In an extraordinary legal pleading, former Liberal staffer Fiona Brown has accused then-prime minister Scott Morrison and his most senior advisers of muzzling her and preventing her from responding to false allegations by Brittany Higgins that destroyed her life, according to an exclusive report by Janet Albrechtsen and Stephen Rise in The Australian (Feb. 4, 2026). The following are extracts from their report, republished here in the public interest.
In a scathing 79-page statement of claim lodged in the Federal Court on November 28, and released by the court to The Australian, Brown reveals how she was betrayed by some of the most powerful men in the country, ‐ alleging:
■ She felt “frightened and intimidated” by Morrison when he sternly told her they had spoken, when in fact they had not;
■ She had become “distressed and angry” when told Morrison’s chief of staff, John Kunkel, had “decided to withhold” questions sent to her by the ABC’s Four Corners;
■ Morrison press secretary Andrew Carswell had failed to show her statements he sent to the media, purportedly on her behalf, and “did not act honestly and reasonably”;
■ Several senior male members of Morrison’s executive team caught up in the Higgins scandal, including Morrison principal private secretary Yaron Finkelstein, had been protected while she had been “thrown under the bus”.
■ Kunkel had told her the Gaetjens Inquiry report commissioned by Morrison would find “that she knew everything”, which distressed her so much she broke down and sobbed in front of him.
■ Morrison and his team stripped Brown of her career the day after Higgins’ allegations became public; her role shrank from overseeing key institutions such as The Lodge and Kirribilli House to ordering the office stationery. In an interview with The Australian in June 2023, Brown revealed how she was made to take the fall for the Morrison government as it sought to deflect Labor’s false accusations of a cover-up, ruthlessly cast aside by her Liberal Party colleagues when she became, to them, a liability.
Now, in her Fair Work action against the commonwealth, Brown has laid bare her claims of the Machiavellian scheming in the Prime Minister’s Office that destroyed her career and ultimately led her to attempt suicide. The following account of her allegations is taken from her statement of claim.
Brown was at home on Friday, February 12, 2021 when she received a text from Network Ten producer Angus Llewellyn at 2.53pm requesting answers to a series of allegations made by Higgins that would be aired on The Project the following Monday. In her statement of claim, Brown says Morrison’s chief of staff and principal adviser, Kunkel, told her not to respond to Ten and to come to Canberra to explain. The next day, Saturday, February 13, Brown joined a conference call with Kunkel, Morrison press secretary Carswell and Morrison principal private secretary Finkelstein to discuss the looming crisis. Brown responded to each of the Network Ten questions, making it clear there had been no allegation of a sexual assault when she had first met with Higgins, and detailing the support she had given to Higgins later – including personally taking her to the Australian Federal Police in Parliament House.
Brown says Carswell didn’t inform Ten that she wasn’t responding directly to its questions because she had been directed by her chief of staff not to, and didn’t provide the network with her answers to all its questions. Carswell also didn’t warn her that, in the absence of her personal response, there was a high risk she would suffer reputational damage in the broadcast; and neither he nor Kunkel suggested she seek any support or assistance, she says. “By the conduct, Carswell did not act honestly and reasonably,” she alleges in the statement of claim that details a series of adverse actions she said the commonwealth took against her in her workplace, in breach of the Fair Work Act.
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Every time she asked Kunkel, Carswell and Harris to correct, refute or prevent the republication of the false allegations “they each repeatedly sought to deter Brown from taking any steps to defend herself, including by saying that to do so would ‘kick the story along’, that she ‘need to let it die down’, ‘don’t buy into it’, the ‘media will lose interest’ ”. ‘Passed out and naked’
The media did not lose interest. Allegations were being made by Labor under parliamentary privilege. Both Reynolds and Brown were being subjected to a torrent of social media abuse. When did they first know about the allegation? Why hadn’t they acted sooner? Why had Reynolds’ office been so quickly cleaned?
Brown says in her statement of claim that she did everything she was asked to do by departmental officials, and cites Justice Michael Lee’s finding in the Federal Court that Higgins “did not tell Brown she had suffered any form of inappropriate conduct”, and that Brown’s actions were ”not only appropriate but also solicitous of Higgins’ welfare and as to her need for any assistance”. Brown says she complained to the secretary of the Department of Parliamentary Services that security staff had allowed two staff members to come in after hours who they had observed to be drunk, allowed them access to a highly sensitive office, and left Higgins there overnight “after being found passed out and naked”.
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At 5.35pm on March 22, 2021, Brown saw a promo for an ABC Four Corners program airing that night titled “Brittany Higgins; who knew what and when”. The program was billed as Higgins’ “account of effectively being silenced for political reasons”. It was the first Brown knew of it. But four days earlier, a Four Corners producer had written to Brown, care of Morrison’s office, with questions specifically for Brown, requiring response by close of business the next day. The intended recipient could not have been more clear. The message was headed “QUERY: Four Corners for Fiona Brown”.
No one showed it to Brown. When she asked Morrison’s senior media adviser, Lauren Gianoli, she was told Kunkel “had decided to withhold them” from her. “Brown was distressed, angry, and used expletives to Gianoli,” her statement of claim says. “Brown said to Gianoli she was being shut out.” Shortly before 6pm Brown interrupted a meeting between House Speaker Tony Smith, Kunkel, Carswell and Gianoli. Brown told Kunkel she wanted to ask questions and had concerns about the Four Corners program, and that it was urgent, but Kunkel told her to wait for the Speaker to leave.Gianoli forwarded the Four Corners questions to Brown at 6.45pm, less than two hours before the program went to air. An email had already been sent to Four Corners by the PMO purporting to be on behalf of Brown but which did not provide any substantive response to the ABC’s questions and was without Brown’s consent, she says.
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Brown says she was so affected by the conduct she suffered “chest pain and pins and needles down her left arm”, and was scared she was “having a heart attack.” After the Four Corners broadcast, with one exception, no colleagues contacted her, and she was isolated and alone in her workplace, Brown says.
Brown had been at the height of her career. Her responsibilities included management of official establishments such as The Lodge in Canberra and Kirribilli House in Sydney. But Morrison’s office began to freeze her out the day after The Project aired, she says. “Half her job” disappeared without consultation. That morning, Kunkel told her that her role would be backfilled by a staffer from the Protocol Division of PM&C, a decision that “purported to suspend Brown, or totally reduce Brown’s duties, and replace Brown”. “As the conduct was without cause, Kunkel did not act honestly and reasonably,” the statement of claim says. “Brown’s position did not require replacement as Brown was ready, willing and able to perform her role and duties.”
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Brown observes that “Higgins had made allegations against Finkelstein, and Finkelstein had received the same Network Ten questions as Brown”. But Finkelstein “continued in his role without any change to duties, or responsibilities, and continued to be invited to attend or included in meetings and briefings with Morrison”. Morrison failed to release a report refuting or clearing Brown of the allegations against her, she notes, “whereas on May 25, 2021, Kunkel as agent and delegate of Morrison exercising employer functions of the commonwealth, released a report clearing male PMO staffers of allegations of negative backgrounding of Higgins’ partner, David Sharaz”. Brown’s complaints to Kunkel that he and Morrison should have listened to her account and not “thrown her under the bus” fell on deaf ears. “Kunkel nodded and then changed the subject to staff salary increases for exceptional work,” Brown says.
Under political pressure following The Project interview, Morrison asked the head of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Phil Gaetjens, to investigate which staff in his office knew about the rape allegation, when they became aware and what they were told. Brown was interviewed by Gaetjens and PM&C deputy secretary Stephanie Foster, but no transcript was provided to her. Brown says she objected that the questions were unfair and appeared to be based on media reports, which were laid out in front of them. She refused to sign a statutory declaration because it didn’t reflect what she had said. Brown says after being interviewed by Gaetjens, she told Kunkel she objected to unfairness and inadequacy of the questions posed to her. She described it to Kunkel as a “fit-up.” Days later Brown told Gaetjens she “did not wish to be verballed by them”.
Around 10 days later, on March 20 or 21, 2021, Gaetjens provided Morrison with a report of the investigation “adverse to Brown”, she says.
In August 2021, Kunkel told Brown the Gaetjens Inquiry report would be published and would find Brown “knew everything”. Kunkel said it was likely Albanese would politicise it and Brown and Gaetjens would be slammed. Kunkel said she should “prepare herself” and perhaps take a week off. He said he could speak to Albanese’s chief of staff, Tim Gartrell, about Brown but did not think it would make any difference. “Brown was distressed and sobbed in response in his presence,” the statement of claim says.
The Gaetjens Inquiry was suspended when Lehrmann was charged with rape and never issued a finding before the Coalition lost government in 2022. The conduct of the inquiry meant she had “lost the opportunity to be exonerated and vindicated”, Brown said.
On February 8, 2022 Morrison stood up in parliament and apologised to Higgins, with a statement referring to “the many terrible experiences Ms Higgins has described receiving whilst working here”. The statement of claim says the apology conveyed “that it was the considered position of the commonwealth that Brown bore responsibility for the “terrible experiences and ill-treatment suffered by Higgins” at Parliament House.
Eleven days later, Brown “was experiencing such severe fear and distress” that she attempted suicide. Brown says her mental distress was increased by the commonwealth’s $2.4m settlement with Higgins, made without consulting Brown about the allegations against her or given the opportunity to defend herself. The widespread media attention given to the settlement validated and lent credibility to Higgins’ claims, she says. Brown is seeking declarations that the commonwealth took adverse action against her, that it breached the Fair Work Act and her contract, and is liable for damages, including aggravated damages.
The commonwealth has not yet filed a defence. Morrison, Kunkel and Carswell were contacted for comment.