What we heard today
Today the court continued hearing evidence from The Project producer Angus Llewellyn.
The federal court also uploaded a number of exhibits, revealing texts and emails in the lead up to Brittany Higgins’ interview with the The Project being broadcast.
Here’s what we heard from Llewellyn:
Lehrmann’s barrister Matthew Richardson SC accused Llewellyn of giving Bruce Lehrmann “absolutely minimal time” to respond to Higgins’ accusations. Llewellyn disagreed, saying “I sent him a very detailed request on the Friday and asked for an interview”. Richardson also accused him of not making a “genuine effort to obtain information”, which Llewellyn said was “incorrect”;
Llewellyn received a call from Andrew Carswell, a media advisor for the then prime minister Scott Morrison’s office, to discuss a response to the program on the night before it was broadcast, the court heard. He said a text supplied by the office was “not inconsistent” with what Higgins had told him;
Llewellyn was questioned over whether he believed that CCTV footage from the night of the alleged incident was unavailable to police.
And here’s what we saw in the exhibits:
The Instagram post from the night Higgins’ mother, Kelly, was told about the alleged rape;
An email Higgins sent to the AFP before The Project interview aired in which she asked to review or have a copy of the original case file;
An email Higgins’ fiance David Sharaz sent to Lisa Wilkinson shows him saying: “We just don’t know who might be keeping a close eye” on Higgins.
Read about what we heard this morning here.
The trial will continue tomorrow when Lisa Wilkinson is due to give evidence.
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Lisa Wilkinson to give evidence tomorrow
The court has adjourned until 10.15am on Wednesday. Justice Lee said the matter of the Sky News covert recording may be dealt with first thing in the morning before Lisa Wilkinson enters the witness box.
The recording of Brittany Higgins’ lawyer speaking to Higgins’ fiance, David Sharaz, at a Sydney bar was subject to a subpoena and handed to the court yesterday.
The recordings were taken of Leon Zwier and others at the Park Hyatt Lobby Bar on 4 December and reportedly revealed the lawyer discussing how Higgins could respond to questions in cross-examination in Lehrmann’s defamation trial.
There is no suggestion Higgins was present during the Park Hyatt conversation or that she received advice relating to the topics discussed.
Wilkinson is expected to give evidence for two full days.
The court heard that a transcript of the covert recording is not yet ready to put before the court.
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The Project producer questioned over whether he believed CCTV had been unavailable to the police
The Project producer Angus Llewellyn is being asked about the information he received from the department of parliamentary services (DPS) about the availability of the CCTV footage of the night of the alleged incident.
Just before the program went to air The Project received an email. The DPS told Llewellyn the AFP “submitted a request to view the relevant CCTV footage on the third of April. The request was formally approved by the presiding officers on the 11th for the AFP to view the footage at Parliament House on the 16th”.
Richardson asked:
I want to suggest to you that by the time of the broadcast, you understood there was at least real doubt as to whether it was true that the CCTV had been unavailable to police?
Llewellyn replied:
We had good news that the CCTV had been stored. We didn’t know if it was available to the sexual assault team.
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Sharaz email to Wilkinson: ‘We just don’t know who might be keeping a close eye’ on Higgins
Another exhibit released by the federal court this afternoon was an email from Higgins’ fiance David Sharaz to Lisa Wilkinson with the subject line “Everything you need”.
In the email, Sharaz wrote:
Thank you for your time over the phone today, and your sensitivity around what I truly feel is an injustice.
I’m sending this on behalf of Britt, purely because, and this sounds paranoid, we just don’t know who might be keeping a close eye on her.
A number of documents were attached to the email, including a list of people who knew about Higgins’ allegations, and a timeline of what unfolded after the alleged assault.
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Higgins asked AFP for original case file before The Project interview aired
The federal court has released a number of exhibits this afternoon, including the email Higgins sent to AFP in February 2021 before The Project interview aired on 15 February 2021.
Higgins alleges she was raped by Bruce Lehrmann in 2019, an accusation he has always denied.
Earlier in the trial, Higgins said she reported the alleged rape to the Australian federal police. The court heard that on 13 April 2019, she sent an email to the police withdrawing her complaint against Bruce Lehrmann and thanking them for helping her.
Higgins told the court she withdrew the complaint because of workplace demands on her during the 2019 federal election campaign.
In the email dated 4 February 2021, Higgins says her work situation has changed and “I’m looking at pressing forward with a formal statement”.
Higgins continued:
Before I make that final decision is there any way for me to review or have a copy of the original case file that exists at the present?
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The Project producer says text supplied by prime minister’s office was ‘not inconsistent’ with what Higgins told him
Angus Llewellyn has been asked about the additional information The Project received at the 11th hour from the prime minister’s office and if it changed the broadcast at all.
Llewellyn was asked about a text message supplied by Andrew Carswell, a media advisor for the then prime minister Scott Morrison’s office, which was sent by Fiona Brown to Brittany Higgins. Richardson asked whether the kind nature of the text “was not consistent with the allegations that Ms Higgins was making about Ms Brown”. Higgins had told The Project that Brown was “a terrifying individual”.
In the message Brown said “all the best with your new gig” and Higgins replied that she valued the support and advice of Brown throughout the period.
Higgins said:
You have been absolutely incredible and I’m so appreciative.
Llewellyn said it was “not inconsistent” with what Higgins had told him.
Llewellyn said he did add to the script after his communication with Carswell.
The court heard the amended script said:
A federal government spokesman admits that the meeting between Brittany Higgins and Senator Reynolds should not have taken place in the office where the alleged assault occurred. But, he insists that Minister Reynolds and Fiona Brown encouraged Brittany to speak to the police and guarantee there will be no impact on her career.
Richardson said:
Now, I want to suggest to you that that was the only change made to the broadcast as a result of anything said or provided to you by Mr Carswell.
Llewellyn agreed.
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Key event
Instagram post shows Higgins and her mother on night mother told about alleged rape
The federal court has released a number of exhibits, including an Instagram post from Brittany Higgins’ mother Kelly Higgins.
The 21 November 2019 post shows Brittany and her mother and is tagged at the Calile Hotel. The post is captioned “Love every minute spent with my amazing daughter”.
Earlier in the trial, Kelly Higgins said her daughter had told her about the alleged rape during a dinner and during cross-examination, Kelly was shown a series of photographs she took and posted on Instagram.
Lehrmann’s barrister, Steve Whybrow SC, asked:
And just so you understand, Ms Higgins, I am putting to you that your daughter did not make the disclosures you referred to that evening at that venue?
Kelly replied:
You’re incorrect.
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Media advisor from prime minister’s office called The Project producer to discuss response on night before broadcast
The court heard that on the Sunday night before The Project broadcast, Llewellyn received a call from Andrew Carswell, a media advisor for the then prime minister Scott Morrison’s office, to discuss a response to the program.
Richardson is taking Llewellyn through a handwritten note of the conversation, which was described as background information.
Carswell told him that Fiona Brown kept extensive notes and she said there was a security incident “referred to as a discipline matter” on Tuesday 26 March and a further issue she became aware of on 28 March.
The alleged rape was on Saturday 23 March.
Richardson said:
What you thought him to be saying was that it wasn’t until the 28th of March that the office had reason to suppose that something in the nature of an assault might have occurred, or something involving Mr Lehrmann of that kind.
Llewellyn agreed.
The Project alleged that Higgins told Brown she had been raped on 26 March.
Richardson asked:
What your program put to air was that Ms Higgins told Ms Brown that she’d been raped at the Tuesday meeting?
Llewellyn replied:
Yes.
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The Project producer denies not making a ‘genuine effort’ to get response from Lehrmann
Richardson is probing Llewellyn about the efforts he made to contact Lehrmann ahead of the broadcast, whether it was via email addresses, mobile phone numbers and social media account including LinkedIn and Instagram.
Llewellyn did not contact Lehrmann through his social media accounts but he did send him an email and called him on the day of the broadcast, Monday.
Mr Llewellyn, I want to suggest to you that the requests that you sent out on the 12th of February were not a genuine effort to obtain information.
Llewellyn:
That’s incorrect.
Richardson suggested that when Llewellyn said in an email to colleagues that the questions were to “cover us off for defamation”, it indicated he was not seeking a genuine reply. Llewellyn disagreed.
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The Project producer accused of giving Lehrmann ‘absolutely minimal time’ to respond to Higgins’ accusations
Llewellyn is back in the witness box after lunch and has been played audio of a conversation he had with Brittany Higgins and her fiance David Sharaz about when to contact Lehrmann about the story before the program aired.
In the audio, Llewellyn says:
We would go to him and we would go to ministers [Linda Reynolds and Michaelia Cash]. Obviously, if we’re making accusations we have to give everyone reasonable chance to reply. And reasonable can be pretty iffy, as long as it’s not five minutes before broadcast and if it’s 10 minutes, which will be OK.
Llewellyn said he was “using a bit of humour” at the time to put Higgins and Sharaz at ease because they were visibly anxious about Lehrmann being contacted.
Richardson put it to Llewellyn that it was his state of mind that he wanted to “give Mr Lehrmann absolutely minimal time” to respond.
Llewellyn replied:
I disagree, no, no I disagree, I sent him a very detailed request on the Friday and asked for an interview.
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What we’ve heard so far this morning
This morning the court has heard further evidence from The Project producer Angus Llewellyn, going into details of his work on Lisa Wilkinson’s interview with Brittany Higgins.
Bruce Lehrmann is suing Network Ten and Wilkinson for defamation over an interview with 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 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 did not proceed due to prosecutors’ fears for Higgins’ mental health.
Here’s what we’ve heard so far today:
• The federal court released a copy of an affidavit by Llewellyn which shows his exchange with Wilkinson when she first told him of an “explosive political story” for The Project, calling it an “extraordinary coverup” and revealing “the woman at the centre of it all is ready to talk”.
• Llewellyn admitted he “didn’t have proof” that if Higgins pursued her rape allegation then she would lose her job.
• He denied Lehrmann’s lawyer’s suggestion that Higgins’ claims about whether her superiors had discouraged her from going to police were “riddled with contradictions” – Llewellyn said it was “absolutely not” true that they were contradictory.
• Lehrmann’s lawyer asked Llewellyn why he sent right-of-reply requests to Lehrmann and Senator Linda Reynolds 72 hours before the interview aired, rather than earlier. The producer said he had “good reasons”, had a “very strong duty of care” towards Higgins as a “suffering trauma victim”, and had made an agreement with another journalist at news.com.au who was also covering the story.
The hearing is due to resume at 2pm.
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The court has adjourned for lunch and will resume at 2pm when Llewellyn will return to the witness box.
Lisa Wilkinson has not begun her evidence yet – she was expected today but may not start until tomorrow.
Justice Lee has agreed to sit for part of the day this Friday if necessary, despite another prior engagement, so that Wilkinson can finish her evidence.
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Llewellyn says he had a ‘strong duty of care’ to Higgins when asked about timing of right of replies
Llewellyn is being asked to justify why he sent right-of-reply requests to Lehrmann and Senator Reynolds 72 hours before the program aired, when he had been working on the story for three weeks.
Lehrmann’s barrister Richardson asked why he did not contact members of Lehrmann’s family, or Higgins’ family, or anyone who worked in Parliament House.
Llewellyn said:
As I said there were very good reasons for not doing that at that time.
Richardson was asked if he was suggesting that he kept the story confidential because he wanted to protect Higgins.
Llewellyn answered:
I had a very, very strong duty of care to someone who is clearly a suffering trauma victim.
The court heard that Llewellyn sent Lehrmann detailed questions late on the Friday afternoon ahead of the program’s broadcast on Monday night.
Llewellyn said The Project made an agreement with journalist Samantha Maiden about the timing of any right-of-reply requests as her exclusive news story was being published by news.com.au on Monday morning. The plan was to air the Project’s television exclusive on the same day.
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Affidavit reveals texts between Llewellyn and Higgins and her fiance David Sharaz
The affidavit also shows the process The Project team took in getting the story to air, including interactions with Higgins and her fiance David Sharaz.
On 29 January 2021, Sharaz sent Llewellyn a WhatsApp message.
Sharaz:
Brittany quit.
Llewellyn:
Can you get b to screen shot all those [Michaelia Cash] messages please? And if it includes the Cash number even better to back that up.
Get photos of the phone, take photos with YOUR phone please of the messages.
On 15 February 2021, Llewellyn sent a WhatsApp to Higgins.
How are you doing? You know the country will be amazed when they hear how strong and just you are tonight. If this helps you get a fair hearing that’s going to be damn well the right outcome. But it’s undoubtedly going to help others we’ve never heard of.
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Texts between Project producer and Lisa Wilkinson revealed
Llewellyn says in his affidavit, published by the federal court, that on 19 January 2021 he received a text from Lisa Wilkinson saying: “I have an explosive political story for Sunday Project. Rang Craig and Sarah and we’re going huge with it. March release. I have told Craig I only want to work with you on it. He agrees. Call me when you can.”
He replied: “Hi Lisa Sounds intriguing! ... I can jump on it from Friday if needed? Is it for this Sunday? If it’s not then I’m back from leave on Monday and can hit it then.”
Wilkinson said: “It is an extraordinary coverup involving Linda Reynolds, Michaelia Cash and the PMO. Sarah thinks it is so explosive we should do it over three segments from 7pm. It’s for March. Enjoy your holiday. The woman at the centre of it all is ready to talk. She is based in Canberra. We can fly her up. Would you be good for a meeting with her on Monday?”
Llewellyn said in the affidavit that he then received an email from Wilkinson with a timeline prepared by Higgins.
“My initial thought was that if anything in it was true, it was interesting. As stated above, I approach all potential stories with a degree of scepticism until I have conducted sufficient research and fact checking to confirm their accuracy.”
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Llewellyn questioned over whether Brown said anything overtly about Higgins losing job
Llewellyn has been cross-examined about whether Brown said anything overtly about Higgins losing her job.
Llewellyn: “Ms Brown is a very smart, clever, respected operator. And so is Ms Reynolds, they wouldn’t say something overtly like that.”
Richardson: “What I’m suggesting to you is that Ms Higgins couldn’t even point to something that wasn’t overt that they had said or done. She couldn’t point to what it was.
Llewellyn: “I disagree. I think we just watched her pointing to that.”
The court has adjourned until 11.45am.
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Project producer questioned over Higgins’ on-camera interview
The court has been played segments of Lisa Wilkinson’s on-camera interview with Higgins, and Richardson is asking Llewellyn about it.
The question being pursued in his cross-examination is whether Higgins was encouraged or discouraged to go to the police by her superiors Reynolds and Brown.
Richardson: “I was suggesting to you that Ms Higgins’ versions of what Ms Brown and Ms Reynolds had said were riddled with contradictions. Do you have anything you want to say about that?
Lllewellyn: “After watching that, absolutely not, I mean, it is not contradicted at all.”
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Project producer says he ‘did not have proof’ Higgins would lose job if she pursued rape allegation
The Project producer Angus Llewellyn has said under cross-examination that he “did not have proof” before the program aired that if Higgins pursued the rape allegation she would lose her job with the Liberal party.
Lehrmann’s barrister Matthew Richardson SC asked Llewellyn: “Mr Llewellyn, the opening words of this program were ‘Tonight, claims of rape, roadblocks for police investigation and a young woman forced to choose between her career and the pursuit of justice’. You remember that? And you approved that, didn’t you?”
Llewellyn said he “it wasn’t me that wrote that introduction” but he did not disagree with it.
Asked to clarify his state of mind about Higgins’ job before the program broadcast in 2021, Llewellyn said he “didn’t have proof”.
Richardson: “So I want to suggest to you, Mr Llewellyn, but that by this point, there were serious inconsistencies in Ms Higgins’ account of what [Linda] Reynolds and [Fiona] Brown were saying: agree or disagree?
Llewellyn: “Disagree.”
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Transcript of secret recording of Higgins’ lawyer speaking with David Sharaz delayed
A covert recording of Brittany Higgins’s lawyer speaking with Higgins’s fiance, David Sharaz, at a Sydney bar will not be discussed immediately in the federal court today because a transcript of the 52-minute recording is not ready.
Justice Michael Lee asked if he could see a transcript of the recording which was broadcast in part on Sky News Australia. But he was told by Bruce Lehrmann’s counsel that the audio was poor quality and making a transcript was complex.
The recordings were taken of Leon Zwier and two others (not Higgins) at the Park Hyatt lobby bar on 4 December and reportedly revealed the lawyer discussing how Higgins could respond to questions in cross-examination in the defamation trial.
Lehrmann made an application to subpoena Sky News on Tuesday morning, and on Tuesday afternoon Sky News Australia delivered a USB to the court of the recordings, which was provided to the parties.
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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 watch the Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial live stream on YouTube here.
What we can expect today
The Project producer Angus Llewellyn will return to the witness box this morning to finish his cross-examination in the federal court before the highly anticipated testimony of his colleague Lisa Wilkinson.
Yesterday, counsel for Bruce Lehrmann raised questions about the steps The Project took to check the credibility of claims made by Brittany Higgins.
Lehrmann brought the defamation case against Network Ten and Wilkinson over an interview with Higgins, in which she alleged she was raped by a Liberal staffer in Parliament House in March 2019.
Llewellyn said in his affidavit he and Wilkinson “work very well together to get the best out of an interview and to create the best story we can create”.
“Having someone come to you to help you tell their story is a huge responsibility, and Ms Wilkinson and I are good checks on one another to make sure that we pursue all avenues of enquiry that we discover in the process of investigating and producing a story,” he said in his affidavit which has been made public.
“Ms Wilkinson is wholeheartedly professional at all times and it is an absolute pleasure to watch her work and collaborate with her. She has incredibly good instincts with talent and is always genuine with people she interviews.”
Wilkinson, who has been in court every day of the 14-day trial, is expected to enter the witness box later today. She is represented by Sue Chrysanthou SC.
