Lisa Wilkinson is DROPPED as a witness along with a dozen others in trial of Brittany Higgins’

Lisa Wilkinson will not be called as a witness in Brittany Higgins’ rape case against her former colleague.

Bruce Lehrmann has been charged with consensual sex with Ms Higgins in the parliament building after a drunken night out in Canberra in March 2019, when they were working as Liberal Party staffers.

He pleaded not guilty to sexual intercourse without consent.

The project’s host was one of 58 witnesses named on a list by the ACT Supreme Court, along with News Corp journalist Samantha Maiden.

However, an updated list provided by the court on Thursday found that Ms Wilkinson and Ms Maiden had both been removed — along with more than a dozen others.

The list still includes former Defense Secretary Linda Reynolds, whose parliamentary office Ms Higgins alleges she was raped.

Prosecutors told the court that Ms Reynolds would be called to testify on Tuesday.

The trial was originally set on a four- to six-week timeline, but Chief Justice Lucy McCallum told the jury on Thursday that cases are ahead of schedule.

“We are on track to be ready on Tuesday,” she told the court.

The prosecution is expected to hold their closing arguments next week.

Ms Higgins has been absent for four days so far – half of the criminal trial – but she returns Friday to undergo ongoing cross-examination by Lehrmann’s lawyer Steven Whybrow.

The trial has continued in the absence of Mrs Higgins and the Crown has called other witnesses.

The court has withheld the publication of any evidence from other witnesses until Ms. Higgins has completed her evidence.

Last week, attorney Steven Whybrown asked about the $325,000 book deal she got — with the help of Lisa Wilkinson’s husband, Peter FitzSimons.

The court heard that FitzSimons suggested she write a biography of her experiences – in which Ms. Higgins told them she had already started drafting chapters before making an official statement to the police.

Ms Higgins told the court that she met Ms Wilkinson and her husband Mr FitzSimons at an event in early 2021, at which point he told her ‘You should write a book’.

‘[Mr FitzSimons said he] was going to act as my agent, and I said ‘sure’ and within a day he came back with offers,” she told the court.

Mr Whybrow told Ms Higgins that she asked Mr FitzSimons about a possible book, to which the alleged victim replied: ‘I really didn’t ask – he approached me.’

“He said, ‘I know people, I’m going to ask them for you’.”

Mr. Whybrow then told Ms. Higgins that on March 16, 2021, she was offered $325,000 to write a book outlining her experiences.

He then quoted a text that Ms. Higgins sent to Ms. Wilkinson and FitzSimons that said, “I’m overwhelmed.

“Yeah, I can absolutely do this… I’ve been drawing out the chapters for the past month or so.”

Last Thursday, attorney Steven Whybrow asked the 27-year-old about her February 2021 TV interview with Ms. Wilkinson and News Corp journalist Samantha Maiden.

She claimed she had no intention of hurting the Liberal Party ahead of the upcoming elections, she just wanted to talk about a “cultural problem” in parliament.

Mr Whybrow told her that the situation between the two journalists was becoming ‘uncomfortable’ as they both wanted to publish the story first.

Ms Higgins told the court, “They both had some sort of exclusive rights” to her story.

“They were fighting over when it would be released and who did what and who got the exclusive drop so Walkley’s time came, who could claim what and it wasn’t even about me or my story.”

Ms Maiden won the Gold Walkley in 2021 – Australian journalism’s highest honour, while Ms Wilkinson was awarded a Logie this year.

She also did not think that the police would pursue her argument or that the case would go to trial.

“I thought I’d do a printout and a TV and then I’d go back to college and disappear,” she added.

Following Ms. Maiden’s article and TV interview with Ms. Wilkinson, both of which came out on Feb. 15, Ms. Higgins said she was inundated with media requests.

Ms Higgins previously told the court that she had put the dress she wore that night “untouched and uncleaned” in a plastic bag under her bed for six months.

She told the jury that when it was clear that she could not report the alleged attack without losing her job with Defense Secretary Linda Reynolds, she “washed the dress very symbolically.”

“I wore it one more time, but then I never wore it again,” she said.

But during the cross-examination of Lehrmann’s attorney Steven Whybrow, Ms Higgins was shown a photo of her wearing the same dress in May 2019 at Ms Reynolds’ birthday party in Perth.

Cross-examined by Lehrmann’s attorney Steven Whybrow, Ms Higgins denied lying but admitted she had made a mistake in her timeline of events.

The process continues.