National Anti-Corruption Commission declares no corruption issue with Brittany Higgins' $2.4m payout
The national anti-corruption agency has made a rare statement, doubling down against claims the $2.4m payout given to Brittany Higgins was political amid a legal suit mounted by former Liberal minister Linda Reynolds.
Ms Higgins settled a civil claim with the Commonwealth in December after the former political staffer alleged she had been raped by her colleague Bruce Lehrmann at Parliament House.
The payment was made in relation to future lost earnings, medical bills, legal bills and the distress she endured.
Mr Lehrmann has always denied the allegation. A criminal trial was aborted due to juror misconduct and a charge against him dropped, and he is appealing a Federal Court finding, made on the civil standard of the balance of probabilities, that he raped Ms Higgins.
The lengthy statement comes after Ms Reynolds launched legal action against the Commonwealth over the payment, claiming government lawyers had been 'hopelessly conflicted'.
'It sent a message to the nation that those allegations were so true, so damning, so abhorrent that the Commonwealth was prepared to pay her $2.445 million after only a single instance of mediation,' she said in a statement.
However on Thursday, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) said there was 'no evidence that the settlement process, including the legal advice provided, who was present at the mediation, or the amount was subject to any improper influence by any Commonwealth public official'.
'To the contrary, the evidence obtained reflected a process that was based on independent external legal advice, without any inappropriate intervention by any minister of either government.
'There is therefore no corruption issue.'
The body said the mediation undertaken by the government during the process was 'informed by legal advice' and said the single session was 'unexceptional' and followed 'approximately 12 months' of prior discussions.
'None of this is unusual for a non-litigated personal injury claim. A critical consideration during the settlement process was avoiding ongoing trauma to Ms Higgins,' the statement said.
It also declared that the $2.445m received by Ms Higgins was 'less than the maximum amount recommended by the external independent legal advice'.
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