Brittany Higgins to file compensation claim against former minister Linda Reynolds

Further details of the claim have not been released. The compensation claim is rumoured to be for $1m, according to a news.com.au report, with other respondents likely to be included.

The former Liberal party staffer alleged she was raped by a colleague in 2019 in a ministerial office in parliament house. Bruce Lehrmann has consistently maintained his innocence and said there was no sexual contact between the pair.

A trial testing those claims was aborted after a juror brought in research papers on the prevalence of false complaints during deliberations.

On Friday, the director of ACT public prosecutions, Shane Drumgold announced he would not be moving forward with a retrial, citing independent medical evidence that the risk to Higgins was too great.

Drumgold also gave an insight into what Higgins had faced.

Higgins referred to the statistics showing how few sexual assault allegations made it to court, and how little of those resulted in convictions.

With no retrial, Lehrmann, who had pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual intercourse without consent, retains the presumption of innocence. With no prospect of a retrial, he remains innocent of any alleged rape of Higgins.