0:06

You can listen to The Front on your

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smart speaker every morning. To

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hear the latest episode, just say, play

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the news from the Australian. From

0:21

the Australian, here's what's on the front.

0:24

I'm Kristin Amiet. It's Monday, June 17.

0:30

Invest in big ideas, not

0:32

welfare. That's the call from

0:34

Opposition Finance spokeswoman Jane Hume. In

0:37

a speech at the Sydney Institute

0:39

today, she'll lay out coalition policies

0:41

designed to boost female entrepreneurs and

0:43

empower more women to steer household

0:45

finances. China's

0:49

second in charge, Li Cheng, arrived

0:51

in Adelaide over the weekend, declaring the

0:53

nation's relationship with Australia is back on

0:55

track. But Foreign Minister Penny

0:58

Wong has warned Peter Dutton's intention to

1:00

ditch a 2030 climate target if he

1:02

wins the next election could see under

1:04

threat Pacific nations cosy up to Beijing.

1:07

You can read Ben Packham's analysis of

1:09

the Chinese Premier's visit so far at

1:11

theaustralian.com.au. Bruce

1:16

Lammon is headed back to court today, this

1:18

time in his hometown of Toowoomba. The

1:21

former Liberal staffer is charged with two counts

1:23

of rape relating to an alleged incident that

1:25

occurred in the Queensland city in 2021. He's

1:28

likely to plead not guilty. That's

1:31

today's episode. A

1:37

note before we start, this episode

1:39

mentions sexual assault. A

1:46

couple of hours drive west of

1:48

Brisbane in Queensland's Darling Downs region,

1:50

the city of Toowoomba is known

1:53

for its sprawling gardens, historic Queenslander

1:55

architecture and vast valleys just west

1:57

of the Great Dividing Range. About

2:00

140,000 people call Toowoomba

2:02

home and it's produced some of

2:04

Australia's best known sporting cultural and

2:07

academic figures. There's TV

2:09

presenter Sonja Kruger, the actor Jeffrey

2:11

Rush, champion 800-meter runner

2:13

Peter Bowl and rugby league

2:15

legend Jonathan Thurston among many

2:17

others. It's also

2:19

the hometown of former Liberal staffer

2:21

Bruce Lerman. He'll

2:25

be back in town today for his first

2:27

appearance at the Toowoomba Magistrates Court where

2:29

he's charged with two counts of rape for an incident

2:32

that's alleged to have occurred in late 2021. Toowoomba

2:36

is one of the country's largest regional

2:39

centres. It's just after Canberra in terms

2:41

of size. Mackenzie Scott is

2:43

a reporter based in the Australian Queensland

2:45

Bureau. She'll be in Toowoomba today for

2:47

the hearing. And

2:50

it's really well known for its annual

2:52

flower festival. That's what a lot of Brisbaneites

2:54

know it for. So the

2:56

town itself, it's quite large. It's in

2:59

a quite conservative population as well. A

3:01

lot of people go there to retire,

3:04

but there's definitely two different

3:06

sides of Toowoomba. There's the beautiful rich

3:09

retirees from out

3:12

West and out East. But there's

3:14

also a lot of lower socioeconomic areas

3:16

there as well and a lot

3:18

of crime associated with that too. And

3:21

this is where Bruce Lerman grew up. This

3:23

is where he lives with his mother before

3:26

heading off to Canberra to study.

3:31

Lerman's homecoming is likely to garner

3:33

national interest. He's recently notified

3:35

the Federal Court of Australia of his

3:37

intention to appeal Justice Michael Lee's finding

3:39

on the balance of probabilities that he

3:41

raped Brittany Higgins inside Parliament House in

3:43

the early hours of March 23, 2019.

3:49

It's important to note that the Toowoomba matter

3:51

is unrelated to everything that played out in

3:53

Sydney's Federal Court in recent months. Lerman

3:56

is likely to plead not guilty and this

3:58

charge will be tested in the... cause on

4:00

the evidence. Lemon.

4:03

Food Network Ten and Tv presenter

4:05

Lisa Wilkinson for defamation after Higgins

4:07

as allegation against him was aired

4:09

in an episode of The Project

4:11

almost two years later In Twenty

4:13

Twenty One. So. Nice claims

4:15

of right road blocks to a

4:17

police investigation and a young woman

4:19

forced to choose between her career

4:22

and at the Sears of Justice.

4:24

Lemons. Notice of appeal which the

4:27

law student prepared himself states he

4:29

was denied procedural thin as by

4:31

Justice League and the ultimate finding

4:33

that cause him to lose the

4:35

case was contrary to the evidence

4:37

presented at trial. As he described

4:39

the line speed mister limit by to the site

4:41

of coming back for he said. It's.

4:43

A beautiful Sanzar an historic magistrates

4:46

call it was built in the

4:48

eighteen hundreds sell it and had

4:50

definitely same a fair share. Of

4:52

pride and trials. His.

4:57

Appearance at today's hearing. marks the first

4:59

time Lamb is facing a judge in

5:02

this matter. He's. On bail and

5:04

hasn't been required to attend any hearings up

5:06

to this points. Instead, Lemons

5:08

been represented by barista Patrick Wilson

5:10

and his lawyer rowing team at

5:12

earlier proceedings and has yet to

5:14

formally enter a plea. I.

5:17

Spoke to Mr. King only it's

5:19

nice a the confirmed that Mr.

5:22

One would be attending and percent

5:24

this has been on the cards

5:26

for some time and that he

5:29

has been inundated with media interest

5:31

in the past forty eight hours

5:33

about his involvement. The case they've

5:36

had been representing Mister Levin from

5:38

the beginning and with also involved

5:40

in a suppression oughta applications once

5:43

the law changed and claimed nineteen

5:45

say. This. Is a

5:47

committal hearing and is expected to take about

5:49

half a day. That. Means

5:51

the prosecutor will lay out the evidence in

5:54

their case and the magistrate will decide if

5:56

there's enough there for the message to proceed

5:58

to trial. That. The

6:00

author has the opportunity to cross

6:02

examine witnesses, and Lemons lawyers have

6:04

previously indicated they intend to question

6:06

the complainant in this case. At

6:09

a directions hearing held in February, Wilson

6:12

said the bodies were in agreement about

6:14

the scope of that cross examination. According

6:17

to Queensland Police the complainant mit Bruce

6:19

Lamb and at a strip club in

6:21

October of Twenty Twenty One. Eight

6:23

months after Britney Higgins went public with

6:25

her allegation against him. To.

6:28

Twenty eight year old woman said he

6:30

introduced himself as Bruce. She.

6:32

Claims they had consensual sex that night,

6:34

but that he didn't wear a condom

6:36

when engaged in intercourse twice the next

6:39

morning. A move for which she

6:41

claims she never gave her consent. Is

6:44

her allegations proven that's considered sexual

6:46

assault on the Queensland law. The.

6:49

Contents of the complain it's fine were hand

6:51

to Wilson and King in November. At.

6:54

That time King said it would take weeks

6:56

to review the five hundred files and requested

6:58

a six week adjournment to get across the

7:00

material. Avoids that days rating

7:02

The words spoken by row and king in

7:04

court. Effectively, there's some

7:06

clerical matters with respect to the dod,

7:09

others been provided. The disclosure consists of

7:11

between four hundred to five hundred files

7:13

which are locked, which means I can

7:15

do what I usually do with this

7:17

type or disclosure, such as combine the

7:20

documents and perform a word or phrase

7:22

search. It's slightly slowing down the

7:24

process on my end. Summing

7:28

up after the break that long and

7:30

winding road to the to one that

7:33

magistrates court subscribers get first access to

7:35

the Australians a comprehensive reporting and analysis

7:37

of the lamb and legal saw that

7:39

fosters breaking news alerts, newsletters and expert

7:42

commentary to check us out at the

7:44

australian.com that I you and will be

7:46

back after this break. access

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almost a year the defendant in this

9:21

matter, Bruce Lammon, was known only to

9:23

the public as a high profile man.

9:26

In early 2023 on January 11, Queensland

9:30

police told the media they charged a 27 year

9:32

old man with two counts of rape dating back

9:35

to October 2021. We

9:37

now know that man was Lammon who just

9:40

turned 29. But

9:42

legislation in place in Queensland when that

9:45

media release was issued prevented the press

9:47

from naming people accused of sexual assault

9:49

until those matters were committed to trial.

9:53

That law was scrapped by the Queensland government on

9:55

October 3 of last year. It

9:58

was a big part of the country's government's

10:00

response to a report on a

10:02

women's safety and justice task force

10:04

which made 89 recommendations for curbing

10:06

coercive control in the Sunshine State.

10:09

Here's Queensland Attorney General Yvette Darth.

10:12

Part of the basis of this protection for

10:15

accused rapists is that women

10:17

maliciously make up complaints to

10:19

damage reputations. These rape

10:21

myths have no place in our system of the

10:23

chief. Now people charged

10:25

with sexual assault in Queensland can be

10:28

identified before a judge makes a call

10:30

on committal. Blamond's

10:32

lawyers sought a non-publication order to

10:34

protect his identity after the new

10:36

legislation kicked in. The

10:39

former Liberal staffer had already faced a

10:41

criminal trial for raping Brittany Higgins. That

10:44

trial was sensationally aborted in October 2022

10:47

due to duromisconduct and

10:50

his lawyer said the prospect of

10:52

being identified publicly following those high-profile

10:54

proceedings was weighing heavily on him.

10:58

They argued a non-publication order was

11:00

necessary to protect their clients mental

11:02

health. But less

11:04

than a fortnight later, magistrate Claire

11:06

Kelly ruled the NPO wasn't necessary.

11:10

A barrister acting for a handful

11:12

of media outlets including News Corp

11:14

Australia which publishes The Australian successfully

11:16

argued in court that Bruce Lerman

11:18

had voluntarily placed himself in a

11:20

public forum. That included

11:23

a tell-all interview Lerman gave to

11:25

Channel 7's spotlight program in which

11:27

he appeared to promise retribution for

11:29

reputational damage he believed had been

11:31

caused by extensive media reporting of

11:34

the criminal proceedings. Lerman's

11:43

lawyers said the magistrate got it wrong and

11:45

so back to court it went. Before

11:48

the month was out, Supreme Court

11:50

Justice Peter Applegarth said magistrate Kelly

11:52

was reasonable and so

11:54

for the first time in almost a year

11:56

Bruce Lerman's name was back out there this

12:00

to a new and serious allegation

12:02

of sexual assault. Finally

12:04

the veil of secrecy is shattered.

12:06

Bruce Laramond can be revealed as

12:09

the man facing two counts of

12:11

rape into Wumba. The

12:14

complainant in today's proceedings says she came

12:16

forward to police after searching for Brittany

12:19

Higgins's allegation against Bruce Lamond on Google

12:21

and identified him as the man with

12:23

whom she'd had a sexual encounter three

12:25

months earlier. When

12:28

Lamond was finally named as the accused in

12:30

the To Wumba matter, Higgins voiced her support

12:32

for the 28 year old woman on social

12:34

media. She wrote on

12:36

Instagram, When I first found out

12:39

about the alleged assault, my heart broke for

12:41

you. To know that this has allegedly

12:43

taken place while he was out on bail in 2021

12:45

is devastating.

12:49

Lamond issued a fiery rebuke to Higgins

12:51

via a statement. He

12:53

said a non-publication order would have prevented

12:55

Higgins from making the prejudicial post and

12:58

stopped it from being widely reported in

13:00

the media. Lamond

13:02

reiterated he'd never been found criminally responsible

13:04

for rape and said Higgins has a

13:07

total disregard for how our justice system

13:10

rightly operates with the presumption of innocence

13:12

at its core. Mackenzie

13:18

Scott is a reporter with the Australians.

13:22

Come back to the front tomorrow to hear how

13:25

the Committal Hearing unfolded in the To Wumba Magistrates

13:27

Court and for all the

13:29

nation's best news, sport and politics go

13:31

to the australian.com.au I'm

13:37

Andrew Rule, the host of the podcast,

13:39

A Life and Crimes. Here are some

13:41

of the things that we've been talking

13:43

about the last few weeks. The

13:46

brutal truth is that when you start looking

13:48

at it, they always kill or injure a

13:51

lot more than each other. The

13:53

professional hitman used to be a

13:55

professional hitman. Evil strikes

13:57

in all forms but particularly

14:00

as stupidity. Life

14:02

and crimes is available wherever

14:04

you get your podcasts.

14:09

Cocaine is a global industry where

14:11

the profits are counted up in millions

14:13

and the losses measured

14:16

out in murders because

14:18

it's only business and

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right now business is good. I'm

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like, what's your salary? What are you

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talking about? I don't think we

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can rate it.