Brittany Higgins lands new advocacy role fighting 'the rise of misogyny' in Australia - after she left a top PR agency after just five months

By CAITLIN POWELL - NEWS REPORTER Published: 02:38, 11 June 2026 | Updated: 02:58, 11 June 2026 Brittany Higgins has landed a new role as the executive director of the Vida Fund, marking her first major role since she left a top PR agency after just five months. The role with the advocacy group will see Higgins focus on 'countering the rise of misogyny and far-right political movements in Australia'. The former political staffer will launch a campaign against Pauline Hanson's One Nation, but her criticism will not be limited to conservative politics.  'One Nation and the new right are trying to mainstream misogyny on a scale Australians have never seen before,' Higgins said in a statement.  'With [One Nation MP] Barnaby Joyce championing this US-style war on reproductive rights, it has never been more important to get organised and take action.' The Vida Fund, named after pioneering Australian suffragist Vida Goldstein, is an advocacy and fundraising organisation focused on 'advancing gender equity, democratic participation and long-term structural reform'.  Ms Higgins' new position comes just eight months after she left her top PR job at independent agency Third Hemisphere. The former Liberal staffer, who was bankrupted by her former boss Linda Reynolds last year, was appointed to the position director of public affairs in May 2025. Brittany Higgins (pictured with lawyer Jennifer Robinson) has landed a new role as the executive director of the Vida Fund Her appointment was announced in an interview with the Australian Financial Review in June, during which she said: 'How long do I have to be the story for?' The story provided no context for Higgins' comment, but she was referring to a barrage of television interviews, speeches, and years-long court cases over her rape by former colleague Bruce Lehrmann in Parliament House in 2019. Lehrmann was found on a civil balance of probabilities to have raped Higgins - a finding which was upheld in a court of appeal earlier in December. Higgins shared the article on Instagram along with the caption, 'Your girl is finally back in the workforce!' But, by December last year, she was absent from the agency's website, and her own LinkedIn profile indicated she left the company in October. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.