Lisa Wilkinson back in mansion with security after Brittany Higgins tape leaks

Frosty-faced Lisa Wilkinson has returned to her sprawling mansion after highly embarrassing recordings of a conversation with Brittany Higgins were leaked.

Wilkinson’s luxury home in Cremorne, a Sydney harborside suburb, is now guarded by security after the fallout from Ms Higgins’s rape allegations deepened.

Daily Mail Australia exclusively revealed that Wilkinson called a newspaper columnist who had criticized her husband, Peter FitzSimons, a ‘disgusting human being’.

The TV presenter made the scathing assessment of Australian Financial Review columnist Joe Aston during a meeting with Ms Higgins at a Sydney hotel on January 27, 2021.

The beleaguered ex-Project host is also facing heavy criticism after she likened the pre-selection of an Indigenous politician to hiring a ‘black cleaner’.

Shadow Indigenous Affairs Minister Jacinta Nampijinpa Price demanded an apology from Wilkinson after the TV presenter struggled to pronounce her name.

Those comments were recorded during the same five-hour meeting between Wilkinson and Ms Higgins, which also included her partner David Sharaz and Channel 10 producer Angus Llewellyn.

‘(The Liberal Party) has pre-selected over 20 new and wonderfully diverse and strong female candidates, such as, what’s her name, Nam… Nampinjumba? (sic). She’s a native woman,” Wilkinson is heard saying on the leaked recording.

Mr. Sharaz laughed and said, “She obviously got in. It was clearly a safe seat.’

“That’s the point, it was — as soon as I looked at it I thought, ‘Oh, you’re kidding,'” Wilkinson replied.

Mr Llewellyn then joked about the coalition’s pre-selection of Ms Price, saying: ‘Look, we know brown people’.

Mr Sharaz chimed in: “It’s like, ‘I’m not racist. I have a black boyfriend’ – it’s that argument.”

Wilkinson added, “And our cleaner is black.”

Ms Price said she was not surprised by Wilkinson’s “disparaging” comments, whom she accused of being virtuous in pretending to care about Indigenous people.

“I certainly didn’t get to where I am today without hard work, respect from my community and outlining the tough issues,” she told 2GB’s Ben Fordham.

“I would absolutely expect an apology from the 10 Network, from Lisa Wilkinson herself. That would be the good thing,” she said last Friday.

Late on Friday, Wilkinson released a statement saying, “I sincerely apologize to Senator Price for any offense I may have committed.

“The conversation was private and not meant to appear out of context and into the public arena.

“The thrust of our conversation was about the need for real, sincere change within the Liberal Party, and that too many of their female preselections were in unwinnable positions.”

But Ms Price said Wilkinson has not contacted her directly.

“She has not personally apologized to me,” she told Sky News. “If she were a real woman, she’d call me and apologize in person.”

Ms Price said Wilkinson lived in an ivory tower and was a long way from any real issues related to Indigenous Australians.

“What would you expect from people who belong to the vigil,” she told 2GB.

‘The project has never been interested in the views of a conservative Indigenous woman from Australia’s outback. Not once has it shown interest in the concerns I have raised.

“Unfortunately, this waking culture allows racism to exist in plain sight.”

On an episode of The Project broadcast on 15 February 2021, Ms Higgins alleged that she was raped by former colleague Bruce Lehrmann in Parliament House in March 2019. He has always denied the allegations.

The meeting two weeks earlier to discuss Ms Higgins’ allegations took place on the same day Australian Financial Review (AFR) journalist Aston lost a defamation suit brought by businesswoman Elaine Stead.

Ms Stead, the former director of venture capital at Blue Sky Alternative Investments, was awarded $280,000 after suing the AFR and Aston over two articles from 2019.

Aston had labeled Ms Stead a ‘feminist idiot’ in an article, with a judge eventually ruling that his columns amounted to bullying.

At the meeting, Ms Higgins discussed how her dress had pulled up during the alleged incident at Parliament House when Wilkinson interrupted to say her husband Peter FitzSimons – who writes for another Nine publication The Sydney Morning Herald – had just texted her to say that Aston had lost its case.

“That’s a good win because Joe Aston, he had massive attacks on me and my husband for years,” Wilkinson said in leaked audio obtained by Daily Mail Australia.

‘And then he did an almighty…’ she continued before Mr Llewellyn stepped in to say ‘oh yes, that was terrible’.

“It was just disgusting,” Wilkinson replied.

“He usually went for Pete… but I was also collateral damage. So sorry, that’s a good time. Look, good people win. Sorry to interrupt.’

Ms Higgins assured Wilkinson that the interruption was justified, said she was ‘happy’ and noted that Aston lived in LA.

“He’s barely connected to this world, even if he somehow pretends to be part of it,” she said.

Wilkinson then called him a “disgusting human being.”

“A gossip columnist and apparently proud,” Mrs. Higgins replied.

Wilkinson then made one last critique before changing the subject. ‘Yes I know. Talk about people who are basically just with black souls. That’s Joe Aston,” she said.

Aston has photographed both Wilkinson and her husband several times over the years in his AFR columns.

The fallout from Ms Higgins’ allegations took another dramatic turn on Tuesday when Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds threatened to sue Labor’s Tanya Plibersek for libel.

The threatened lawsuit stems from comments made by the Secretary of the Environment about the former Defense Secretary’s knowledge of Ms Higgins’ rape allegations.

“The central point here is that a young woman claimed she had been at work and it had been improperly investigated, even covered up by her employers,” Ms Plibersek said on Tuesday.

According to The AustralianMs Reynolds will argue that Ms Plibersek’s comments implied she “acted to hide or conceal the commission of a criminal offence” and “acted improperly during the investigation of Brittany Higgins’ allegations”.

“Each of the above allegations is completely false, unfounded and constitutes a serious defamation against my client,” read a notice of concern.

Ms Reynolds has told Ms Plibersek she has 28 days to issue a signed apology and withdraw her comments.

She also asks that her legal costs be covered and that an “appropriate amount be paid to compensate for the damage caused by the publication.”

Mr Lehrmann denies the allegations against him, and in 2022 a criminal trial collapsed over juror misconduct.