Brittany Higgins wished her beloved grandfather a “speedy recovery” in an emotional post on social media.
Ms Higgins, who married her long-term boyfriend David Sharaz last month, posted a series of photos of her grandfather on Instagram on Friday.
“Sending my love to my wonderful grandfather, who insists on surfing with a helmet, watching sports with the sound muted, and who shared with me his love of politics. I’m thinking of you and praying for a speedy recovery,” she wrote.
The carousel of photos showed Brittany as a child riding a horse, her grandfather in his youth and a series of happy snaps with family members.
She credited him with igniting her passion for politics, and at the age of 29 she went on to work as a political adviser to various government organisations, members of parliament and cabinet ministers in state and federal governments.
The health update comes just over a month after Ms Higgins married Mr Sharaz in front of around 80 guests at The Valley Estate on July 1.
The wedding, held at the luxurious and sprawling Gold Coast venue, was rumoured to have cost more than $100,000.
The special day followed a tumultuous few years for the couple, who were thrust into the spotlight when Ms Higgins went public with her rape allegations.
Brittany Higgins wished her grandfather (pictured right) a “speedy recovery” on Friday
Ms Higgins, who married her long-term boyfriend David Sharaz last month, posted a series of photos of her grandfather (pictured left) on Instagram.
Ms Higgins said her former colleague Bruce Lehrmann raped her in Parliament when they were both junior political staffers in 2019.
Mr Lehrmann had denied this, but in April a Federal Court judge ruled on a balance of probabilities that Ms Higgins had been raped.
In December last year, Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz bought a chateau in the south of France using the $2.4m awarded to her by the Commonwealth as compensation for the way her rape allegations were handled.
On Tuesday, Ms Higgins hit back at Linda Reynolds after she accused her in court papers of conspiring with her husband to overthrow the Morrison government.
The documents were filed by Senator Reynolds’ legal team, with the former Defence Industry Minister suing Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz separately in Western Australia’s Federal Court over comments they made on social media that she says defamed her.
The trial is scheduled to take place in early August after several rounds of mediation talks between the parties failed to reach an agreement.
Court documents have been amended to allege that Ms Higgins (a former staffer to Senator Reynolds) and Mr Sharaz participated in a political conspiracy designed to use her rape allegations against the Liberal/National government.
The health update comes just over a month after Ms Higgins married Mr Sharaz in front of around 80 guests at The Valley Estate on July 1 (the couple are pictured at the wedding).
A spokesman for Ms Higgins responded to the new allegations on Tuesday, saying: ‘Brittany Higgins stands by her truth about the consequences of her rape in Parliament.
“She is being forced back into the courtroom for a third time to investigate these distressing events.”
Senator Reynolds’ updated statement of claim, obtained by The Australian newspaper, alleges Ms Higgins “acted maliciously” by making social media posts about how the government handled her rape allegations.
“They were published as part of a plan by the defendant and Mr. Sharaz to use the defendant’s allegations of rape and political cover-up… as a weapon to inflict immediate political damage on the plaintiff and the then government,” the statement of claim said.
Senator Reynolds alleges that part of that scheme included arranging meetings with Labor figures such as Finance Minister Katy Gallagher and Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who were allegedly given false information.
Senators were then encouraged to ask “aggressive questions” during Question Time in February 2021, shortly after Higgins went public with her rape allegations against former colleague Bruce Lehrmann in March 2019.