Category Archives: Channel Ten

Bruce Lehrmann granted extension to consider appeal of defamation ruling in Network Ten case

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Justice Michael Lee labels Ten lawyer’s comments outside court following judgment ‘discourteous’ and ‘misleading’

Bruce Lehrmann has been granted an extension of time to consider an appeal at a federal court hearing which saw Network Ten’s conduct outside the court, after the judgment, described by Justice Michael Lee as “discourteous” and “misleading”.

Lee said Ten’s decision to offer comment outside his court minutes after the judgment was handed down had caused him concern, in particular the claim the network had been vindicated.

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Environment groups accuse MasterChef of greenwashing after gas sponsorship deals unveiled

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Channel Ten show’s planned use of biomethane and hydrogen in cooking challenges ‘completely out of sync’ with changing attitudes, critics say

Environmentalists have accused the hit reality TV show MasterChef Australia of greenwashing after the Network Ten program announced sponsorship deals with gas companies.

The official sponsors for MasterChef’s 16th season include the Australian Gas Network (AGN), a subsidiary of Australian Gas Infrastructure Group, which is responsible for a national fossil fuel distribution network.

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Bruce Lehrmann should pay Ten’s entire legal bill after ‘deliberately wicked’ decision to sue, network says

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In court submissions, Ten’s lawyers argue Lehrmann should indemnify the network for its legal costs, estimated at $8m

Bruce Lehrmann should pay all Network Ten’s legal costs because suing The Project for defamation was “deliberately wicked and calculated” and an abuse of process, Ten has told the federal court.

The former Liberal staffer lost the defamation case he brought against Ten and Lisa Wilkinson, with Justice Michael Lee finding that on the balance of probabilities Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins on a minister’s couch in Parliament House in 2019.

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Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial: judge to hand down verdict on Monday

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Federal court announces a new date for the decision after original date delayed by fresh evidence

Justice Michael Lee will deliver his judgment in the defamation case Bruce Lehrmann brought against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson in the federal court in Sydney on Monday.

The federal court announced the date for the decision on Tuesday, more than three months after the five-week trial ended on 22 December and four days after the final hearing of additional evidence last week.

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‘I’ve got the yarn’: Taylor Auerbach cautioned over spending as he courted Bruce Lehrmann, texts reveal

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Fellow Spotlight producer told Auerbach he found it ‘bizarre’ he was taking Lehrmann to dinner every night

Spotlight producers warned Taylor Auerbach about dropping too much money on Seven’s company card while he courted Bruce Lehrmann over several months for an exclusive interview, text messages have revealed.

The text messages between the former Seven producer and his senior colleagues were tendered in federal court after the Lehrmann defamation trial was reopened for Auerbach to give additional evidence as part of Channel Ten’s defence.

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Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial: Channel Ten wins bid to present fresh evidence

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Justice Michael Lee has reopened high-profile case to allow fresh evidence from former Seven producer Taylor Auerbach

Justice Michael Lee will allow Channel Ten to present additional evidence in its defence of the defamation case brought by Bruce Lehrmann, delaying the judgment until next week.

The case will be reopened and the evidence of a new witness, former Seven producer Taylor Auerbach, will now be tested on Thursday, the day the judgment was to have been handed down.

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Jesse Baird and Luke Davies disappearance: NSW police officer Beau Lamarre arrested amid search for missing couple

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Lamarre, 28, turned himself to NSW police on Friday morning and is assisting with inquiries at Waverley police station

A serving police officer has been arrested as New South Wales homicide detectives continue investigating the disappearance of the former Channel Ten presenter Jesse Baird and his Qantas flight attendant partner, Luke Davies.

Const Beau Lamarre – a former celebrity blogger – handed himself in at Bondi police station about 10.30am on Friday. No charges have been laid.

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TV presenter Jesse Baird and partner Luke Davies missing after blood found at home and in skip bin

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NSW police searching for former Channel 10 presenter, 26, and Qantas flight attendant, 29, after blood discovered at Paddington property and on personal possessions in Cronulla bin

New South Wales police are investigating the suspicious disappearance of the former Network Ten presenter Jesse Baird and his partner, Luke Davies, from Sydney’s eastern suburbs after bloody items were found in a skip bin.

Police said Baird, 26, and 29-year-old Davies, who works as a flight attendant for Qantas, were last seen in Paddington on Monday.

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Lisa Wilkinson told Ten boss she worried about losing Sydney home if network didn’t cover her legal fees

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Court documents reveal details of emotional call with Beverley McGarvey in which Wilkinson blamed network for failing to stop bad press

Lisa Wilkinson told her boss at Ten she was afraid she would have to sell her Sydney harbourside property if the network did not pay her legal fees, according to documents filed in the federal court.

The Network Ten chief executive, Beverley McGarvey, said that in a highly emotional call last year Wilkinson blamed the network for failing to stop the bad press that she believed had destroyed her reputation.

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‘Significant credit issues’ with both Bruce Lehrmann and Brittany Higgins in defamation case, judge says

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Justice Michael Lee made remarks during cross-claim hearing made by journalist Lisa Wilkinson against Network Ten over legal fees

There are “significant credit issues” with both Bruce Lehrmann and Brittany Higgins in the defamation case the former Liberal staffer brought against Network Ten and its presenter Lisa Wilkinson, Justice Michael Lee has told the federal court.

“There are a number of significant differences they’ve given in court, a number of in-court representations and out-of-court representations,” Justice Lee said of the two principal witnesses.

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Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyers call for substantial damages despite ‘unsatisfactory’ evidence in defamation case

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Network Ten describes former Liberal staffer as ‘fundamentally dishonest’ in submissions released by federal court

Bruce Lehrmann’s legal team has accepted their client’s evidence in his defamation trial against Network Ten was “in a number of respects unsatisfactory”, but not to the extent that he is a “compulsive liar” or had raped Brittany Higgins, newly released documents reveal.

In written closing submissions released by the federal court on Friday, Lehrmann’s legal team also said the defence “significantly and unfairly” overstated the “acknowledged problems” with parts of his evidence.

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Lisa Wilkinson tells court she was ‘largely out of the picture’ in lead up to Brittany Higgins broadcast

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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.

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Lisa Wilkinson rejects idea she put ‘pride and ego’ before Bruce Lehrmann’s right to a fair trial

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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.

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Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial live: Brittany Higgins’ mother tells court hearing of her daughter’s alleged rape was a ‘mother’s worst nightmare’

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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

  • A warning for readers: this blog contains graphic details of allegations of sexual assault.

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.

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Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial live: lipreader allowed to testify about what Lehrmann, Brittany Higgins and others said in bar CCTV footage

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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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Lehrmann proceedings day seven – as it happened

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Brittany Higgins says she does not count Linda Reynolds and her chief of staff Fiona Brown as villains in her story.

“Fiona Brown was just following instructions and I’ve never blamed her and I don’t blame her,” Higgins said.

“Linda Reynolds avoided me in my view, and did not meet her duty of care. I felt unsupported. I felt unsupported by both of them, but I don’t count them as villains in this story. I just don’t think they did the right thing by me.”

Higgins said her experience damaged her relationship with the Liberal party and she revealed she is no longer a Liberal.

She denied a suggestion from Whybrow that she leaked her story to the media in order to damage the Liberal party ahead of the election.

“I had no intention of impacting the election, but I did want to change the culture in Parliament House,” Higgins said.

“I was angry at the culture of Parliament House and I was hurt by the Liberal party, but I was still a Liberal.

“No longer, but I was still for a really long time.”

• an earlier version of this post incorrectly identified the election referred to as being in 2019

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Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial live: Brittany Higgins tells court accusation she lied about rape to keep job is ‘insulting’ and ‘incorrect’

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A warning for readers: this blog contains graphic details of allegations of sexual assault. Lehrmann is suing Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson in the federal court of Australia over allegations Higgins was raped by a Liberal staffer in Parliament House. Follow the latest news and updates

Higgins questioned about sequence of events

Steve Whybrow SC asked Higgins: “I’m suggesting to you that you alter and evolve your evidence as you find that extra information. Do you accept that?”

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Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial live: Brittany Higgins tells court of her alleged rape by Lehrmann at Parliament House

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A warning for readers: this blog contains graphic details of allegations of sexual assault.
Lehrmann has sued Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson, alleging they have defamed him. Follow the latest news from the federal court today

Bruce Lehrmann has arrived at court this morning:

He is now present in the courtroom as Brittany Higgins gives her evidence – sitting in the front row in the furthest seat from the witness box.

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Lehrmann proceedings day five – as it happened

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Bruce Lehrmann has admitted his rent was paid by the Seven Network for his interview on the Spotlight program.

Lehrmann agreed under cross-examination that Seven had paid his rent for 12 months as part of the deal.

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Bruce Lehrmann tells court he did not have sex with Brittany Higgins while she was ‘semi-conscious or passed out’

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At defamation trial against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson, Lehrmann says two later emails he sent Higgins failed to mention evening because it was ‘uneventful’

Bruce Lehrmann has denied during his defamation trial having sexual intercourse with Brittany Higgins while she was “semi-conscious or passed out” on a couch in Parliament House.

At Lehrmann’s civil case against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson, Matt Collins KC for Ten put a series of propositions to him about what happened between 1.48am and 2.30am on 23 March 2019.

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