What we heard today
After four days of testimony, Brittany Higgins has completed her cross-examination this afternoon.
Just a reminder: Bruce Lehrmann is suing Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson in the federal court 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 and Higgins is a witness for the defence.
Lehrmann had pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual intercourse without consent, denying that any sexual activity had occurred in the criminal trial which was aborted due to juror misconduct.
Here’s what Higgins said under cross-examination today in the defamation case:
Higgins told the court she received $1.9m from the commonwealth after putting in a personal injury claim. The total amount was higher – $2.3m – but legal fees and taxes were taken out of that, she said. It is the first time the value of the compensation pay out has been revealed;
Higgins rejected a suggestion from Lehrmann’s silk, Steve Whybrow SC, that her speech outside the criminal trial was “designed to blow up a retrial”. She also told the court she chose to give evidence in person in the criminal trial and she chose to walk through the press pack because she didn’t want to look “evasive”;
Higgins told the court she wasn’t sure Lehrmann would be found guilty in the criminal trial. Asked by Whybrow if she had told Lisa Wilkinson and a producer at the Project that she didn’t think she could win her case beyond reasonable doubt, Higgins told the court: “It’s true. I had my doubts about the justice system, but I obviously went ahead.”;
Whybrow challenged Higgins over her account of the alleged rape in Senator Linda Reynolds’ suite. He suggested to her that she took off her dress and then lay down on the couch as she was feeling sick. Higgins said she didn’t know how she got to the couch or “how or exactly where” her dress ended up;
Whybrow also suggested to Higgins that she was not really drunk as she entered Parliament House on the night of the alleged rape. “Are you kidding?” Higgins said through tears. “I hadn’t been raped yet but I was skipping in the middle of parliament with no shoes on so it indicates someone is pretty drunk, yes”;
Whybrow read out a message Higgins sent to a former colleague, Liberal staffer Lauren Gain, who was with her on the night of the alleged rape. “Bruce ended up taking me back to Parliament House. I passed out in the office and when I woke up he was sexually assaulting me,” Higgins wrote in the message;
Lehrmann’s silk, Steve Whybrow, put to Higgins that she was concerned about her job and not because she was sexually assaulted by Lehrmann. Higgins responded that “two things can be true”. “I was sexually assaulted, but I was still concerned about my job and I was starting to disclose the severity of the situation,” she told the court;
Higgins said she deleted some conversations on her phone that “triggered her” but denied deliberately deleting messages before handing her phone to police. “Between having five phones in five years and not having the one iCloud account – I had a separate iCloud account for work – and data just got lost,” she said;
The trial continues at 10.15am tomorrow.
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Key event
Higgins asked about allegation she was made to choose between job and police complaint
Before Brittany Higgins was excused from the witness box, Justice Michael Lee said he wanted to ask her a couple of questions “to clarify things”.
Lee said he wanted to ask her not about the rape allegation but about what he referred to as the “obstruction allegation”, meaning the allegation that she felt she had to choose between her job in the Liberal party and continuing with the police complaint.
“… Tell me specifically, what were the express words or the actual actions – not your feelings [but] the express words or the actual actions” of either Fiona Brown, Senator Linda Reynolds or the AFP “which obstructed you or threw up a roadblock” to continue your police complaint, he asked.
Higgins said Brown did not tell her everything that she knew about the night of the alleged rape; that Reynolds and Brown asked her to let them know if she went to the police and “it was framed in the context that it was pertinent because of the election” and finally that Reynolds’ office offered that she could be paid out of her job and return to the Gold Coast before the election.
The trial will resume tomorrow at 10.15am with a number of witnesses for the defence.
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Higgins received $1.9m from commonwealth for personal injury claim
Brittany Higgins has told the court she received $1.9m from the commonwealth after putting in a personal injury claim. The total amount was higher – $2.3m – but legal fees and taxes were taken out of that, she said.
Whybrow:
Was it your understanding that part of the claim that was made was proposed to be made on behalf of your lawyers was that you would not be able to work again effectively for the rest of your life?
Higgins:
I believe it was 40 years.
Separately, Higgins was shown a statement she made on social media about being willing to be a witness in any defamation case Lehrmann may bring. She was asked what she meant by the post.
Higgins said she made a statement on social media that there was a lower burden of proof to establish that she’d sexually assaulted in a defamation trial than in a criminal trial.
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Higgins rejects suggestion speech outside criminal trial was 'designed to blow up a retrial'
Brittany Higgins says she chose to give evidence in person in the criminal trial and she chose to walk through the press pack because she didn’t want to look “evasive”.
“I wanted to do that so the jury could see my face and connect with me as a person,” Higgins said.
“Yes, I’d gone to the media, so I felt like they had a right to have my name and publish whatever they wanted.”
Whybrow also put questions to Higgins about her speech outside the criminal trial. Whybrow:
I suggest to you when you gave that speech, it was designed to blow up a retrial.
Higgins:
No, not at all.
Whybrow:
You made it clear that you didn’t think that Mr Lehrmann should have a presumption of innocence?
Higgins:
I don’t know. I don’t think he had a right to my body, but here we are.
Whybrow:
But he shouldn’t have had the right to remain silent during the trial?
Higgins:
I’m not a lawyer.
Asked whether she remembers when the ACT DPP, Shane Drumgold, was given medical reports about her, Higgins said she was hospitalised after a suicide attempt and her doctors and lawyers were handling the communication with Drumgold.
“I know that in the midst of the trial I tried to commit suicide … ” Higgins said before she was interrupted.
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Higgins had 'doubts about the justice system' and wasn't sure Lehrmann would be found guilty
Lehrmann’s barrister, Steve Whybrow SC, has suggested Brittany Higgins “had a lot to lose” if Lehrmann was found not guilty in the criminal trial in the ACT.
Whybrow:
It was your belief, wasn’t it, and you expressed it to Ms Wilkinson and [Project producer] Mr [Angus] Llewellyn that you didn’t think you could win your case beyond a reasonable doubt?
Higgins:
It’s true. I had my doubts about the justice system, but I obviously went ahead.
Whybrow:
And you expressed to [The Project] then on the 27th of January that you thought you could win in a civil case on the balance of probabilities?
Higgins:
I thought it felt more likely, yes.
Higgins agreed she was afraid Lehrmann might be found not guilty.
Whybrow is now asking Higgins about her speech outside the court after the trial was aborted.
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Higgins tells court Michaelia Cash lied about knowledge of alleged rape
Brittany Higgins said she has not been reading the media or watching the live feed on the defamation trial because she engaged with the criminal trial and “almost killed myself”.
Higgins has become agitated about the line of questioning from Whybrow over when Senator Michaelia Cash knew about her allegations.
Justice Lee has asked her to answer the question simply without adding anything so they can finish her evidence today.
Higgins said Cash was lying in a phone call to her which she covertly recorded.
“Yeah, she was lying,” Higgins said of the call.
Whybrow then asked: “And you then proceeded over the course of about 10 minutes to tell [Cash] your narrative as to what you said about being assaulted by Mr Lehrmann?”
Higgins agreed she repeated the allegation of assault.
Higgins said during the covertly-recorded call Cash’s staffer, Daniel Try, “slipped up” and indicated he knew about the rape while Cash denied knowing about it.
“Daniel slipped up but Cash maintained the whole way that she didn’t know,” Higgins said.
Justice Lee asked if he was going to hear a recording of the call, but was told the law requires every person involved has to consent to the call being played. Higgins and Cash have consented, the court heard, but Daniel Try has not been contactable.
• In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
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Higgins says she was treated poorly by bosses after alleged rape
Brittany Higgins has told the federal court she “cried with joy” when the Coalition won the 2019 election but she was suicidal after the alleged rape.
Steve Whybrow SC asked Higgins what her plans were when she was working for senator Linda Reynolds in Perth during the election campaign.
“I wasn’t well,” Higgins said. “I wasn’t thinking clearly about the future. I was suicidal at the time. I didn’t necessarily think I had a future.”
Higgins agreed that she thought both Reynolds and Brown had treated her poorly.
“Yes, that’s why I had no intention of staying in the office,” Higgins said. “I immediately wanted to transfer somewhere else.”
Whybrow asked if the two women “or the party generally” regarded her as toxic. Higgins said she “didn’t know what they would say about me per se”.
Higgins said she wanted to get a job somewhere in the Coalition but not with Reynolds or Brown.
Whybrow put it to her that she was not treated badly by the two women because in text messages with Ben Dillaway she discussed getting a job in the Liberal party back in Canberra. Higgins said she still wanted to work for the Coalition despite her experience with Reynolds and Brown.
She eventually got a job in Michaelia Cash’s office.
• In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
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Bruce Lehrmann seen during break at the federal court
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What Higgins has said so far today
Brittany Higgins returned to the witness box today for her fourth full day of testimony.
Just a reminder: Bruce Lehrmann is suing Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson in the federal court 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 and Higgins is a witness for the defence.
Lehrmann had pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual intercourse without consent, denying that any sexual activity had occurred in the criminal trial which was aborted due to juror misconduct.
Here’s what Higgins said under cross-examination this morning in the defamation case:
Lehrmann’s silk Steve Whybrow put to Higgins that she was concerned about her job and not because she was was sexually assaulted by Lehrmann. Higgins responded that “two things can be true”. “I was sexually assaulted, but I was still concerned about my job and I was starting to disclose the severity of the situation,” she told the court;
Whybrow challenged Higgins over her account of the alleged rape in senator Linda Reynolds’ suite. He suggested to her that she took off her dress and then lay down on the couch as she was feeling sick. Higgins said she didn’t know how she got to the couch or “how or exactly where” her dress ended up;
Whybrow also suggested to Higgins that she was not really drunk as she entered Parliament House on the night of the alleged rape. “Are you kidding?” Higgins said through tears. “I hadn’t been raped yet but I was skipping in the middle of parliament with no shoes on so it indicates someone is pretty drunk, yes”;
Higgins agreed her Bumble date may have left early from The Dock hotel on the night of the alleged rape because she ignored him, rather than because he was “mercilessly bullied” by others as Higgins had previously said. “When I was there, he was made fun of. But yes, in hindsight, I was very rude to my date and he left because I was rude to my date,” she said in court;
Whybrow read out a message Higgins sent to a former colleague, Liberal staffer Lauren Gain, who was with her on the night of the alleged rape. “Bruce ended up taking me back to Parliament House. I passed out in the office and when I woke up he was sexually assaulting me,” Higgins wrote in the message;
Higgins said she deleted some conversations on her phone that “triggered her” but denied deliberately deleting messages before handing her phone to police. “Between having five phones in five years and not having the one iCloud account – I had a separate iCloud account for work – and data just got lost,” she said;
The judge also ruled Whybrow can cross-examine Higgins on the proposition she made “false representations” about her health to prevent a retrial.
Higgins will continue being cross-examined this afternoon.
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Cross-examination of Brittany Higgins continues
Whybrow: “I just want to put some propositions to you quickly before lunch about that first meeting with Fiona Brown.
“I suggest you said you didn’t remember accessing the office; that you’d been out and that you’d been drinking or you were drunk; or words to that effect.”
Higgins: “I definitely told her that I ended up back in the office but I didn’t know what time.”
Whybrow asked if Higgins remembers what she told Fiona Brown about the circumstances of her waking up in the minister’s suite. Whybrow asked if she remembers telling Brown “when you woke up you were half naked”.
Whybrow: “Do you remember telling [Fiona Brown] that?”
Higgins: “I was never woken up by security guards per se. I remember them yelling into the office.”
Whybrow: “And it was at that point that she offered you or discussed with you the employee assistance program [EAP] about getting some counselling from what must have been a humiliating experience to wake up in the minister’s office, having passed out drinking?”
Higgins: “No, I was offered the EAP after I broke down because I had just disclosed I’d been raped.
Whybrow: “Well, I suggest you didn’t.”
Higgins: “That’s incorrect.”
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A warning for readers: this blog contains graphic details of allegations of sexual assault.
The court has taken an hour for a lunch break and will return at 2pm.
Before lunch, Bruce Lehrmann’s barrister, Steve Whybrow, cross-examined Brittany Higgins about when she disclosed to her friend Ben Dillaway that she had been sexually assaulted.
According to text messages read to the court, Higgins told Dillaway she was concerned about losing her job after she had a meeting with her chief of staff, Fiona Brown. Brown met with both Lehrmann and Higgins after it was discovered they had entered Parliament House after hours.
Whybrow put it to Higgins that she was concerned about her job and not because she had been sexually assaulted by Lehrmann.
“Two things can be true,” Higgins said. “I was sexually assaulted, but I was still concerned about my job and I was starting to disclose the severity of the situation to Ben.”
Whybrow: “You hadn’t said anything about being sexually assaulted to Fiona Brown, had you?”
Higgins: “I had. The first person I disclosed to was Fiona Brown. And then I started to disclose to people who I cared about, which was Ben, I would never have had the courage to do it otherwise.”
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Brittany Higgins challenged over account of alleged rape in Parliament House
A warning for readers: this blog contains graphic details of allegations of sexual assault.
Brittany Higgins has listened to Bruce Lehrmann’s barrister’s proposition of what took place in Senator Linda Reynolds’ suite on the night of the alleged rape.
Whybrow:
I want to suggest that what happened is that you went into that office and you were feeling sick and lay down on the [minister’s] couch.
Higgins:
I don’t know. After being on the [window] ledge the next thing I know was Bruce raping me on the couch. So I don’t know how I got to the couch.
Whybrow:
I suggest you took your dress off before you lay down on the couch.
Higgins:
I don’t know how or exactly where my dress ended up.
Whybrow played the court part of the audio from an interview Higgins gave to Samantha Maiden from news.com.au.
Whybrow:
According to what you told [Maiden] then you remember laying down on the minister’s couch?
Higgins:
I was trying to get into the spot of when I was being raped. I was on the couch I was drunk and he was raping me.
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). In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html
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‘Are you kidding?’: Higgins disagrees with Whybrow’s suggestion that she was not drunk entering Parliament House
Higgins has agreed with Lehrmann’s silk Steve Whybrow that she had been anxious “from the moment you first spoke to [chief of staff] Fiona Brown to see the footage of you entering Parliament House”.
Higgins:
Yeah, I was. I was always concerned about what Bruce would say if he said it was consensual sex. I was always scared about consent and how it appeared.
Whybrow:
You knew that whatever footage was held by Parliament House didn’t include inside the suite?
Higgins:
I had no idea. I’ve never seen a camera in the minister’s suite but I didn’t know.
Higgins is incredulous at the suggestion that she was not really drunk as she entered Parliament House with Bruce Lehrmann as seen on the CCTV cameras.
“Are you kidding?’” Higgins said through tears after Whybrow suggested she was not drunk because she walked in a straight line and did not fall over.
She said:
I hadn’t been raped yet but I was skipping in the middle of parliament with no shoes on so it indicates someone is pretty drunk, yes.
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Higgins agrees her Bumble date may have left because she ignored him during the night of alleged rape
Footage from the CCTV cameras at The Dock hotel in Canberra recorded hours before the alleged rape has been shown again in the federal court during the cross-examination of Brittany Higgins.
Higgins has watched the footage and agreed her Bumble date Nick may have left early because she ignored him rather than because he was “mercilessly bullied” by others as Higgins has previously said in evidence. It was the first time Higgins had met Nick.
Whybrow asked if it was a “very misleading statement” to say Nick was mostly mercilessly bullied and that’s why he left.
Higgins:
When I was there, he was made fun of. But yes, in hindsight, I was very rude to my date and he left because I was rude to my date.
… Honestly, I was so drunk at that point, but I did ignore my date and I was really rude.
Whybrow has asked Higgins how many drinks she had and who bought them. She said she can’t recall.
Higgins said she was drinking “to get drunk” and did not ask for water or a soft drink.
I used to be very conscious of my weight and my body … and I never would have had a soda or anything without alcohol in it.
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Higgins says she did not intentionally ‘ghost’ her Bumble date on the night she was allegedly raped
Brittany Higgins has told the court under cross-examination she is not sure what day Bruce Lehrmann tried to kiss her outside a pub while they were both waiting for a taxi or Uber but she is confident it did happen.
Lehrmann’s barrister Steve Whybrow SC has suggested Lehrmann did not try to kiss her.
Higgins said that is incorrect and he did try to kiss her.
Whybrow has taken Higgins back to the CCTV camera of her drinking with Lehrmann and colleagues at The Dock on the night she alleges she was raped.
She said if she “ghosted” her Bumble date Nick on the night then it was unintentional.
CCTV footage shows Higgins talking to other people rather than Nick for part of the time while he was there. Higgins said they were talking about the election and she was interested in the conversation.
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Lehrmann’s lawyer reads out messages Higgins sent to former colleague two years after alleged assault
Lehrmann’s barrister Steve Whybrow SC is showing Brittany Higgins messages she sent which were not recovered from her phone but are still available on the phones of people she sent the messages to.
She agreed she sent a message in 2021 to a former colleague, Liberal staffer Lauren Gain, who was with her and Lehrmann at the Canberra nightclub on the night before she was allegedly raped in 2019.
Higgins wrote to Gain:
I was so ashamed for so long and I finally moved beyond it.
I don’t know if you’d even remember but that night we all went out to The Dock and then to [the nightclub] 88mph ahead of the 2019 election.
Bruce ended up taking me back to Parliament House. I passed out in the office and when I woke up he was sexually assaulting me. He left at some point during the night and the next day the ministerial security team found me.
Higgins said she sent the message to Gain so she knew what was happening in her life ahead of the story coming out in the media.
Whybrow suggested that Higgins drafted her “detailed message” on her Notes app after two years of not speaking to her and then deleted it from WhatsApp but forgot to delete it from her Notes app before handing her phone to police.
Higgins said:
I didn’t mean to not have the WhatsApp [message] for you. I don’t delete my Notes.
Like I’m not ashamed of this; this is me being polite.
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Higgins says she did delete some texts that ‘triggered her’ but that also ‘data just got lost’
Higgins said she did delete some conversations on her phone because they “triggered her”; and she had several iCloud accounts and several different devices for her employment and for personal use.
Higgins said:
It wasn’t malicious or anything.
… Between having five phones in five years and not having the one iCloud account – I had a separate iCloud account for work – and data just got lost.
Higgins is being cross-examined about why she deleted some text messages after the alleged rape that she sent to her former boyfriend Ben Dillaway.
She has denied deliberately deleting text messages prior to handing over her phone to the police.
Earlier, Justice Lee also considered whether allowing a cross-examination of her speech outside the criminal trial would extend her time in the witness box.
“The cross-examination of the current witness is about to continue for a third full day,” Justice Lee said in ruling on what he would allow her to be cross-examined on.
It is anticipated the length of the cross-examination will exceed that of the applicant [Bruce Lehrmann] when it is completed.
Objections have been raised as to the repetitiveness of the questioning, and it is said Mr Whybrow is not entitled to ‘endlessly cross-examine on every (apparent) credit point he has conceived’.
Lee ultimately has allowed the cross-examination.
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Higgins denies she deleted texts before handing phone to police
Justice Lee said in his ruling that:
… The ultimate proposition [Whybrow] sought to put was that Ms Higgins made false representations in furtherance of a course of conduct directed to ensuring the rape allegation made by her against Mr Lehrmann was tested in civil proceedings, rather than in a further criminal trial.
Whybrow is not asking her about the trial speech yet but has begun his cross-examination by asking Higgins if she deleted any of her texts before handing her phone to the police.
She has agreed she texted a man she had arranged to meet on the day she was allegedly raped by Lehrmann.
The man was a security guard in parliament house and before the alleged rape Higgins had organised to go on a date and she cancelled it.
She has agreed she told him on the day that she couldn’t make it.
Higgins has denied deleting multiple texts before giving her phone to police, and said she “archived” conversations with people and contacts who were not important to her, including a man she met on a dating app.
Higgins said:
I’ve been highly traumatised and being harassed about this issue over and over for over five years about my rape.
And now everyone’s trying to make it about some random Bumble date though. I hung out with him once.
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Judge rules Lehrmann’s lawyer can ask Higgins if she made false health claims to avoid criminal retrial
Justice Michael Lee has delivered a ruling on whether Bruce Lehrmann’s barrister Steve Whybrow SC can cross examine Brittany Higgins on the proposition that she “made false representations” about her health in order to prevent a retrial.
After 15 minutes of complex legal argument Lee said he will allow Whybrow to cross-examine Higgins.
Lee said:
Accordingly, I direct the question can be put to Ms Higgins in relation to a speech made by Ms Higgins on the steps of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory on 27th October 2022.
The speech was made immediately following the discharge of the jury in the criminal case.
Higgins has returned to the witness box to continue her cross-examination.
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Federal court continues to livestream the case
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.
Last week 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.
Lee said:
I just make it perfectly clear to those observing that abuse of any legal practitioners involved in the case, it won’t be tolerated.
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.
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Higgins returns to witness box for fourth full day of testimony
Brittany Higgins is in the witness box today, her fourth full day of testimony, and what her legal team hopes will be the last, in a defamation case brought by former Liberal party staffer Bruce Lehrmann.
Higgins entered the witness box last week at the tail end of Tuesday’s court hearing and then spent three emotionally gruelling days accounting her alleged rape and the events before and after.
Network Ten’s barrister Matt Collins KC asked on Friday if the court could start earlier on Tuesday so she may finish her evidence in one day.
Collins said:
It is becoming oppressive – it’s longer than the period Mr Lehrmann was in the witness box and she’s just a witness.
Lehrmann is suing 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 and Higgins is a witness for the defence.
In December, ACT prosecutors dropped charges against Lehrmann for the alleged rape of Higgins, saying a retrial would pose an “unacceptable risk” to her health.
Lehrmann had pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual intercourse without consent, denying that any sexual activity had occurred in the trial which was aborted due to juror misconduct.
The trial is set down until 14 December but may run until 18 December.
Higgins is expected to be cross-examined today over 15 minutes of audio which she covertly recorded when she was talking to Senator Michaelia Cash.
Higgins agreed in court last week that she recorded her conversation with Cash, who was her employer after she left Senator Linda Reynolds.
However Justice Michael Lee is yet to rule whether the audio is admissible in evidence.
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