Higgs was editor of the Brisbane Worker in the period 1893-1899. He subsequently entered state politics, and served as the Labor member for Fortitude Valley (1899-1901), before moving on to the Federal arena, where he served as a Queensland Labor senator (1901-1906), and then as the member for Capricornia (1910-1922). During World War I he briefly held the position of Federal Treasurer, but resigned following the Labor split over conscription. He was expelled from the Labor Party in 1920, and joined the Nationalist Party. He is reputed to have coined the phrase 'socialism in our time'.