2:00

The defamation action brought by Bruce

2:02

Lehrman against Wilkinson and Network 10

2:04

argues he was defamed by Higgins'

2:06

claims of rape. Lehrman

2:08

has always denied any wrongdoing. Veteran

2:12

TV boss Peter Meakin has also

2:14

given evidence. Conceding the project should

2:16

have gone back and checked with

2:18

Brittany Higgins, the government's claims it

2:20

supported her in going to the

2:22

police and reassured Higgins her job

2:24

was not in danger. That's

2:26

today's story. A

2:35

quick note before we begin. This

2:37

episode contains adult language. We've

2:39

used voice actors to bring you the words

2:42

spoken in court. On

2:49

Monday afternoon, lawyers for long-awaited witness

2:52

Fiona Brown argued giving evidence in

2:54

the defamation proceedings would harm her

2:56

mental health. But Justice

2:58

Michael Lee said she must step into the

3:00

box. Brown was Chief

3:03

of Staff to former Senator Linda Reynolds when

3:05

Brittany Higgins alleges she was raped

3:07

by Bruce Lehrman. Higgins

3:09

alleged in the project interview and in

3:11

court Brown and Reynolds engaged

3:13

in a cover-up of the alleged

3:15

assault. Brown rejected those

3:17

allegations in an interview with the Australian

3:20

in June. Justice

3:22

Michael Lee said the medical evidence

3:24

was quite compelling but ultimately ordered

3:26

Brown to appear in a court

3:28

closed to everyone except legal counsel

3:30

and media. Brittany

3:33

Higgins claims she was raped on

3:35

a sofa in Minister Reynolds' office

3:37

on March 23, 2019. In the following

3:40

days, Brown said all she knew was

3:42

that there had been a security incident.

3:44

Higgins and fellow young staffer Bruce Lehrman

3:46

came into the office after 1am. Brown

3:50

said she was told Higgins had been

3:52

found naked on a sofa, that an

3:54

ambulance had been offered and that Higgins

3:56

had declined. Brown said she was

3:59

deeply shocked. and called them both

4:01

in for explanations. Under

4:04

cross examination, Brown said she suspected Lerman

4:06

had returned to the office to look at

4:08

files. She said

4:10

she was puzzled when Lerman told her he'd come

4:12

in to drink whiskey. When

4:15

Justice Michael Lee asked if she thought

4:17

Lerman was not being candid, Brown said,

4:19

my antenna was up. The

4:22

judge said to Brown, you knew their age, you

4:24

knew they came back intoxicated, you understood they

4:26

had been drinking whiskey, you knew she had

4:28

been found naked, putting those things together.

4:30

Did you think it was more likely than

4:32

not they had sex? Brown replied, I wouldn't

4:34

say it was more likely than not. It

4:37

was possible. Brown said Lerman

4:39

told her Higgins was fine when he

4:41

left the office. Brown

4:43

said on Tuesday, March 26, Higgins

4:45

told her she woke up semi-naked on

4:47

the sofa, but said she did not

4:49

suspect Higgins had been assaulted. Brown

4:52

said, I didn't think she'd been assaulted. I thought

4:54

she would have told me. Brown said two days

4:56

later she met with Higgins again. Here's

4:58

what Brown said. She pivoted. She

5:00

was quite casual. She just said out

5:03

of the blue, I remember him on top

5:05

of me. I was shocked by that. Brown

5:07

said she was upset when the project's producer,

5:09

Angus Llewellyn, contacted her via text message in

5:12

mid-February 2021. She

5:14

said she sent some information about the alleged

5:16

assault to Andrew Carswell, a media advisor

5:18

in the Prime Minister's office shortly after, and

5:21

was not consulted on the statement he

5:23

sent the project, which they published online.

5:26

Brown said, I was very traumatized.

5:29

Earlier on Monday, the court heard from a

5:31

handful of other witnesses. Here's what they had

5:33

to say. Brittany

5:38

Higgins was a real go-getter who changed

5:40

after she claimed she was raped by

5:42

Bruce Lambman. That's the testimony

5:45

of Sam O'Connor, a friend of Higgins

5:47

and a former staffer from Canberra, who's

5:49

now the member for Bonnie in the

5:51

Queensland Parliament. O'Connor

5:54

is 32 and met Higgins when

5:56

he was working for Federal MP

5:58

Stuart Robert. On

6:01

March 29 2019, six days

6:03

after her alleged rape, Higgins

6:05

sent O'Connor a message. We've used voice

6:08

actors to bring you the words in

6:10

evidence. Team

6:13

Reynolds has been a somewhat controversial topic in the

6:15

federal scene as late. I've

6:19

been freed. Trust

6:24

me it's best left alone, haha. If

6:27

you hear anything particularly pointed though, you know where to

6:29

direct it to. In

6:32

a phone call on April 19, about

6:34

three weeks after the alleged rape,

6:36

Higgins sent O'Connor a message. Sorry,

6:41

I'm just over it. This super fucked

6:43

up thing happened a little while ago and I've just

6:45

lost the fire. They

6:47

spoke by phone and O'Connor told the court

6:49

this. She

6:51

talked about another staffer who I didn't

6:54

know his name at the time, but

6:56

she mentioned that he'd worked for George Brandis

6:59

and he was from Toowoomba. I remember

7:01

that being in the conversation, but

7:04

she told me that he had taken her back

7:06

to Parliament House and that he had

7:08

raped her. I

7:10

absolutely remember the word rape. It's not

7:12

something you forget. And

7:14

she absolutely did say that he had taken

7:17

her back to Parliament House under

7:19

the guise of having to drop in there or

7:21

something. And I remember, because

7:24

I had previously been a Federal

7:26

MP staffer, I remember thinking how

7:28

unusual that was at that particular

7:30

time on an early Saturday

7:32

morning. I think in

7:34

subsequent conversations we talked about her reporting

7:36

it to the police and

7:38

I don't recall whether she had told me that

7:40

she had, but she was

7:42

certainly concerned about the implications of that.

7:47

At the time Higgins was working in Western

7:49

Australia on the election campaign. Earlier

7:52

in evidence Higgins told the court she really

7:54

wanted to go home to Queensland, but

7:56

she said Linda Reynolds, Chief of Staff Fiona

7:58

Brown, had told her she could either

8:01

go to Queensland and effectively leave politics

8:03

or go to WA and continue to

8:05

be employed. This is

8:07

what Higgins told the court on November 29. So

8:12

the conversations with Fiona started getting more and

8:15

more tense. It suddenly became about the election.

8:18

Fiona Brown was starting to ask me about the election.

8:20

She used words to the effect of, during the election,

8:23

where would you want to be? You can go to

8:25

WA or you can go home to the Gold Coast.

8:28

And I said, well, I'd obviously want to be near

8:30

my family. That would be great. And she said, well,

8:32

they would just pay me out to go to the

8:34

Gold Coast, but I wouldn't be working. And

8:36

I said, OK, well, that would be fine. But

8:39

how would I come back? And she said, well,

8:41

you wouldn't. And so for me,

8:43

that was like a pivotal conversation because it became

8:45

really clear because things were getting more tense that

8:48

I either go to WA and I continue with

8:50

the team or I would be paid out and

8:52

I could just go home. But

8:56

on Monday, in his evidence, Sam O'Connor

8:58

said Higgins told him she felt she'd

9:01

been sidelined by being sent to Western

9:03

Australia. She

9:05

felt like she was sort of being punted over there, how

9:08

she felt she was away from the action. And

9:11

it touched on some of the contacts she was having

9:13

from the PMO at that time as well. She

9:16

felt that she was away from the action in Canberra.

9:19

She felt that there was a desire to to make

9:22

sure that she didn't go public with this story,

9:24

particularly in the lead up to the election that

9:26

people were checking in on her. Asked

9:29

who was checking in, O'Connor named

9:32

one of the most powerful people

9:34

in government, Scott Morrison's principal private

9:36

secretary, Euron Finkelstein. The name

9:38

that really stuck with me was Euron, which

9:41

I knew to be Euron Finkelstein, who

9:43

was a senior staffer in the PMO. And

9:46

it would just be sort of seeing how

9:48

she was going, nothing specific, but

9:50

she very much viewed it as keeping her in

9:53

the tent. That was how she

9:55

perceived it. That was

9:57

unusual from my perspective, to have someone

9:59

so sing. senior, checking in with a

10:01

relatively junior staffer. In

10:03

a recorded pre-interview conversation which has been

10:05

played to the court, Higgins told the

10:07

project this, about the time of the

10:09

airing of a 2020 episode of

10:12

Four Corners, focusing on unproven

10:14

allegations against former Attorney General

10:16

Christian Porter. So

10:19

I had a call from this guy,

10:22

Yaron Finkelstein. So we've only professionally, inside

10:24

of my work capacity, probably interacted two

10:26

or three times. Like, he

10:28

does not need to know my name. I'm

10:30

quite low on the pecking order compared to

10:32

Yaron. Yeah, and so, yeah, he called me

10:34

out of the blue on the Four Corners

10:36

week because I was out sick and I

10:38

knew what the conversation was about. He knew

10:40

what the conversation was about. And it was

10:42

probably just a check-in and mechanism of like,

10:44

I don't know, I don't, it was, it

10:47

was more just, are you okay? The

10:50

day after the project's interview aired,

10:53

Scott Morrison denied this phone call

10:55

by Finkelstein had happened at all.

10:58

When Higgins was working for Senator Michaelia

11:00

Cash after the election, O'Connor said she

11:02

was worried about the alleged rape being

11:05

mentioned in public. I remember

11:07

one particular conversation on the day of

11:09

the hearing where she had talked about

11:11

a press conference being a diversion for

11:13

the minister, answering questions about it or

11:15

being asked about it. There was a

11:17

journalist or something asking questions and she

11:19

was concerned about it becoming public. And

11:22

at that point, that was

11:24

the last thing that Brittany wanted for this

11:26

to become public. In

11:28

early 2021, Higgins told O'Connor she

11:30

was giving interviews on the topic. I

11:33

absolutely remember her desire for some sort

11:36

of change to the culture around parliament.

11:38

That had been an ongoing sort of

11:40

topic of conversation. And this was

11:42

sort of in her mind the next step

11:44

in achieving that. But I do remember

11:46

thinking it was unusual because every single

11:48

conversation we had had up until that

11:50

point was about her not wanting this

11:52

to be public and about her going

11:54

to great lengths to prevent this from

11:56

becoming public. Inspired

12:00

by Four Corners original Christian Porter

12:02

episode in March, Twenty Twenty one,

12:05

Four Corners did another story called

12:07

bursting the Can brought bubble. Higgins

12:09

told O'connor she'd been involved behind

12:11

the scenes with Four Corners. Second

12:14

episode. Higgins also

12:16

said she'd been staying with Lisa

12:18

Wilkinson and her husband. I

12:22

feel okay. I worked with four corners behind

12:24

the scenes to help piece it all together.

12:27

I've been saying with Lisa W. and paid

12:29

if it Simon's in Sydney for the past

12:31

few days that been so wonderful. The called

12:33

earlier had evidence Fitz Simons helped negotiate a

12:35

book deal for Higgins. O'connor

12:38

said he didn't changed after the alleged

12:40

rape from having been a real go

12:42

get out. She. Was

12:44

bits str. Would. Sometimes have arguments or

12:47

the small things. Something.

12:49

Had absolutely changed and it was more

12:51

visible in person on those few occasions

12:53

that I spoke to her, but there

12:55

was absolutely a change in her demeanor

12:57

after that point. Veterans.

13:02

Who they produce, a pity make and has ruled. The

13:04

newsrooms. If every major commercial Tv

13:06

network in Australia since the seventies,

13:08

and he's a famously shrewd operator

13:10

in Twenty Twenty One. He was

13:12

an executive consultant to Tens news

13:14

and Current Affairs division and he

13:16

was closely involved in are the

13:18

Same The production. Of the projects didn't

13:20

he can story. He's

13:22

giving evidence that him telling the court.

13:25

he left most of the operational details

13:27

of the story to produce a Angus

13:29

Llewellyn and detain. Make

13:31

and sent an email to Llewellyn.

13:33

Unsavory. Three Twenty Twenty One. I

13:37

plan to advise that it's a little

13:39

early to was among the approaches, but

13:41

we won't be making them without the

13:43

approval of Brittany. And in

13:45

the case of the political figures, It.

13:47

Won't be until much closer to the

13:49

transmission done. Matthew. Richardson

13:52

Council for Breeze Lemon asked

13:54

this. Was. A true

13:56

Mr made him, but you wouldn't be

13:58

making approaches without the approval. The guns.

14:01

That's. What it says, but at

14:03

least advising her that we

14:05

were doing it. Will.

14:07

You talk about we won't be making

14:09

them without the approval of Brittany. That's

14:11

a language used, isn't it? That

14:13

is the language I use. Is.

14:16

That actually true. Well it's It was

14:18

certainly my intention and it was my

14:20

intention that we keep her advised as

14:22

part of our duty of care. her

14:24

I want to suggest you is to

14:26

make and that it was not appropriate

14:28

from his higgins as a complainant or

14:30

source to be dictating who the project

14:32

approached for interviews. I. Would agree with

14:34

that and I don't think she did. Richardson

14:38

read make in an email hate sand

14:40

on thirteen separate Twenty Twenty One two

14:42

days before the story aired it with

14:44

in response to a message from Lisa

14:46

Wilkinson showing a photo of herself and

14:48

the well and outside Federal parliament with

14:51

the words. Missile

14:53

Complaint. Not.

15:00

Just shit. We have still to

15:02

see how the pigeons react. Make.

15:07

And said this was a jocular way to

15:09

refer to the ministers. Sounds

15:12

like a bit of a game. Does

15:14

not know. I've sometimes use jocular language,

15:16

but I can assure you it wasn't

15:18

a game. On the Sunday

15:20

before publication, Angus Llewellyn for what it's

15:22

an email from the Pans Media Advisor

15:24

and Retards Well which said Linda Reynolds

15:26

had told Higgins she'd be supported and

15:29

has been no impact on her career.

15:31

Encouraged to to go to the police

15:33

and had her office facilitate the is

15:35

contact with place. To.

15:37

Disbelieve any of that. I.

15:40

Didn't believe or disbelieve it. I

15:42

accepted it as the government's position.

15:45

Did you understand on a broad sense

15:47

that Ms. Higgins narrative was she was

15:49

told she wouldn't have a job if

15:51

she pursued a police complaint. Yes,

15:54

Bitter. To curse you when you read the

15:56

email that it was possible that narrative might

15:58

not be accurate. I realized it

16:01

was being challenge. Yes, Did

16:03

you think that at that point it was important

16:05

for someone to go back and talk to Miss

16:07

Higgins again? That. Didn't occur

16:10

to me know we'd already done the

16:12

interview now and I don't think there

16:14

was much prospect of doing another one.

16:16

Did you suggest to Mister Llewellyn or

16:18

anyone else, they speak to Miss Higgins.

16:22

I can't recall. You agree

16:24

that when you read the statement, your understanding

16:26

was that he did not corroborate what she

16:28

was saying. I. Would accept

16:30

that. Yes, Coming

16:35

up why pay to make and says

16:37

the project didn't always he his advice.

16:57

In court on Monday Bruce Lemons

17:00

Seine Council Matthew Richardson took make

17:02

into to documents Scott Morrison Press

17:04

secretary Andrew Caswell provided to the

17:06

project in defense of Fiona Brown

17:08

and the government. One was

17:10

an email from Lauren Barons as saying

17:13

you Bureaucrat in the Office of Ministerial

17:15

and Parliamentary Services in the Department of

17:17

Finance. Which. Provided human resources

17:19

support to government. It's dated

17:21

March Twenty Nine, Twenty nineteen six

17:24

days after the alleged rape and

17:26

included notes as a conversation with

17:28

Fiona Brown. He's what Lauren parents

17:30

rushed in the email to Brown

17:32

about a conversation tighthead. Suits.

17:36

You choose to, she's able to pursue a

17:38

complaint including a complaint night to the police

17:40

and that to do so would be within

17:42

her rights. You have made it very clear

17:44

to her that if you require assistance in

17:46

making a complaint, you would be willing to

17:48

support her. In addition, I understand you have

17:51

discussed with her on several occasions that if

17:53

she does. Choose to pursue a complaint,

17:55

Even at a later date, she would have

17:57

the full and ongoing support of yourself. And

18:00

the minister. Matthew.

18:02

Richardson asked me to make and about

18:04

this. Now

18:06

did you believe when you read this

18:08

that it was consistent with what Michigan's

18:11

was saying? To be honest, Mr. Richardson

18:13

I don't even know that I read

18:15

this one. If I did raise it,

18:17

I don't recall it. Well.

18:20

I suggest it's a pretty significant a

18:22

mile. isn't that? because it's contemporaneous and

18:24

it records on the twenty knots of

18:26

March what someone in an hr capacity

18:28

was consuming. It happened to Ms. Broome.

18:31

Yep! If he had read

18:34

the email you'd agree with me would

18:36

ensue that the first that it would

18:38

have been obviously important to don't check

18:40

this account with Michigan's. It. Certainly

18:42

tells a different narrative. Yes.

18:45

The judge asked if that meant be answered

18:47

the question. It was important to check the

18:49

account with Miss Higgins with yes, I

18:52

think it would have been desirable.

18:54

Yes, The other

18:56

document Cause Will sent Llewellyn was a

18:58

text message exchange between Britney Higgins and

19:00

Fiona Brown that went like this: Over

19:04

the city on a gig. On

19:09

Keith. I wanted to say this in

19:11

person that I cannot overstate how much

19:13

as l your support and advice throughout

19:15

this period you been absolutely incredible and

19:18

I'm so appreciative. Thanks. Britney.

19:21

Piano. Brown attached an image of a

19:23

bottle of champagne. T is

19:25

what Matthew Richardson wanted to know. And

19:28

of course you would agree. Wouldn't see that

19:30

this was quite different to the manner in

19:32

which Miss depicted Miss Brown to the project.

19:36

Yes, It's inconsistent.

19:39

I. Agree. For. Instance You

19:41

were aware that in the program Higgins

19:43

alleges Fiona Brown had said, well, you

19:45

wouldn't when Michigan's asked her if she

19:47

would be able to come back to

19:50

her job from going home. You remember

19:52

that. Yes, I do. When

19:54

you read this is amiss, did you think it was

19:56

worth going back to Miss Higgins to check which he

19:59

had alleged about me. Around well, I don't

20:01

recall advising anyone to do it. In

20:03

retrospect, did you think it would have

20:05

been a good idea? Well.

20:08

It. Wouldn't have done any harm. Did.

20:10

You think Mr. May two minute might have

20:12

been relevant to check with Ms with? She

20:15

had any other messages passing between her and

20:17

Miss Brown. Well. I suppose in

20:19

retrospect that we could have done a

20:21

lot of things, but I think I

20:24

think way I think Angus did a

20:26

good job. Matthew.

20:28

Richardson kept pushing. Now.

20:32

After you receive Mr. Llewellyn See Mile

20:34

and the email from Mr. Carswell, you

20:36

knew that the government's position was that

20:38

the minister had told Ms. Higgins they

20:40

would be no impact on her career

20:43

correct? I didn't

20:45

know that I told her that

20:47

I knew that they were contending

20:49

that yes, And. Some of

20:51

that information came from that background, which

20:53

you know is not the most reliable

20:56

source of information in my view. On

21:00

the morning of the broadcast, The Well sent make

21:02

in an email in which he said. We.

21:05

Spoke to me on background. He said that

21:07

she was offered support for those eight and

21:10

imply that was day on offer in Wi.

21:13

He said that it was her choice to

21:15

go Wi and there was never any question

21:17

over her employment Pod quite him on that

21:19

though. Richardson asked if it had

21:21

occurred to make and that it might be important to

21:23

go back to Higgins and check some of this. Ah

21:27

no it didn't. Which. It's

21:29

an also suggested the project had misled

21:31

the audience about the availability of the

21:33

pollen that house cctv footage from the

21:36

night of the alleged assault. What?

21:38

The project is doing here is to

21:40

say the some good news for Britain

21:42

each night. After almost two years Parliament

21:44

House authorities have finally told us the

21:46

cctv you will be available to investigators.

21:49

And those words aren't They are purporting

21:51

to summarize what Parliament House authorities had

21:53

said. I don't recall the actual events

21:56

here, but I think there was some

21:58

delay in getting to that person. Then.

22:00

We. Were under a misunderstanding as

22:02

to the availability of the footage.

22:05

Is a what I want to say

22:07

to you and accept the word fondly

22:09

wasn't yours but I want to suggest

22:11

the words palm hassle. Authorities have finally

22:13

told us the Cctv will be available

22:15

to investigate is is misleading. I.

22:18

Don't know that it's misleading, sir. In

22:25

an email to Lancaster Well On and other

22:28

produces on February Ten. They. To make

22:30

an advisor project to ask me to simmer

22:32

Calea Cash for an interview. Along

22:34

with Senator Linda Reynolds and The

22:37

Place. The project didn't request

22:39

an interview with cash. And.

22:42

You know why that happened was she wasn't

22:44

asked for the interview. Well.

22:47

All I can assume is that they didn't

22:49

take my advice. It wouldn't be

22:51

the first time that happened. Right

22:55

at the end of his evidence make him

22:57

was asked about Lisa Wilkinson's final line in

22:59

The Project episode, in which she said. We

23:02

of course a priced all the people names in

23:04

our stories. And all of our requests for

23:06

interviews who declined. In

23:09

her evidence, Lisa Wilkinson quibbled over

23:11

this point Sister She said she

23:13

understood everyone had been approached, including

23:15

me to see Cass. She also

23:17

said it wasn't supposed to include

23:19

Bruce Lamb and because he hadn't

23:22

been named in the story remember,

23:24

Lemon had not responded to any

23:26

requests and says he didn't see

23:28

any communications for the project until

23:30

after the episode aired. He's what

23:32

Wilkinson said in her evidence on

23:34

Friday under cross examination by Matthew

23:36

Richardson. I.

23:39

Believe if we had singled out Mr. Lemon

23:41

and said that we approached the alleged perpetrator

23:43

and he didn't add that to us. That

23:45

would reflect in a more negative way on

23:47

Mr. Lamb and. But.

23:50

I'm suggesting in a broad sense that

23:52

that's exactly the impression that was given.

23:55

Do you agree or disagree? I

23:57

disagree. He's what may. Richardson

24:00

asked to pay to make and on Monday.

24:02

I want to suggest that you understood that

24:05

that was intended to cover and refer to

24:07

Mister Lumen. Yes, it was

24:09

intended to refer to him even though

24:12

he wasn't named in the story. And

24:14

yes, that's a point I acknowledge grammatically

24:16

your own Of that is the cross

24:19

examination. The judge told make

24:21

and he was excused. Six.

24:31

To join us on the sand the trial continues

24:33

and you can. Follow law that,

24:35

although. At he all that I

24:37

do.