David Sharaz’s surprising career change as commentator Prue MacSween’s feud deepens with Brittany Higgins’ husband

EXCLUSIVE

Brittany Higgins’ husband, David Sharaz, made a dramatic career change while living in the south of France, entering advertising despite an outspoken commentator urging him to “get a job.”

Sky presenter Prue MacSween sparked a war of words last week after it emerged that Mr Sharaz and Ms Higgins had to sell their $600,000 home in France to pay for a libel case brought against them by Liberal senator Linda Reynolds.

The couple bought the property last year after Ms Higgins was awarded $2.4 million in damages by the Commonwealth, based on claims her political career was in ruins following her rape in Parliament House in 2019.

Less than two years after the payout, the couple is strapped for cash. They are expecting their first child and could face paying around $1 million in legal fees.

Mrs. MacSween ridiculed them on X, saying, “Mon Dieu Higgins must sell her French chateau to pay her mounting legal bills. C’est la vie.”

Mr Sharaz called her “mean”, to which she responded by encouraging him to “try hard to get a job instead of trolling”.

On Sunday, Ms MacSween reiterated her comments during a segment on Brisbane radio station 4BC, telling the former journalist: “Get a job, mate, and go for the real truth.”

However, sources close to Mr Sharaz have confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that the former journalist was working freelance for an advertising agency in London.

He worked on a Starbucks campaign that ran in the UK and the Middle East.

The source said he plans to return to full-time work after a two-year break, but has no desire to return to journalism.

Mr Sharaz worked for Sky News in Canberra until 2020, after which he held a brief role as a senior media adviser to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in Parliament House, where he met Ms Higgins.

In March 2021, he moved to Southern Cross Austereo in Brisbane, but resigned in February 2023, shortly after Ms Reynolds filed a lawsuit against him. He has not had a permanent job since.

Ms MacSween told Brisbane radio on Sunday that Australians had had “enough” of the situation.

She went on to accuse Mr Sharaz and Ms Higgins of ‘orchestrating’ the rape claims to damage the Liberal Party and questioned the legitimacy of Ms Higgins’ allegations.

Mrs MacSween said: ‘If I say in general terms, if someone has been raped or thinks they have been raped, you go to the hospital or the police.’

“I don’t think many of us would think, ‘Oh, I’m going to go to the media before I go to the police.’”

“I mean, why would you do that unless you have another reason? It’s just really weird.”

In April, Federal Court Judge Michael Lee ruled on the balance of probabilities that Ms Higgins was raped by her former colleague Bruce Lehrmann after a night out in March 2019.

The court heard that Ms Higgins went to the police after her rape, but decided not to pursue the complaint further because she felt it would mean giving up her dream job as a Liberal staffer.

Two years later, she went to the media to speak out against the treatment of women in the parliament building.

Ms MacSween was then asked to respond to Mr Sharaz’s comment, who had called her ‘mean’.

“Well, mate, I mean, he does know what mean is, because the poor guy goes through that every day,” she said.

“I think the guy should get a job and focus on that instead of worrying about what people say about him on Twitter.

“If he has a child, a wife, he risks losing his home. Find a colleague and look for a legitimate business.”

Mr Sharaz is expected to return to Australia with Ms Higgins in preparation for the defamation trial, which begins on Friday in the Supreme Court of Western Australia in Perth.

Ms Reynolds is suing the couple in separate cases over a series of social media posts in 2022 and 2023 that she says damaged her reputation.

The reports centre on allegations by the couple that the senator did not support Ms Higgins after she revealed she had been raped by Lehrmann in Ms Reynolds’ office in March 2019.

Ms Higgins has repeatedly claimed that she was ostracised by Ms Reynolds and her staff following her attack, and that she was ultimately forced to choose between her career and reporting her rape allegations to police.

Ms Reynolds has consistently denied that she failed to support Ms Higgins.

Earlier this year, Mr Sharaz conceded defeat due to financial problems. His case is likely to be heard in August.