On Tuesday afternoon, Brittany Higgins had only five minutes in the witness box at Bruce Lehrmann’s much-anticipated defamation trial against Network Ten and the TV presenter Lisa Wilkinson, but it was a moment that changed everything.
For the first time since explosive allegations of rape in the Australian parliament triggered two aborted criminal trials, sweeping changes to parliamentary workplace policy, multiple defamation cases and the resignation of a chief prosecutor, the alleged rape victim stood only metres from her alleged rapist as Australia watched on.
