What we heard today
Brittany Higgins returned to the witness box for a second day of cross-examination on Friday afternoon in the defamation case against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson. You can find the more in-depth wrap on today’s events here.
Just a reminder: The case concerns an interview aired on Ten’s The Project, in which Higgins alleged she was raped by a Liberal staffer in Parliament House. Network Ten and Wilkinson are defending the case.
Bruce Lehrmann has denied raping Higgins and pleaded not guilty to a charge of sexual intercourse without consent. His criminal trial was abandoned due to juror misconduct and the second trial did not proceed due to prosecutors’ fears for Higgins’ mental health.
Here’s what we heard on Friday afternoon at the defamation case:
Higgins was cross-examined over a white pencil dress she wore on the night of the alleged rape. She told Lehrmann’s barrister Steve Whybrow SC that she wore it at a later Liberal party event in Perth because she was “trying to reclaim it”, but she couldn’t and never wore it again.
The court heard Higgins had secretly recorded a conversation with Liberal senator Michaelia Cash. Higgins told the court she had recorded the conversation for her own “legal protection”. Whybrow told the court Cash was now aware of the recording and had given permission for it to be played. However, a decision on whether it can be aired in open court was delayed until next Tuesday.
Higgins conceded that a timeline of events that she prepared, which she said she wrote for herself, the police and Ten’s The Project, contained facts that were incorrect.
The court heard a recording of a long pre-interview that Wilkinson and her producer Angus Llewellyn conducted with Higgins and her partner David Sharaz. The recording included discussion about whether then opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, could be helpful in pushing the story ahead. Wilkinson is heard in the recording saying Albanese is “a bit of a dead duck at the moment”.
Higgins told the court Linda Reynolds “did not meet her duty of care” towards her and she felt “unsupported” by Reynolds and her chief of staff Fiona Brown – but she did not count them as “villains” and was “still a Liberal” at the time she went public, though she no longer is.
At the beginning of the day, Justice Michael Lee foreshadowed that the trial may be extended past its original 14 December end date, possibly up to 18 December
We’ll be back on Tuesday when Higgins’ cross-examination will continue.
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Brittany Higgins has been excused for the day because the court is dealing with the tabling of exhibits.
She will continue her cross-examination on Tuesday because the court is not sitting on Monday.
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Court hears recording of The Project pre-interview with Higgins and Sharaz
Earlier the court heard a recording of a long pre-interview that Lisa Wilkinson and her producer Angus Llewellyn conducted with Brittany Higgins and her partner David Sharaz.
One of the exchanges played to the court was about whether then opposition leader Anthony Albanese could be helpful to pushing the story ahead – and Lisa Wilkinson said he is “a bit of a dead duck at the moment”.
Higgins’ partner, David Sharaz, replied: “Well, he’s in a car crash, leave him alone. He got a lot of coverage out of that.”
Sharaz suggested The Project broadcast the story before the parliamentary sitting week so that “they [the Liberal party] have to answer questions at question time, it’s a mess for them”.
Sharaz said he had a friend in the Labor party who could help to kick the story along in parliament:
“I’ve got a friend in Labor, Katy Gallagher on the Labor side, who will probe and continue it going.”
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Audio decision delayed until next week
The issue of the audio conversation with Michaelia Cash has been delayed until Tuesday to give Higgins the opportunity to seek legal advice about whether she consents to the covert recording being made public.
Whybrow read out a note Higgins made on her phone about writing a thesis about politics, media and sexual assault and asked her if that is why she went to the media.
Whybrow: “This was the acorn from which your going to the media with these false allegations grows I suggest.”
Higgins: “No. If anything, the acorn from which I came forward with my own sexual assault was probably the [Liberal party sex] scandals that happened in 2019.
“I heard those stories, their stories were so similar to mine, the way they felt how they [had been] dealt with by the Liberal party.”
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Brittany Higgins tells court she secretly recorded conversation with Michaelia Cash for ‘legal protection’
Whybrow: “You had a conversation with minister Cash on the fifth of February 2021?
Higgins: “Yes.”
Whybrow: “You recorded that secretly without telling her, didn’t you?”
Higgins: “I did for my legal protection.”
Whybrow: “And you immediately then sent it to [your best friend]?
Higgins: “Yes for safekeeping.”
Whybrow: “And you offered it to Angus Llewellyn at The Project?”
Higgins: “Yes, I did.”
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Justice Lee considers playing audio of Higgins talking with Senator Cash
Bruce Lehrmann’s barrister Steve Whybrow SC has asked the court to play a 15-minute audio which was covertly recorded by Brittany Higgins when she was talking to Senator Michaelia Cash.
Higgins has agreed that she recorded her conversation with Cash, who was her employer after she left Senator Linda Reynolds.
Whybrow told the court Cash is aware of the recording and has given permission for it to be played.
Justice Michael Lee has paused proceedings to consider whether playing the recording in open court is a contravention of the ACT’s Listening Devices Act.
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The court has resumed after lunch and will sit until 3.15pm
Brittany Higgins is back in the witness box under cross-examination by Bruce Lehrmann’s barrister, Steve Whybrow SC.
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What we've heard so far today
As the court takes a longer than usual break (due back at 12:30) here is what we’ve heard so far today.
Brittany Higgins is again back in the witness box – she began giving evidence on Tuesday afternoon, and her cross-examination began yesterday morning.
A reminder: Bruce Lehrmann has brought a defamation case against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson.
The case is over an interview aired on Ten’s The Project, in which Higgins alleged she was raped by a Liberal staffer in Parliament House. Network Ten and Wilkinson are defending the case, and Higgins is the first defence witness.
• At the beginning of the day, Justice Michael Lee foreshadowed that the trial may be extended past its original 14 December end date, possibly up to 18 December
• Higgins was cross-examined over a white pencil dress she wore on the night of the alleged rape. She told Lehrmann’s barrister Steve Whybrow SC that she wore it at a later Liberal party event in Perth because she was “trying to reclaim it”, but she couldn’t and never wore it again.
• She was asked why she sent selfies in the dress to a friend and it was suggested this was because she hadn’t been sexually assaulted in the dress. She replied “you’re incorrect”.
• She conceded that a timeline of events that she prepared, which she said she wrote for herself, the police and Ten’s The Project, contained facts that were incorrect.
• Higgins said senator Linda Reynolds “did not meet her duty of care” towards her and she felt “unsupported” by Reynolds and her chief of staff Fiona Brown – but she did not count them as “villains” and was “still a Liberal” at the time she went public, though she no longer is.
• Higgins said it was an accidental oversight that a document naming Lehrmann as the alleged perpetrator of her sexual assault was distributed widely to journalists.
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Lehrmann's name included in media briefing notes by accident, Higgins tells court
Brittany Higgins has told the court she and her partner, David Sharaz, gave copies of the timeline of events of her alleged rape to journalists in the Canberra press gallery after news.com.au broke the story on 15 February 2021.
“David sent it to like half the press gallery,” Higgins said.
The witness said the couple had to distribute the timeline widely as a background document because there was so much press interest and they were “overwhelmed” by inquiries.
However, Higgins said she had kept the story under wraps until it was published by Samantha Maiden, apart from The Project which was scheduled to broadcast it on the same day.
She denied she had briefed journalists before 15 February.
“No never,” Higgins said. “I never gazumped Sam’s exclusive.”
Higgins agreed she had inadvertently included Bruce Lehrmann’s name in the briefing document distributed to journalists.
Bruce Lehrmann’s barrister, Steve Whybrow SC: “Oh, it was just an accidental oversight that this document naming Mr Lehrmann as the perpetrator of your sexual assault was distributed to a lot of the Canberra press gallery and wider?”
Higgins replied: “Yes.”
Higgins told the court the document was originally prepared for herself and for the police.
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Higgins denies leaking story to media to damage Liberal party before election
Brittany Higgins says she does not count Linda Reynolds and her chief of staff Fiona Brown as villains in her story.
“Fiona Brown was just following instructions and I’ve never blamed her and I don’t blame her,” Higgins said.
“Linda Reynolds avoided me in my view, and did not meet her duty of care. I felt unsupported. I felt unsupported by both of them, but I don’t count them as villains in this story. I just don’t think they did the right thing by me.”
Higgins said her experience damaged her relationship with the Liberal party and she revealed she is no longer a Liberal.
She denied a suggestion from Whybrow that she leaked her story to the media in order to damage the Liberal party ahead of the election.
“I had no intention of impacting the election, but I did want to change the culture in Parliament House,” Higgins said.
“I was angry at the culture of Parliament House and I was hurt by the Liberal party, but I was still a Liberal.
“No longer, but I was still for a really long time.”
• an earlier version of this post incorrectly identified the election referred to as being in 2019
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Higgins acknowledges she made mistakes in timeline of events
Brittany Higgins is being questioned about her attitude to the conduct of the Australian federal police when she alleged her rape and her reasons for changing her mind about whether to report.
Her initial report to officers in Parliament House in 2019 days after the alleged rape was withdrawn and then a second report was made to officers in Belconnen in 2021, the federal court heard.
Whybrow has put it to Higgins that she prepared a timeline of events for the media rather than for the police.
Higgins: “That’s incorrect. It was prepared … for me initially. And then I had the intention to give it to both the police and The Project.”
The court has heard her partner, David Sharaz, provided the timeline to The Project and Lisa Wilkinson on 23 January 2021.
Whybrow is putting to Higgins that some facts in the timeline are incorrect.
Higgins agrees that the date she went to the police – 26 March 2019 – is wrong on the timeline and it should have been 1 April.
Higgins acknowledged she made mistakes in the timeline.
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Higgins defends wearing white dress to a Liberal party function and taking photos in it
Brittany Higgins has denied a suggestion she wore the white pencil dress again and took selfies in it because she had not been sexually assaulted while wearing it.
Bruce Lehrmann’s barrister Steve Whybrow SC showed Higgins photos and texts she sent to a male friend of hers while wearing the dress at a Liberal party function during the 2019 election campaign.
Higgins said the message was “flirty” but she was also feeling anxious about being at a Liberal party function in Perth with Senator Reynolds because their relationship had deteriorated.
Whybrow: “I want to suggest that you took those photos and sent them because you hadn’t been sexually assaulted in that dress.
Higgins: “I understand that that’s what you’re putting to me. You’re incorrect.”
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Higgins grilled over why she wore white dress again after alleged rape
Higgins is being cross-examined about a meeting she and her partner David Sharaz had with police at Belconnen police station in Canberra on 6 February 2021.
She agreed the couple told police Higgins had tried to resign from her job in Parliament House where she was being subjected to “workplace emotional abuse and gaslighting”.
“Yes, I’ve definitely said words to that effect before, but I don’t recall specifically if that’s what David said,” Higgins said.
Higgins agreed she told police she still had the white pencil dress she wore on the night of the alleged rape.
Lehrmann’s barrister Steve Whybrow SC has asked Higgins when and where she washed the dress – which was stained from falling over – after the alleged rape and whether she packed it to take to Perth for the election campaign.
Higgins agreed she sat next to Senator Linda Reynolds at a Liberal party event in Perth where she was wearing the white dress.
Whybrow: “Do you have any recollection of your thought processes in wearing the dress that you say you were sexually assaulted in to the birthday party of the person you say for the last several weeks had been isolating you and treating you poorly?”
Higgins: “Yeah, of course. It was my favourite dress. I used to wear it all the time. And I guess I was trying to reclaim it.
“I’ve done that with like a lot of – even my court clothes for example – sometimes you can kind of shake off the association from an article [of clothing] and try and make it yours again. And in this instance, I thought I could.
“I couldn’t. And so I never wore it after this event.”
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Lisa Wilkinson and Bruce Lehrmann are both in the courtroom today, sitting at opposite ends of the room as Brittany Higgins gives her evidence.
Here is Lehrmann arriving at court today:
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Brittany Higgins is now back in the witness stand. Here she is arriving at court this morning:
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Here is Lisa Wilkinson photographed as she arrived at court this morning with her legal team.
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Trial may be extended to 18 December, court hears
A separate matter about legal costs between Lisa Wilkinson and her employer the Ten Network, has been the subject of complex legal argument.
Justice Michael Lee has set down the matter for a final hearing on 14 December or at the end of the defamation trial.
The court has heard the trial may be extended from an estimated 14 December to 18 December.
Wilkinson, who has retained her own legal counsel, is suing her employer over a dispute about payment of more than $700,000 in legal costs.
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This blog will cover major developments during the day.
In the interests of open justice and due to significant public interest, the federal court is livestreaming this case.
You can follow the Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial live stream on YouTube here.
Yesterday Justice Michael Lee warned if members of the public denigrate the barristers on social media he will reconsider allowing the case to be livestreamed on YouTube.
Lee heard that court staff were monitoring activity on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“I just make it perfectly clear to those observing that abuse of any legal practitioners involved in the case, it won’t be tolerated,” Lee said.
“And if the situation becomes one which I consider the benefits of livestreaming are outweighed by the fact that it’s encouraging activity which I regard undermines the integrity of the process then I’ll cease the live stream.”
Brittany Higgins will return to the witness box in the federal court today to continue her lengthy cross-examination by Bruce Lehrmann’s barrister Steve Whybrow SC.
(Though first up at 9am Justice Michael Lee will first hear a side issue in the matter involving a financial dispute between the two respondents: Ten and Wilkinson.)
It is day eight of the high-profile defamation trial which is expected to run until 14 December and to hear from more than 20 witnesses for the defence.
Yesterday Whybrow’s allegation that she had a financial motive for making an allegation of rape against his client led Higgins to declare if she ever wrote a book she would donate the proceeds to charity.
“Take it as an oath right now,” she said. “I don’t care about it.”
Lehrmann brought the defamation case against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson over an interview with Higgins on Ten’s The Project in which she alleged she was raped by a Liberal staffer in Parliament House. Network Ten and Wilkinson are defending the case.
It was a highly emotional day yesterday as Higgins pushed back on suggestions she lied about her alleged rape and had been inconsistent about the details, including whether she was naked or partially naked.
Wilkinson, who has retained her own legal counsel, is suing her employer over a dispute about payment of more than $700,000 in legal costs.
