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Media cautioned for defence in Lehrmann defamation case
A Federal Court judge has cautioned the media defendants in former political staffer Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation trial against running multiple defences alongside the new public interest defence.
Naomi Neilson
In a case management hearing for the defamation trial against the ABC, Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson, Justice Michael Lee cautioned the media’s counsel from “throwing everything in”, referring to Network Ten’s truth defence and ABC’s public interest defence.
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Both matters concern publications referring to the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins by Mr Lehrmann in Parliament House.
“You can’t continue to run defamation cases in some type of time warp back in the 1970s where everything in the kitchen is thrown into the sink,” Justice Lee said on Monday (28 August) morning.
“I really counsel the defence to think … there are clear battle lines in this case, the public interest in the ABC’s (case), and I wonder whether it’s necessary to deal with all the defences.”
Mr Lehrmann’s defamation case will likely be the first to run under the new public interest defence, which protects the publication of defamatory material if the respondent proves it is a matter that concerns an issue of public interest and they reasonably believed that the publication was in the public interest.
The case against Ms Wilkinson and Network Ten concerns an interview she and Ms Higgins did on The Project in February 2021.
Around this same time, the ABC aired a National Press Club speech by Ms Higgins and former Australian of the Year, Grace Tame. Although the speech never named him, Mr Lehrmann claimed it invited views to speculate about his identity.
Mr Lehrmann has continued to deny the allegations he raped Ms Higgins in the Parliament House office of then-Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds, who they had both worked for at the time.
On Monday, the Federal Court heard that two expert reports will be submitted about Ms Higgins’ level of intoxication on the night in question and an expert’s opinion on the behaviours and responses of alleged sexual assault victims after an assault.
In addition to determining both cases should be run together, Justice Lee extended a time frame for submissions after the court heard the ABC was late to file their defence and there was a delay with Ms Higgins’ affidavit due to the “unavailability of her legal advisors”.
The hearing has been set down for late November.
