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Justice Lee describes some of Lehrmann barrister’s suggestions about Higgins’ behaviour as ‘simplistic’
Justice Lee has said it is simplistic to suggest a young woman could not have been sexually assaulted because she carried on in a professional manner.
Continue reading...Lehrmann has sued Lisa Wilkinson and Network Ten for defamation in the federal court of Australia over Brittany Higgins interview on The Project
Ten’s barrister says network does not have to prove if Higgins had to choose between justice and her job
Collins said it is not the burden of Network Ten to establish that there “were in fact roadblocks to a police investigation, or that Ms Higgins in fact, had to choose between her career and the pursuit of justice”.
Continue reading...Previously classified papers detail how the US embassy in Canberra responded to WikiLeaks’ release of embassy cables in 2010 and ‘sensationalist’ local media
American officials monitored pro-Assange protests in Australia for “anti-US sentiment”, warned of “increasing sympathy, particularly on the left” for the WikiLeaks founder in his home country and derided local media’s “sensationalist” reporting of the explosive 2010 cable leaks, previously classified records show.
Documents released by the US state department via freedom of information laws give new insight into how the US embassy in Canberra and its security team reacted to WikiLeaks’ release of 250,000 embassy cables in late 2010.
Continue reading...Lehrmann has sued Lisa Wilkinson and Network Ten for defamation in the federal court of Australia over Brittany Higgins interview on The Project. Follow updates
Justice Lee denies request from Brown’s team to clear court of all but accredited media
Justice Michael Lee has denied a request from Fiona Brown’s legal team that the court be cleared of everyone but accredited media.
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Meakin agreed that The Project was “going further” towards identifying Lehrmann than Samantha Maiden’s article in news.com.au which was published first.
He said The Project was relying on Maiden’s article to promote the program that evening and that the promotion could improve ratings.
Continue reading...Linda Reynolds’ then chief of staff Fiona Brown was first to interview pair after alleged rape, which Lehrmann has always denied
Former Liberal staffer Fiona Brown was dramatically compelled to give evidence in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation trial on Monday on the proviso the federal court’s live stream was disabled while she was in the witness box.
Brown was Senator Linda Reynolds’ chief of staff at the time Brittany Higgins claims Lehrmann raped her on the ministerial couch, and was the first person to interview both of them. She took contemporaneous notes.
Continue reading...New legislation will help ensure sustainability of public interest journalism, Labor says
Tech giants could be forced to hand over sensitive details on how they distribute news on their platforms to Australia’s competition watchdog as part of the federal government’s commitment to levelling the playing field for public interest journalism in the digital age.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will undertake periodic reporting into how platforms subject to the media bargaining code are distributing news content on sites and whether significant bargaining power imbalances between the tech giants and media organisations exist.
Continue reading...Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial also hears Wilkinson didn’t receive detailed summary of producer’s call with prime minister’s office
Lisa Wilkinson says she was “largely out of the picture” in the days leading up to the broadcast of The Project’s interview with Brittany Higgins in 2021, a federal court has heard.
Wilkinson and Ten are co-respondents in a defamation trial brought by Bruce Lehrmann who says he was defamed by a rape allegation made by Higgins on Ten’s The Project. Lehrmann was not named but says he was identifiable.
Continue reading...Broadcaster also hits back during defamation trial at suggestion she was ‘captured’ by Brittany Higgins and had no desire to ‘check or scrutinise anything she said’
Lisa Wilkinson has hit back at suggestions she behaved “like a cheap tabloid journalist” in her handling of Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations, saying her team investigated the story “extremely well”.
The broadcaster’s much-anticipated evidence began on Thursday in the federal court, where she is facing lengthy cross-examination by Bruce Lehrmann’s legal team.
Continue reading...Lehrmann is suing Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson in the federal court of Australia for defamation. Follow the latest news and updates from the trial today
Project producer says David Sharaz told him Higgins had been to police again
Llewellyn is now being asked about what role, if any, The Project played in Higgins reactivating her complaint about the alleged rape with ACT police in 2021.
Continue reading...Jones strongly denies allegations as NSW police confirm there is no current investigation into Jones but say sex crimes squad will try to contact complainant this week
New South Wales police say they will this week try to speak to a person who made a complaint about Alan Jones to officers in 2017, after the police commissioner, Karen Webb, said last week that no complaints had been made about the broadcaster.
She made the comments during a press conference on Friday after allegations of indecent assault were published in the Sydney Morning Herald the day before. Jones has strongly denied the allegations and has threatened legal action.
Continue reading...The defamation action against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson was due to finish on Thursday but may extend until Monday. Follow the latest news and updates from the trial today
Defence liaison officer told Higgins found in ‘state of undress’, court hears
Payne gave evidence that early in the week following the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins, he had been told by minister Linda Reynolds’s chief-of-staff, Fiona Brown, about an incident involving Lehrmann in Parliament House.
Continue reading...An allegation of rape, fiercely denied, in a ministerial office is being interrogated by weeks of testimony and cross-examination in a defamation trial brought by the accused
It has become one of Australia’s most convoluted and damaging political sagas, polarising the public.
An allegation of rape, fiercely denied, in a ministerial office in Parliament House has been discussed in news reports, interviews, speeches, and reams of commentary. It was examined in an aborted criminal trial, covered in four separate inquiries and now the first of several related civil cases is again calling witnesses and poring over evidence.
Continue reading...Gallery owner, who has represented Parr for 36 years, says she was sickened by ‘hate graffiti’ in the work, but denies censoring it and has kept it on display
The Melbourne gallery owner Anna Schwartz has dropped the provocative performance artist Mike Parr after a 36-year relationship, after a piece commenting on Israel’s military action in Gaza.
Schwartz sent Parr a two-sentence email on Sunday, the day after he installed the third part of his exhibition Sunset Claws, informing him she would no longer represent him.
Continue reading...Lehrmann is suing Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson in the federal court of Australia for defamation. Follow the latest news and updates from the trial today
Before the lunch break Justice Lee is hearing legal argument about the admissibility of evidence from two experts called by the defence.
One is a lip-reading expert based in the UK who has watched the CCTV footage from the Dock and interpreted what the subjects were saying.
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MPs don casual wear for late-night sitting
Given the late sitting (the house has been doing “family friendly” hours for most of the year, which has made sittings past 8pm or 8.30pm rare) there were a few more casual looks on the benches than we are used to.
Continue reading...Higgins also tells court she had ‘no issue’ with a second criminal trial but it was ruled out by her medical condition
Brittany Higgins has told the federal court she volunteered to give evidence in any defamation case brought by her alleged rapist Bruce Lehrmann because she “would not let my rapist become a millionaire for being a rapist”.
On her final day in the witness box Higgins was asked by Lehrmann’s barrister, Steve Whybrow SC, why she posted on social media about defending any defamation cases six days after it was announced charges against Lehrmann had been dropped due to fears about her mental health.
Continue reading...Document uploaded by the federal court suggests former Liberal staffer’s deal with the network may be worth $104,000
Channel Seven paid Bruce Lehrmann’s fortnightly rent of $4,000 for a period in June for exclusive access to the former Liberal staffer, according to documents uploaded by the federal court.
Seven agreed in a separate exclusivity document, which was also uploaded on Tuesday, to pay Lehrmann’s rent for 12 months in return for exclusive access to him from mid-2023 to mid-2024.
Continue reading...A report by the national broadcaster found the prominent no campaigner ‘did not agree to a single interview on a major broadcast program’
High-profile no campaigner Jacinta Nampijinpa Price turned down interview requests from the ABC to discuss the voice referendum more than 52 times, according to the national broadcaster’s referendum coverage review committee report.
The report found the yes campaign had about twice as much coverage overall as the no campaign. The reasons for that, according to the report, included a lack of people willing to come on to discuss the no side, time taken up by government press conferences which often argued for the yes vote, and a decision to focus on First Nations voices, who were predominantly arguing for yes.
Continue reading...The journalism foundation board did not say it would withdraw Seven’s shortlisting for the 2023 scoop of the year award for Liam Bartlett’s interview with Lehrmann
The Walkley board will review its rules on “chequebook journalism” after it emerged that the Seven Network paid Bruce Lehrmann’s rent for a year to secure an interview that was later nominated for the 2023 scoop of the year award.
But a statement released on Sunday by the foundation, which oversees Australia’s most prestigious journalism awards, did not reverse or retrospectively invalidate the nomination. As of Sunday evening, Seven’s interview was still listed on the Walkley website as a shortlisted finalist.
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