How Brittany Higgins and fiancée David Sharaz seem to be building a new life in a remote village in France
EXCLUSIVE
Brittany Higgins and her fiancé David Sharaz appear to be looking for a new life in the south of France, as the couple look for a gardener for a house in a small village – and a French teacher.
Ms Higgins received up to $3 million in taxpayer money in 2022 on claims her political career was in ruins after she publicly alleged she was raped in Parliament House by former colleague Bruce Lehrmann in 2019.
Mr. Lehrmann has consistently denied the allegations.
The former employee has remained tight-lipped about the payment, but has flaunted several luxury items on Instagram over the past year, including getaways to Paris, Geneva and London, the Maldives and a ski trip to the Snowy Mountains.
Now Daily Mail Australia can reveal the couple, who are renting a newly built duplex in Palm Beach on the Gold Coast, could be ready to swap their lives for the vast countryside in Lunas, near Bordeaux in southern France.
Brittany Higgins has been pictured on holiday in Europe with her fiancé David Sharaz
The couple would like to disrupt their lives in Australia for the small town of Lunas, in the south of France
On Oct. 2, Mr. Sharaz posted to a public Facebook group for English-speaking residents hoping to connect with French speakers in the Dordogne region.
‘Hi, I’m looking for someone who can garden for us in the coming months. Maybe once or twice every two weeks. We are in Lunas,” he wrote.
About a month later, on November 5, he asked members of the same group if anyone could help him accelerate his French language skills.
‘Hello! I hope to learn the language and although my plan to use French films with subtitles could work in ten years, I want to speed it up!’ He wrote.
‘Does anyone know any good French teachers?’
Relatively remote with a population of around 650, Lunas is part of a collection of small villages known as ‘pays des monts et des source’, which translates to ‘land of mountains and springs’.
Stone terraced houses are tucked into the hills on the edge of the Gravezon River and a four-bedroom property will set potential homeowners back around €180,000, which equates to around AU$300,000.
In October and November, Mr Sharaz contacted members of a public Facebook group for English-speaking people in the Dordogne region (pictured)
Higgins and Sharaz attended the Marie Claire Women of the Year awards at the MCA in Sydney on Tuesday evening
She completed her ensemble with shiny, nude heels and carried a pink purse
The former government adviser and her partner looked somber as they entered the room
Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation trial against Lisa Wilkinson and Network Ten begins this week
Ms Higgins, who may be called to testify, mingled with guests at the red carpet event
About a week after requesting the help of a gardener in Lunas, Mr Sharaz – who left his media job in Brisbane in February – posted photos on Instagram of several attractions he visited during a trip to Dubai.
In July, Ms. Higgins used Instagram to share a series of photos of herself posing outside the Palais des Nations, the United Nations conference center in Geneva, Switzerland.
“Honored to intern at this year’s @unitednations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW),” she captioned the post.
The footage showed Ms Higgins in various outfits standing at the gate of the international peace organization’s headquarters in Switzerland as she attended the three-week conference in May.
Ms Higgin shared a series of photos of herself outside the United Nations headquarters in Geneva (pictured)
The escape to the Maldives was Brittany’s Christmas gift to her fiancé David Sharaz
The couple also went to France around that time and shared archived highlights of the trip in September.
In mid-August, Mr Sharaz suggested he work in London.
“Working in London during the week,” he wrote on Instagram, alongside a clapperboard emoji.
Alongside a train emoji, he wrote: ‘Explore Paris on the weekend.’
Ms Higgins enjoyed another luxury getaway on Tuesday after posting an Instagram story showing views of Sydney Harbor from the Four Seasons hotel restaurant – ahead of the Marie Claire ‘Woman of the Year’ awards.
There was a blueberry pastry on her plate, along with a personal, handwritten note from the hotel staff.
The note read: ‘Dear David and Brittany, I wish you a warm welcome to the Four Seasons Sydney.
‘I hope you enjoy your stay and please don’t hesitate to let me know if I can assist you with anything.’
Later that evening, the couple appeared arm in arm at the lavish event, but skipped the red carpet.
On Tuesday, Ms Higgins posted a photo of Sydney Harbor – just one day before Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation trial begins
A manager at the Four Seasons hotel in Sydney welcomed Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz to the hotel with a handwritten note
It comes as Lehrmann’s defamation trial against Channel 10, Lisa Wilkinson and the ABC begins in the federal court in Sydney on Wednesday.
Mr Lehrmann is suing the network and Wilkinson over a TV interview on The Project in 2021, in which Ms Higgins first made her rape allegations against him, and the ABC during a similar broadcast a year later.
Although he was not mentioned in either broadcast, he claims friends and former colleagues were able to identify him as the alleged rapist.
Ms Higgins announced on Twitter earlier this year that she was prepared to testify at the trial.
Mr Lehrmann was tried in the ACT Supreme Court in October last year, but the hearing was abandoned when a juror brought banned research material into court.
Former ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold dropped the sexual assault charge on December 2 over concerns about Ms Higgins’ mental health.
The next day, and after a single day of mediation, she won her claim against the Commonwealth, which included forty years of lost wages, even though her allegations are unproven.