Bruce Lehrmann said he must have been “mistaken” when he told the Australian federal police he did not have any alcohol in his office – and under cross-examination he conceded he had multiple bottles of whisky and gin at the time.
The former Liberal staffer also admitted telling three different stories – including two that were lies – about the reason for his after-hours visit to Parliament House but denied sexually assaulting Brittany Higgins after they entered the ministerial office together.
Lehrmann is suing Network Ten and its presenter Lisa Wilkinson for defamation over an interview with Brittany Higgins broadcast on The Project and online which did not name him but alleged she had been raped by a Liberal staffer in 2019.
Lehrmann maintains his innocence. In a criminal trial last year he pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual intercourse without consent, denying that any sexual activity had occurred.
In December prosecutors dropped charges against Lehrmann for the alleged rape of Higgins, saying a retrial would pose an “unacceptable risk” to her health.
Under cross-examination by Network Ten’s barrister, Dr Matt Collins SC, Lehrmann agreed there were several bottles of alcohol in his office when he worked for Senator Linda Reynolds in 2019, but had later told police there were none.
Collins asked: “You gave an interview didn’t you to the Australian federal police on the 19th of April 2021?
“And you understood the importance of telling the truth when you are attending that interview?”
Lehrmann replied: “Yes.”
Collins told the federal court that a video of the record of interview was played to the jury at Lehrmann’s criminal trial in the ACT supreme court in October 2022. He said Lehrmann also gave instructions to his counsel that he was telling the truth in that interview.
The video was played to the federal court on Thursday afternoon and it showed Lehrmann telling the AFP there was no alcohol in his office.
Collins said: “In that record of interview you told the Australian Federal Police that there was no alcohol in Minister Reynolds’ office as at the 23rd of March 2019.”
Lehrmann: “Clearly, as we’ve seen, I’ve been mistaken there.”
Lehrmann earlier admitted lying to Reynolds’ chief-of-staff Fiona Brown when he told her he entered the office after hours because wanted to drink whisky.
Lehrmann could not explain when he realised he had given a false interview to the AFP or why he didn’t correct the record in his criminal trial.
“I don’t know I’m sorry … I can’t recall,” Lehrmann said when asked why he gave false testimony.
Asked by his barrister, Steven Whybrow SC, to recount events of that night, Lehrmann described it as an “innocuous evening”.
Before the lunch break, Lehrmann said he had entered the office suite where he spent up to 40 minutes annotating briefs for question time by hand but did not access his computer.
Security camera footage, which was played in court, shows Higgins and Lehrmann entering the ministerial suite . There is no video of what took place after that.
The court was shown a floor plan of the suite and Lehrmann said he and Higgins went separate ways and he never saw her again. He did not tell her he was leaving 45 minutes later.
Lehrmann said he lied to Parliament House security about the reason he needed to access Reynolds’ office after midnight. Then he lied to Reynolds’ chief of staff Fiona Brown and told her a third story: that he wanted to drink whisky.
“Her tone was tense and I was of a mindset that if I was to tell her that I was working on the question time briefs she might have took that to be an even greater security breach, with flow-on effects,” he said.
He told the court the real reason he needed to get in was to collect his house keys, but he told security it was to pick up papers for the minister and he told Brown he went to his office to drink whisky.
Lehrmann said he believed if he told the truth about needing to pick up his house keys “that security would have said ‘bugger off and come back next week’. And I needed to get home”.
Lehrmann said he didn’t think to tell Higgins he was leaving because he “wasn’t even sure she was still there” and he had told her earlier he was going to get what he wanted and leave.
Lehrmann said Brown told him in a tense meeting he had breached security and he needed to pack his personal effects and leave immediately.
He later received a termination letter but he did not believe it had anything to do with Higgins.
After The Project story aired he became suicidal and attended Royal North Shore hospital and then a mental health clinic, he told the court.
He said attempts by Project producer Angus Llewellyn to reach him had been unsuccessful and he did not get a chance to respond before the story went to air.
“I saw an email from Mr Angus Llewellyn approximately a week after the airing of The Project … [after] I had been admitted to a 21-day mental health facility called Ramsay Northside clinic near St Leonards.”
Lehrmann said he later told police he did not assault Higgins and he had “zero” sexual contact with her and it was “completely false” that he tried to kiss her.
Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). The crisis support service Lifeline is at 13 11 14.
