Latest news with #ThirdHemisphere
News.com.au
a day ago
- News.com.au
Brittany Higgins quietly sells French chateau
Brittany Higgins and her husband David Sharaz have said au revoir to their French chateau. The couple have sold their three-bedroom estate for an estimated $700,000, The Daily Telegraph reports. Ms Higgins, who welcomed a son, Freddie, in March, announced the news on social media, sharing snippets of memories from the sprawling property. 'Our quiet little safe haven has officially sold,' she wrote. 'We really thought that this was our forever home. Alas, it was not meant to be. 'I'll always be sad Freddie never had the chance to spend just one night in his nursery. However, we must persist! 'It's a bit of an accidental blessing to be back in Aus — starting over surrounded by the love of all our favourite people.' The news comes after Ms Higgins announced she accepted a role as director of public affairs for boutique public relations agency Third Hemisphere, where Mr Sharaz also works. Ms Higgins said on LinkedIn she was 'so excited' to begin her new role, telling followers the company held 'values that aligned with my own'. 'To be in a workplace run by a fellow survivor and someone who fundamentally believes in the importance of corporate social responsibility is an absolute delight,' she wrote. The couple snapped up the partially-furnished house French villa for an estimated $600,000. The purchase came about a year after Ms Higgins was awarded $2.4 million in compensation over her alleged rape by former colleague Bruce Lehrmann in Parliament House in 2019. Situated in the tiny town of Lunas, about 100km east of Bordeaux in south-west France, the 5000 sqm home is on a hillside with a pool, lake and local views. Months later, the pair put the house on the market to cover legal costs of the defamation case brought against them by Ms Higgins' former boss, Senator Linda Reynolds. The property was originally listed for €420,000 ($A737,800) then reduced to €404,000 ($A709,700) later that month. It was then lowered to €367,500 ($A596,500) in January, just before the couple moved back to Australia ahead of the birth of their son. According to The Daily Telegraph, the pair were set to make a loss on the sale, but the Euro has since fallen in value. Sign up to the Herald Sun Weekly Real Estate Update. Click here to get the latest Victorian property market news delivered direct to your inbox.
Sky News AU
4 days ago
- Business
- Sky News AU
Brittany Higgins announces return to the workforce after four years as she seeks her 'own identity' outside of media interest
Brittany Higgins is returning to the workforce four years after the ex-political staffer quit parliament, joining the same company currently employing her husband. Ms Higgins, 30, has been appointed public affairs director at independent public relations agency Third Hemisphere, the Australian Financial Review (AFR) reported on Wednesday. It comes after the former Liberal Party media adviser's husband David Sharaz also joined the boutique Sydney agency as a director in April. Ms Higgins' will head strategic advocacy and reputation management for target clients and oversee stakeholder engagement, media relations, and public affairs initiatives aimed at moulding public perception and change. Her female-focused clients include non-profit organisations, women's advocacy and support groups, and female leaders at large organisations. The clients represent an extension of Ms Higgins' advocacy for workplace safety, gender-based violence, and cultural reform in politics. Third Hemisphere founder and CEO Hannah Moreno is also a rape survivor, and her social justice advocacy helped convince Ms Higgins to join the firm. 'There was this general feeling of 'how long do I have to be the story for?' At what point do I get to put it to rest and actually get on the tools and be a working person again, and have my own identity outside this narrative of Brittany Higgins,' the former parliamentary staffer told the AFR. 'Who I was was really founded in my work. I was the most intense person back in the day – the first one in and the last one out – I had no work-life balance, and it was exactly how I liked it. 'To lose that was really quite tough. To start to reclaim that sense of identity feels good.' Ms Higgins, who in March welcomed her first child with Mr Sharaz, a boy named Freddie, said she has a "brand reputation" to uphold and did not want to associate herself with an "untoward" new workplace corporately. Instead, the first-time mother wished to join a team she believed in and one that believed in her, too. Alongside her career in government, Ms Higgins helped advance feminism and influence national legislative reform. In 2021, she was appointed as the inaugural Visiting Fellow at The Australian National University's Global Institute for Women's Leadership. Her lobbying was key to prompting Australia's Sex Discrimination Commissioner's historic review of parliamentary workplace culture. The review led to the federal government's commitment to implement the full slate of recommendations of the Set The Standard report. Reflecting on her efforts to the AFR, Ms Higgins said she's passionate about advocacy, but "it's not forever" nor a "self-sustaining career." She said she aspires to follow in the footsteps of gender equality advocate Sam Mostyn, social activist Tanya Hosch and business executive Christine Holgate and hopes her new role is the first step. "To feel sidelined and forever be living in your trauma is really reductive,' she said. Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz, 33, will work from home full-time as they navigate being parents to three-month-old Freddie. Mr Sharaz previously worked as a journalist and media advisor and it is understood his role at Third Hemisphere entails boosting the agency's political media engagement. The ex-reporter proposed to Ms Higgins at Byron Bay on New Year's Eve in 2022, months after the former political staffer was paid compensation after Bruce Lehrmann raped her in Parliament House. Ms Higgins received a $2.4 million payout from the Commonwealth in 2022. The newlyweds were previously living in France in a home purchased by Ms Higgins to start afresh following intense media coverage in Australia. However, they listed their chateau in the south of France and returned to Australia, where they have set up a home in Melbourne.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Brittany Higgins follows her husband and takes on a new role at his workplace - as she reveals the very personal reason she decided it was the right fit
Brittany Higgins has revealed she is returning to the workforce and joining the same company her husband is employed at. Ms Higgins is now the director of public affairs at the independent public relations agency Third Hemisphere, the Australian Financial Review reported. The announcement comes just months after her husband David Sharaz announced in March he had taken on the role of director at the independent PR agency. The pair are working from home full-time as they navigate early parenthood after welcoming their three-month-old son Freddie into the world on March 2. The role is a natural fit for Ms Higgins who worked as the Liberal Party media adviser before she was thrust into the limelight after stressful rape and defamation trials. Following the trials, Ms Higgins became an outspoken advocate for survivors of sexual assault. Ms Higgins explained her decision to join Third Hemisphere was cemented after fostering a connection with the firm's founder and CEO Hannah Moreno. The pair shared a connection as Ms Moreno was also a rape and domestic violence survivor who campaigns for gender equality and fights against sexual harassment. 'There was this general feeling of 'how long do I have to be the story for?' At what point do I get to put it to rest... and have my own identity outside this narrative of Brittany Higgins,' Ms Higgins said. 'I also have a brand reputation and I don't want to align myself in a corporate sense with someone that could be doing something untoward. I had to join a team that I fundamentally believe in and which believes in the same things that I do.' In August 2021, Bruce Lehrmann was identified as the Liberal Party staffer accused of raping Ms Higgins inside Parliament House in 2019. Ms Higgins had shared her alleged sexual assault with Channel 10 journalist Lisa Wilkinson in an interview aired on The Project. Lehrmann has always denied the allegations. Lehrmann faced the ACT Supreme Court in late 2022 but the case was dropped after a juror brought outside research into the deliberation room. A second trial was also aborted, citing concerns for Ms Higgins' mental health. In 2023, Lehrmann launched legal proceedings against Wilkinson and Channel 10, claiming he'd been defamed by The Project episode. The ruling in that lawsuit left Lehrmann in ruin with Justice Michael Lee finding that, on the balance of probabilities, he raped Ms Higgins. He has appealed the ruling with the case to go before the Federal Court of Australia in August.
