Brittany Higgins' former boss will face off against the federal government over claims it failed to protect her following Ms Higgins' explosive allegations she was raped in Parliament House.
Fiona Brown was the chief-of-staff to then-defence minister Linda Reynolds in 2019 when Ms Higgins claimed she had been raped by her colleague Bruce Lehrmann in Ms Reynolds' office.
Federal Court Justice Michael Lee found Ms Brown had shown compassion and integrity in her handling of Ms Higgins' complaint but she had been unfairly "vilified as an unfeeling apparatchik" seeking to cover up a crime.
In his headline-grabbing April 2024 judgment, he found there was no evidence of the cover-up alleged by Ms Higgins but that she had likely been raped by Lehrmann.
Lehrmann is awaiting judgment in his appeal against the bruising defamation loss to Network 10.
After playing a key role in the defamation proceedings, Ms Brown returned to the Federal Court on Monday for her own fight against the Commonwealth.
Justice Nye Perram set the matter down for a four-week hearing beginning in March 2027, noting it could be shorter.
He ordered the Commonwealth to notify Ms Brown by December 19 if it intends to make an application for part or all of her case to be struck out.
The dispute will return to court in February.
If the trial proceeds, it will take place eight years after Ms Higgins told Ms Brown she had woken semi-naked in their boss's office.
The then-chief-of-staff was shocked when Ms Higgins later said Lehrmann had been on top of her, Justice Lee found.
He ruled that Lehrmann had been so "hell-bent" on having sex with Ms Higgins that he didn't care whether she was consenting.
Lehrmann has long denied raping Ms Higgins. A criminal trial was abandoned in 2022 with no findings made against him.
His defamation lawsuit against Network 10 resulted in a finding to the lesser civil standard of the balance of probabilities that Ms Higgins was proven to be a victim of sexual assault.
"Having escaped the lions' den, Mr Lehrmann made the mistake of going back for his hat," Justice Lee quipped.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
