Inside Brittany Higgins’ strained friendship with Grace Tame – and why the former staffer was so ‘p***ed off’ with the Australian of the Year

Brittany Higgins felt partially inspired to go public with her rape allegations when Grace Tame won Australian of the Year, but newly obtained voice recordings show their relationship was tense from the start.

Last Sunday night, 7News Spotlight played part of a taped phone conversation between Ms Higgins and political journalist Samantha Maiden in a special episode about the fallout from Bruce Lehrmann’s botched rape trial.

The call, obtained by Daily Mail Australia, was recorded on August 30, 2021 – six months after Ms Maiden first published Ms Higgins’ rape allegations, and less than a month after Mr Lehrmann was charged with assault.

The former Liberal staffer alleged that her former colleague Mr Lehrmann raped her in 2019 in the House of Parliament after a night out. He has always denied the allegations.

Mrs. Maiden asked, “Is there anything that scares you that you should talk to me about?”

Mrs. Higgins replied, “Grace Tame just chased me off, so I’m a little tense, but it’s fine.”

The comment came as a surprise as they seemed to share a close friendship – they regularly attended the same events, posed together on the cover of Marie Claire and addressed the National Press Club together in February 2022.

Rumors of a broken friendship surfaced in June this year when Ms. Tame appeared to be scrubbing her Instagram profile of photos of Ms. Higgins – including posts calling the former staffer “a national hero”, a “warrior” and “my friend”. ‘ mentioned .

However, voice recordings – obtained by Daily Mail Australia – suggest their friendship may have been fraught for about two years.

The rest of the conversation between Ms Maiden and Ms Higgins in August 2021, which was not played on Spotlight on Sunday, involved the former Liberal staffer expressing frustration over Ms Tame being invited to appear on the ABC panel program Q&A.

After Mrs. Higgins said she was “bullied out” with Mrs. Tame for agreeing to appear on the show, Mrs. Maiden asked, “What did she do?”

Ms Higgins replied: ‘She’s just going to do this Q&A thing with (journalist and host) David Spears about internal processes in Parliament.

“It’s like you don’t know what you’re talking about. You have never worked in parliament and you do not know the internal processes. Like it really isn’t your place to comment on it.’

Ms Higgins said she would ‘hold back’ herself from telling Ms Tame how she felt given that Mr Lehrmann had been charged with assault earlier that month.

At the time, Ms. Higgins was advised not to speak publicly about her rape allegations because anything she said could falsely imply that Mr. Lehrmann was guilty, and therefore prejudice a jury against him.

Ms Tame is a sexual assault survivor who successfully campaigned to change the laws in Tasmania that prevented her rapist – who was her high school math teacher – from speaking publicly about her experience, but allowed her abuser to do so. doing.

During the phone call, Ms Higgins added that she did not mind Ms Tame being an advocate for survivors of sexual assault, but felt it was ‘inappropriate’ for her to speak about issues in Parliament.

Ms Tame did appear on Q&A in September 2021, but she did not speak directly about issues in Parliament – instead speaking about women’s safety and the issues victims face when reporting sexual assault to police.

In the same conversation, Ms Higgins said talking to Ms Tame was ‘difficult’ because ‘she doesn’t understand’.

“You have (journalist) Nina Furnell kind of brokering peace every time we get contentious,” she added.

Ms Furnell teamed up with Ms Tame to launch the #LetHerSpeak campaign, which eventually led to changes in the laws in Tasmania.

That conversation took place in August 2021, more than six months after Ms Tame was Australian of the Year on 25 January 2021.

In a draft of her memoir, #NotJustADaughter, Ms Higgins said she was “gutted” to watch former Prime Minister Scott Morrison present Ms Tame with her award.

“Eroded by pain I couldn’t quite understand, I relived 2019,” she wrote.

“When the staff of the Prime Minister’s Office intimidated me and gasped me to keep quiet.

“Here he was on stage, the prime minister himself, presenting an award to a young woman who stood up for the #LetUsSpeak campaign.”

Ms Higgins also referred to herself as a ‘B grade Grace Tame’, saying: It exists outside and beyond the political bubble. Lawsuit closed, awarded and respected.”

“Here I am in the mud with the pigs – fighting for control of the daily news cycle. Throwing mud: a WhatsApp here, a voicemail there, a drop to Sam (Maiden).’

In July 2021, months after making those comments in her draft book, Ms Higgins told Ms Maiden that part of the reason she made her allegations public was inspired by Ms Tame’s award.

“What prompted you to say, ‘I need to talk about it publicly’?” Mrs Maiden asked in the recorded conversation.

Mrs Higgins thought about it and finally said ‘the Australian of the year played a part in it’.

Mrs Maiden then suggested that Mrs Higgins wanted to make her accusations because ‘you didn’t want (sexual assault) to happen to anyone else’ – to which Mrs Higgins agreed.

Ms. Tame is still not following Ms. Higgins’ public Instagram page.

Mr Lehrmann was tried by the ACT High Court in October last year, but the trial collapsed when a juror brought banned investigative material to court.

ACT’s Director of Public Prosecutions, Shane Drumgold, dropped the charges in December over concerns about Ms Higgins’ mental health.

Mrs. Lehrmann had pleaded not guilty, but no verdict was reached.

He is currently suing Channel 10, Lisa Wilkinson and the ABC for libel. The trial will begin in November.

Comments have been sought from Ms Higgins and Ms Tame.