Network Ten has told the Federal Court that Bruce Lehrmann acted “boldly” when he sued the broadcaster for defamation over airing a segment about Brittany Higgins’ allegations that she was raped at Parliament House.
The former Liberal Party worker is suing Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson, who broke the story about The Project, with Judge Michael Lee on December 22 adjourning his decision on the case to a later date after a month-long trial.
Written submissions from both parties submitted last week were released by the court on Friday, showing that Network Ten claimed Mr Lehrmann provided ‘no remotely credible account’ of the night of March 23, 2019, when Ms Higgins claimed he had raped her.
The two had been in a bar with colleagues before returning to Parliament House and entering the office of then Defense Industry Minister Linda Reynolds, where Ms Higgins claims the attack took place and where there is no CCTV footage.
Mr. Lehrmann has consistently denied the allegations and maintains his innocence.
Network Ten also said in a January 22 contribution that Mr Lehrmann had launched an “outrageous attack” on former Defense Department staffer Lauren Gain, who they said was a “clearly honest and independent witness”.
Brittany Higgins (pictured) claimed she was raped in then Defense Secretary Linda Reynolds’ office at Parliament House in 2019.
Bruce Lehrmann arrives at the Federal Court during his defamation trial last year
Ms Gain told the court she witnessed Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann share a “passionate kiss” at the bar in Canberra on the night in question.
“I remember his hands on her thighs and her hands on his thighs,” Ms. Gain said.
‘I saw them kissing. It was a real kiss. I’m not sure how to describe it, but it lasted a while, so it was a no-brainer.” She agreed that it was a passionate kiss.
Mr Lehrmann said in a Seven Network interview and again in court that Ms Gain had made the accusation falsely and in collusion with Ms Higgins.
He denied in court that there had been any intimate contact with Ms Higgins at any time that evening.
Ms Higgins is seen on CCTV walking past Parliament House security on the night she claims she was raped in Ms Reynolds’ parliamentary office
Network Ten argued that Lehrmann had brought ‘defamation proceedings seeking damages to defend his reputation, in circumstances where he has failed to provide any credible accounting for his conduct in relation to the events underlying the allegations on which he is suing has filed, and is prepared to file a lawsuit’. an outrageous attack on a clearly honest and independent witness.”
‘This is conduct which, according to Network Ten, disqualifies him from any right to damages even if the defense were to fail; Under those circumstances, the court’s finding would be sufficient justification,” Ten’s lawyers said.
Mr Lehrmann’s legal team has argued that “there are simply too many other plausible possibilities about what happened in the Secretary of State’s office, and about why Ms Higgins was found naked in that office, to allow the court to draw any conclusions about what happened’.
“If the court finds Mr. Lehrmann’s story implausible, that would not in itself make Ms. Higgins’ version more convincing,” the lawyers said.
One of Network Ten and Wilkinson’s defenses is that Ms Higgins’ claims are true.
Defendant in the defamation action Lisa Wilkinson is pictured left outside the Federal Court with her lawyer Sue Chrysanthou SC
A criminal trial for sexual assault was abandoned in 2022 due to juror misconduct and another trial was halted due to concerns about Ms Higgins’ mental health.
Judge Lee will rule on that defense on the balance of probabilities, which is a lower standard of proof than the criminal law requirement of beyond reasonable doubt.
Ms Higgins and her fiancé David Sharaz moved to Lunas, France, after she gave her evidence at the defamation hearing.