Read David Sharaz’s paranoid email to Lisa Wilkinson – after court heard Brittany Higgins was ‘terrified’ the government were going to stop her airing rape allegations on The Project

David Sharaz sent a paranoid email to Lisa Wilkinson on behalf of Brittany Higgins in case the government screened her devices.

The email, titled 'everything you need', was revealed in a list of documents uploaded to the Federal Court website on Wednesday, amid Bruce Lehrmann's defamation trial against Wilkinson and Network Ten.

There was no date on the document, but it was likely sent around January 2021 when Wilkinson heard about Ms Higgins' rape allegations, and refers to a phone conversation they had on the same subject.

Ms Higgins alleged that Lehrmann, her former colleague, raped her at Parliament House in March 2019. He strongly denies the allegations.

In the email, Mr. Sharaz wrote: “Hi Lisa, thank you for your time on the phone today, and your sensitivity to what I really feel is unfair.

In the photo: the email David Sharaz sent to Lisa Wilkinson in January 2021

“I'm sending this on Britt's behalf purely because, and this sounds paranoid, we just don't know who is keeping a close eye on her.”

He then asked Wilkinson to speak to him if she needed more information, adding “and I can put Britt through.”

Earlier in the defamation trial, the Federal Court heard that Ms Higgins appeared to believe the government had put software on her phone when she worked as an adviser to former Employment Minister Michaelia Cash.

An audio clip of a pre-interview meeting with Ms Higgins, Mr Sharaz, Wilkinson and Network Ten producer Angus Llewellyn was played in court.

That meeting took place in a Sydney hotel room on January 27, 2021 – after Mr Sharaz sent the email to Wilkinson.

Ms Higgins had told the group that she tried to take screenshots of conversations she had with her former bosses at Parliament House before attempting to update her phone.

The update failed and she claimed to have lost all her data, including her photos.

Lisa Wilkinson is pictured, left, with her lawyer Sue Chrysanthou SC outside the Federal Court on Wednesday

Under cross-examination on Tuesday, Mr Llewellyn said Ms Higgins suggested the government had hacked her phone – adding that he personally did not think this had happened.

“I'd rather go for things than for a conspiracy,” he said.

On Wednesday, the court heard that Ms Higgins was “terrified” that the government would interfere with the upcoming episode of The Project, which saw her rape allegations aired publicly for the first time.

Mr Llewellyn said: 'Ms Higgins was very concerned that the story would somehow be suppressed by the Government.

Judge Michael Lee intervened: “Ms. Higgins was concerned that the government would suppress the story?”

He replied: 'She was terrified.'

The judge continued: 'What was the possible basis, would you as an experienced journalist think there was a possibility that the government would stop publication?'

Mr Llewellyn said he did not understand injunctions – which are a court order preventing a person or entity from doing something – and said Ms Higgins was simply concerned that the story would somehow be stopped.

Lisa Wilkinson is pictured with Brittany Higgins

At the end of the email Mr Sharaz sent to Wilkinson, he thanked her for speaking to her executive producer about creating a program based on Ms Higgins' allegations.

He said Ms Higgins, who was working for Senator Cash at the time, wanted to leave “Parliament House” by the time the story broke and the police investigation was restarted.

“In addition, I looked up ACT Policing's crime statistics for 2019 and there was one report of sexual assault during the time Britt's incident occurred,” he wrote.

He included a timeline of Ms Higgins' rape allegations and a map of other sexual assault allegations in Canberra in 2019.

Ms Higgins' rape allegations aired on The Project on February 15, 2021 – a few weeks after that email was sent.

Mr. Lehrmann is now suing the Wilkinson and the station over that broadcast.

He was not named, but he claims former colleagues were able to identify him as the alleged rapist.

Ms Higgins, Mr Lehrmann and Mr Llewellyn were cross-examined.

Wilkinson's cross-examination begins on Thursday.