Brittany Higgins lands new advocacy role fighting ‘the rise of misogyny’ in Australia – after she left a top PR agency after just five months
Brittany Higgins has landed a new role as the executive director of the Vida Fund, marking her first major role since she left a top PR agency after just five months.
The role with the advocacy group will see Higgins focus on ‘countering the rise of misogyny and far-right political movements in Australia’.
The former political staffer will launch a campaign against Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, but her criticism will not be limited to conservative politics.
‘One Nation and the new right are trying to mainstream misogyny on a scale Australians have never seen before,’ Higgins said in a statement.
‘With [One Nation MP] Barnaby Joyce championing this US-style war on reproductive rights, it has never been more important to get organised and take action.’
The Vida Fund, named after pioneering Australian suffragist Vida Goldstein, is an advocacy and fundraising organisation focused on ‘advancing gender equity, democratic participation and long-term structural reform’.
Ms Higgins’ new position comes just eight months after she left her top PR job at independent agency Third Hemisphere.
The former Liberal staffer, who was bankrupted by her former boss Linda Reynolds last year, was appointed to the position director of public affairs in May 2025.
Brittany Higgins (pictured with lawyer Jennifer Robinson) has landed a new role as the executive director of the Vida Fund
Her appointment was announced in an interview with the Australian Financial Review in June, during which she said: ‘How long do I have to be the story for?’
The story provided no context for Higgins’ comment, but she was referring to a barrage of television interviews, speeches, and years-long court cases over her rape by former colleague Bruce Lehrmann in Parliament House in 2019.
Lehrmann was found on a civil balance of probabilities to have raped Higgins – a finding which was upheld in a court of appeal earlier in December.
Higgins shared the article on Instagram along with the caption, ‘Your girl is finally back in the workforce!’
But, by December last year, she was absent from the agency’s website, and her own LinkedIn profile indicated she left the company in October.
Ms Higgins recently appeared at the 73rd Sydney Film Festival last week for the Australian premier of the documentary ‘Silenced’.
The film, which examines how defamation laws are used to stop victims speaking publicly about abuse, follows acclaimed barrister Jennifer Robinson.
Ms Robinson represented actor Amber Heard during Johnny Depp’s defamation suit against her over allegations of abuse. Ms Higgins appears as a case study.
She opened up about the years after a criminal case against Lehrmann in the ACT collapsed due to juror misconduct in October 2022.
A retrial was ruled out and no criminal findings were made against Lehrmann, who has consistently denied any sexual conduct occurred.
Higgins told the documentary crew she considered suicide due to stress after the trial was halted but that ‘police, luckily, intervened’.
‘I had incredible death threats; they threatened to kill my dog. I’m just really tired. I’ve gone through four government reviews, a criminal trial, civil trial, countless civil suits. I wouldn’t even know how many,’ Higgins said.
More to come.
