The ABC will rely in part on a public interest defence in defamation proceedings brought by former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann.
Mr Lehrmann is suing the ABC over a broadcast of the National Press Club address by Brittany Higgins, which aired before his rape trial began.
Mr Lehrmann's trial over Ms Higgins's alleged rape was later abandoned and there are no findings against him.
Last month, Mr Lehrmann lodged the defamation case in the Federal Court over the broadcast of the National Press Club address on the ABC's main channel, its ABC News Channel and YouTube account.
In his statement of claim, Mr Lehrmann said the imputations in the address were likely to cause serious harm to his reputation.
"By February 2023 it was notorious throughout Australia that the Applicant was the person accused of, and charged with, the sexual assault of Ms Higgins," Mr Lehrmann's lawyers said.
In its defence, which has been filed in the Federal Court, the ABC said:
"The matters complained of would not have caused, and were not likely to cause, serious harm to Lehrmann's reputation, including because any persons to whom the matters complained of were published knew that Lehrmann was yet to face trial (or knew he had not been convicted) and accordingly it was not a proven fact that Lehrmann had raped Ms Higgins on a couch in Parliament House and that Lehrmann was entitled to the presumption of innocence."
The ABC's defence also said that any person viewing the broadcast would already have formed an opinion about Mr Lehrmann's reputation, which would not be likely to be changed by the broadcast.
The defence indicates the ABC will claim the matters complained of by Mr Lehrmann will be defended on the basis the broadcast was a "fair report of proceedings of public concern".
The ABC will also rely on the defence of innocent dissemination in its case.
"The ABC neither knew nor ought to have known that the live broadcasts were defamatory and … the ABC's lack of knowledge was not due to any negligence on its part," the defence documents read.
Mr Lehrmann is separately suing Network Ten and News Life Media as well as journalists Lisa Wilkinson and Samantha Maiden over interviews with Ms Higgins before he was named or charged.
No hearing date for the ABC matter has been set.
