Brittany Higgins has revealed a new role at the United Nations devoted to ending discrimination against women as the former political staffer confirms rumours that she and fiancé David Sharaz recently jetted overseas for an extended spell.
The former Liberal staffer fired up her Instagram on Friday to share a series of snaps of her posing outside Palais des Nations, the United Nations’ conference centre in Geneva, Switzerland.
‘Honoured to intern at this year’s @unitednations convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW),’ Ms Higgins wrote.
The images showed Ms Higgins standing at the front gates of the international peace organisation’s headquarters in Switzerland in a variety of outfits as she attended the three-week conference.
Her wardrobe choices included a baby pink suit and blazer matched with Gucci-style high heels.
The posts are a confirmation of long-running whispers that Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz had jetted overseas as part of her role associated with former prime minister Julia Gillard’s Global Institute for Women’s Leadership.
Brittany Higgins has revealed she recently interned at the United Nations for a convention dedicated to improving women’s rights
Ms Higgin shared a series of snaps of herself outside the Geneva United Nations headquarters, sporting various outfits
The Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women convention ran from May 8 to May 26 – about the same time rumours were circulating Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz had left their Gold Coast home for Europe.
According to the rumours, the couple flew to Europe so Ms Higgin could fulfil duties in the UK as part of her role as inaugural visiting fellow for Julia Gillard’s foundation, the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership (GIWL).
Ms Higgins, a former Liberal party staffer, came forward in 2021, accusing her colleague Bruce Lehrmann of raping her inside a minister’s office in Parliament House in March 2019.
Mr Lehrmann has always strenuously denied the allegations, and they were never proven in court. His case resulted in a mistrial due to juror misbehaviour and prosecutors declined to take it to a retrial over concerns over Ms Higgins’ mental health.
Ms Higgins announcement comes after she and Mr Sharaz were spotted back on the Gold Coast last weekend after Senator Linda Reynolds’ lawyers had been unsuccessfully trying to locate him for months.
Senator Reynolds is suing Mr Sharaz in the Supreme Court of Western Australia over five social media posts he uploaded that she alleges were ‘falsely defamatory’.
However, the case had been languishing since January as Ms Reynolds lawyers had been struggling to serve the elusive former journalist with court papers.
In May, rumours swirled Ms Higgins and her fiancé David Sharaz (pictured together) were in Europe for her to carry out duties related to her role at Julia Gillard’s foundation
At one stage, he was seen chatting to a woman, not believed to be his fiancée Ms Higgins, who was carrying a baby on her hip
Dressed in a casual green sweater and jeans, Mr Sharaz was pictured on Saturday grabbing a take-away coffee at a cafe near the couple’s home.
Following publication of the story, Mr Sharaz confirmed on Sunday morning he had provided Senator Reynolds’ lawyers with his ‘actual email address’ and had ‘accepted service from Senator Reynolds’.
Mr Sharaz and Ms Higgins have been living together in a rental home on the Gold Coast since March this year, as the former political staffer continues her studies at Bond University.
Their move to Queensland came after Ms Higgins received a substantial payout, rumoured to be up to $3million, from the Commonwealth, after she sought damages for sexual harassment, sex discrimination, disability discrimination, negligence and victimisation. The mediation is believed to have taken less than a day.
Earlier last week, Senator Reynolds’ lawyer Martin Bennett revealed the defamation claim had expanded from two of Mr Sharaz’s tweets to five social media posts in total.
Mr Bennett also explained his office had been trying, and failing, to serve Mr Sharaz with a writ since January of this year.
Hours after Mr Bennett’s comments in court, Ms Higgins posted photos on Instagram of herself alongside Mr Sharaz celebrating her lawyer Leon Zwier’s birthday at an upmarket Chinese restaurant in Melbourne.
Brittany Higgins’ elusive fiancé David Sharaz was spotted on the Gold Coast on Saturday after it emerged lawyers for Linda Reynolds had been trying unsuccessfully to locate him
He then pointed to media reports stating Mr Sharaz was living in a rental property on the Gold Coast with Ms Higgins, and said locating his address would be impractical.
The court heard his office also contacted Mr Zwier following media reports suggesting he was also representing Mr Sharaz.
However, Mr Zwier said he had not received instructions to accept the writ on behalf of his ‘client’s fiancé’.
Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting Mr Sharaz was deliberately trying to avoid being served, only that Senator Reynolds’ lawyers had previously been unable to locate him and Ms Higgins’ lawyer had not been advised to accept writs on Mr Sharaz’s behalf.
Supreme Court justice Marcus Solomon said he was satisfied that it was impractical for Mr Sharaz to be served in person and allowed Mr Bennett’s office to send the writ to the two personal accounts.
Within 24 hours of those emails being sent, Mr Sharaz will be considered to have been served.
Mr Sharaz and Ms Higgins have been living together in a rental home on the Gold Coast since March this year, as the former political staffer continues her studies at Bond University
It is understood Mr Sharaz hadn’t received the writ by Friday morning, but Mr Bennett told Daily Mail Australia his office emailed it to him immediately following Justice Solomon’s orders.
It is further understood the two Gmail addresses Mr Bennett’s office acquired were previously unmonitored by Mr Sharaz.
According to the writ, seen by Daily Mail Australia, Senator Reynolds claimed she was defamed in three Twitter posts between January and December last year, one Instagram post in April, and one Facebook comment in December.
Mr Sharaz appears to have deactivated his Facebook profile, made his Instagram account private and removed about 2,000 followers recently.
Senator Reynolds is seeking damages and an injunction against Mr Sharaz from publishing the allegedly defamatory material, and costs.
She is also seeking interest on damages at a rate of six per cent from the date of publication to the date of judgement.
