Sunrise host Natalie Barr confronts politician with tough Lisa Wilkinson question

Natalie Barr asked Tanya Plibersek six times if she had been approached to raise the alleged sexual assault of Brittney Higgins during question time.

The Sunrise host put the former deputy leader of the Labor Party on the subject after last night’s explosive revelations that Ms Higgins, her boyfriend David Sharaz and Lisa Wilkinson had ‘brainstormed’ friendly MPs who could ask questions about the sexual assault allegation before her interview on The Project in February 2021.

In the recording of the five-hour luncheon, first broadcast by 7News Spotlight during an interview with Bruce Lehrmann on Sunday evening, Ms Wilkinson said Ms Plibersek would be ‘definitely’ a friendly MP who could offer by raising the subject bring to parliament.

Ms Higgins claims she was raped by Mr Lehrmann in the House of Parliament after a night out in 2019. Mr. Lehrmann has always maintained his innocence.

On Sunrise this morning, Ms Barr repeatedly asked Ms Plibersek if she had been approached to raise Ms Higgins’ complaint and asked her to ‘answer the question’ after initially deviating.

“With all due respect, can you answer the question?” Mrs. Barr said.

“Were you approached by Lisa Wilkinson or her producer to raise the alleged abuse of Britney Higgins in Question Time, Tanya?”

Ms Plibersek eventually said she had not been contacted by Ms Wilkinson or her producer, but admitted she had spoken to Ms Higgins.

The host of Sunrise then asked her several times whether Mrs Higgins had asked her to raise her allegations in Parliament.

Ms Higgins (pictured outside court with her partner David Sharaz) alleged that Mr Lehrmann, her former colleague, sexually assaulted her in Parliament House in 2019 after a night out. He has always denied the accusation.

Lisa Wilkinson (pictured leaving a bar hours before Bruce Lehrmann’s Spotlight interview aired) had a five-hour luncheon with Brittany Higgins and her boyfriend David Sharaz a few days prior to Ms. Higgins’ interview on The Project — when she first aired her rape allegations

“I checked on her, she didn’t have to approach me – I checked on her,” Ms Plibersek replied.

“I wanted to make sure she was okay and I was very concerned about a woman young enough to be my daughter making a very serious allegation of a very serious crime in Parliament,” she said .

But when Ms Plibersek was asked for the sixth time whether Ms Higgins had asked her to raise her case in parliament, Ms Plibersek finally said she ‘couldn’t remember anything like that’.

“She’s a very — was very upset and vulnerable young woman that I checked on,” she said.

“That’s my involvement here.”

Ms Plibersek, who is now Environment Minister, later added that she had no intention of watching Mr Lehrmann’s interview.

“I don’t want to hear Bruce Lehrmann, sorry,” she said, shaking her head.

Ms Barr then asked her if she didn’t want to get a “fuller picture” of the situation.

But Ms. Plibersek again said she refused to look at it.

“I’m not deciding the matter here, this has gone through the courts and the result is as the result is and it doesn’t matter if I look at it or not,” she said.

CCTV footage captured the pair in a bar in Canberra earlier that evening. During his interview Mr Lehrmann was questioned about an alleged eyewitness account of him and Mrs Higgins kissing at the location – but he denied that anything of the sort had taken place.

Mr Lehrmann broke his two-year media silence in an interview with 7News Spotlight on Sunday night, with Liam Bartlett grilling him about his version of events.

The former parliamentary assistant has remained silent about the night in question, speaking only in a taped interview with police in 2021 – which was played back to the ACT Supreme Court during his criminal trial in October last year.

But now Mr. Lehrmann has answered some direct questions, including: Did you rape Brittany Higgins? Did you have consensual sex? Did you kiss her? Were you intimate with her at all?’

To each question, Mr. Lehrmann emphatically replied, “No.”

During the interview, a recording of lunch between Ms Higgins, her boyfriend, Ms Wilkinson and her producer Angus Llewllyn aired on January 27, 2021, a few days before they filmed the interview, showing Ms Higgins claiming she had been raped in Parliament House.

David Sharaz, Mrs Higgins’ friend, asks Mrs Wilkinson, ‘Do you have any friends of MPs? You know, that can raise questions during question time?’

“Oh, sure Albo,” Mrs. Wilkinson replies, before adding, “Tanya Plibersek, sure.”

Ms Higgins also tells the group: ‘We’re doing a parliamentary showcase before this all starts. So it’s going to be great, we’re having fun.’

At that time, Anthony ALbanese was the leader of the opposition, while Ms. Pliersek was his deputy. The PvdA vigorously pursued the allegations in parliament.

The audio was handed over by Channel 10 under subpoena during the criminal trial last October, although much of the broadcast material was never played to the jury and has now been made public for the first time.

Mr. Lehrmann is suing Ms. Wilkinson and Channel 10 for libel in Federal Court.

Ms. Higgins filed a civil suit against her former employers, which resulted in a huge payout.

While the amount was never disclosed, it is widely believed she walked away from a one-day brokerage with the government with up to $3 million in taxpayers’ money.

On Thursday morning, 2GB’s Ben Fordham called on the government to confirm the dollar amount of the settlement.

He said: ‘We will never know for sure what happened that night in the parliament building in the minister’s office.

“We know that Bruce lied to his girlfriend about what he was up to, but he has always denied attacking Brittany Higgins and detectives… had questions about Brittany’s credibility. They described her as evasive.

So why did she get $3 million? … If none of that stinks, I think you’ve lost your sense of smell.’