EXCLUSIVE
Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz have put their taxpayer-funded French home up for sale on a local real estate website, with an asking price of around $685,000.
The newlyweds bought the rustic three-bedroom home in Lunas, in the historic central Dordogne region, last year, about six months after she received a $2.4 million Commonwealth compensation payment for her rape in 2019.
In December, they left Brisbane airport dressed head to toe in suffragette white (ostensibly a symbol of “strength” and new beginnings) with the intention of moving permanently to France.
However, his European dream has been cut short by the ongoing defamation battle with Ms Higgins’s former boss, Linda Reynolds, over social media posts the senator says damaged his reputation.
In July it was revealed that the couple would have to sell the house, which they bought for about $600,000, to pay defamation lawyers, who can charge more than $8,000 for a single day in court.
Daily Mail Australia can now reveal that his 1.2-acre property, complete with three bedrooms, a pond and a pool, is on the market for €420,000 (AU$685,000).
They are understood to be considering returning to Australia before the birth of their first child.
Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz were supposed to move to France permanently last year.
Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz’s home in France (pictured) is for sale, with an asking price of approximately $685,000
The house is filled with 19th-century style furniture, Chesterfield sofas and a fireplace.
According to the online listing, the two-story home features a living room with a wood-burning stove and exposed beams, two bathrooms, a garage and a basement, with large traditional windows overlooking the gardens.
“A charming house on a beautiful plot with a swimming pool and pond,” the website says.
The house is filled with 19th-century furniture, a marble bust, wooden sculptures, demure portraits, decorative antlers, Chesterfield sofas, vases, lamps and side tables.
The unique interior decor in photos of the property appears to match the furnishings in the background of several images on the couple’s Instagram pages.
It is not clear whether the furniture is included in the price.
Ms Higgins was due to return to Australia to give evidence in the Western Australian Supreme Court last week amid her case with Ms Reynolds, but was excused after mental health reports were lodged.
Her barrister, Rachael Young SC, told the court she was confident they would win the case even without Ms Higgins’ testimony.
Closing arguments began this week.
The house also features a living room with a separate kitchen (pictured), decorated with heavy wooden furniture.
The two-story house (pictured) has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a pool and a pond.
According to the real estate website, the property has a bathroom on the ground floor and a private bathroom upstairs.
If she loses the case, Ms Higgins will have to pay her own legal fees, in addition to those of Ms Reynolds. The total cost of the case is estimated at $2 million.
The Liberal senator has also sued Sharaz, but conceded defeat in April, saying he did not have the financial means to wage the legal battle. The costs are yet to be determined, but he will have to cover his own and Reynolds’ fees.
He has not had a full-time job since leaving his media role at Southern Cross Austereo in Brisbane in 2023, shortly after Reynolds announced she was suing him.
The government awarded Ms Higgins $2.445 million in damages over the way the Liberal Party and her former bosses, Ms Reynolds and Senator Michaelia Cash, handled her rape allegations in Parliament in 2019.
She accused them of failing to adequately support her, but both senators were excluded from legal mediation talks with the Commonwealth.
David Sharaz is photographed on his first and only Christmas at his home in Lunas
The sprawling country house is located in the small town of Lunas in the south of France (pictured)
Under the settlement agreement, she was awarded $1.48 million for loss of earning capacity over 40 years; $400,000 for damages, distress and humiliation; $220,000 for medical expenses; $100,000 for domestic assistance; and $245,000 for legal fees.
By the time the matter was resolved, Ms Higgins’ rape allegations had not been proven in court.
Ms Reynolds filed a complaint with the National Anti-Corruption Commission regarding the compensation payment.
In April, more than a year after she won the claim, Federal Court Judge Michael Lee found that her former colleague Bruce Lehrmann had raped Ms Higgins, based on a preponderance of probabilities.
He is now appealing the decision.