created to protect Ms Higgins from creditors when a person had cried poor, then received a financial lifeline which was placed in a protective trust.
He said Ms Higgins must have known the potential for future action against her because of untruths she allegedly told the Commonwealth in her personal injury claim.
‘You do not need to be a creditor, it can be a future creditor, which falls squarely within the law,’ he told the court.
Ms Reynolds has made a complaint to the National Anti-Corruption Commission about the compensation payment made to Ms Higgins.
Her lawyer said the senator told the commission that the money should be given back to the Commonwealth and that she wanted a finding made against the people who authorised the ‘extraordinarily fast payment.’
Ms Reynolds was excluded from mediation talks that led to the compensation payment being made to Ms Higgins in December 2022.
More to come
