Fiona Brown, the former chief of staff who employed Brittany Higgins in the office of ex-Defence Industry Minister Linda Reynolds, has settled a legal claim against the Commonwealth over allegations that the Morrison government failed to protect her following the 2019 rape allegation made by Higgins against a colleague in Parliament House. The settlement resolves a dispute in which Brown argued she had been unfairly blamed and inadequately supported by the government in the fallout from the scandal, which triggered a national reckoning over workplace culture in Australian politics.

The case centred on claims that Brown, rather than being protected as an employer dealing with a serious workplace incident, faced reputational damage and was left exposed by the Commonwealth's handling of the matter. Terms of the settlement have not been publicly disclosed, and the resolution brings to a close one of the remaining legal threads stemming from the Higgins affair, which has already resulted in other settlements, an inquiry and significant political fallout for the former Coalition government.