Former prime minister Scott Morrison's press secretary made an angry phone call to a Network Ten news executive after it aired an interview with Brittany Higgins, court documents have revealed.
Key points:
- A large number of documents, including private emails and text messages, have been released by the Federal Court
- They reveal conversations between Network Ten and Brittany Higgins's fiance, lawyers, and the former government
- Justice Michael Lee has reserved his judgement in the case
The Federal Court has released a large number of documents as part of former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann's defamation case against the network and journalist Lisa Wilkinson.
He claims he was defamed by the interview in which Ms Higgins alleged she had been raped by an unnamed colleague at Parliament House in 2019.
The bundle of documents released by the court included an email from Ten's then-director of news Ross Dagan to network lawyers about half an hour after the program finished.
"Andrew Carswell from the PM's office called the second the programme was off air and started with 'what the f***k was that'," Mr Dagan wrote.
"He proceeded to inform me that the interview had ruined a woman's life.
"It wasn't until some minutes into the call that I realised he was referring to Fiona Brown, not Brittany Higgins."
Ms Brown was the chief of staff in the office of then-defence industry minister Linda Reynolds, for whom both Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann worked at the time of the alleged assault.
Ms Higgins claims she disclosed the alleged assault to Ms Brown three days afterwards, but Ms Brown disputes that account.
Mr Lehrmann has always denied any sexual activity took place, and a 2022 criminal trial in the ACT collapsed due to juror misconduct.
Two medical reports suggested a re-trial would be a significant risk to Ms Higgins's health, before prosecutors dropped the case, leaving no findings against Mr Lehrmann.
The program also alleged Ms Higgins felt pressure from Ms Brown and Ms Reynolds not to pursue a police complaint, out of concern that it could affect the then-government's chances at the forthcoming federal election.
"[Mr Carswell] said all the correct procedures had been followed … and that was well documented," Mr Dagan wrote in his email.
"He suggested there wasn't full right of reply … which I said there was."
'One pull of the trigger'
The court has also released the original email Ms Higgins's now-fiance David Sharaz sent directly to Lisa Wilkinson in January 2021, pitching the story.
The email had the subject line: "MeToo, Liberal Party, Project Pitch".
Mr Sharaz told Ms Wilkinson he had a "sensitive story" about a sexual assault at Parliament House, but did not name Ms Higgins.
"She's still working for the party but will be relaunching an official police investigation over the next few months, and is using this time to prepare to leave," Mr Sharaz wrote.
He told the veteran journalist Ms Higgins wanted to do a television interview with her, impressed by her previous reporting on family violence.
"I'm deeply protective of making sure this is done right, given going after the Liberal Party machine is no easy feat.
"She'll only get one pulll (sic) of the trigger before they try to discredit her and shut the story down." Mr Sharaz wrote.
During the defamation trial, Ms Higgins rejected suggestions from Mr Lehrmann's barristers she was motivated to make the allegation by a desire to hurt the Liberal party's election chances.
Discussions with news.com
A critical issue in the case is whether Mr Lehrmann was identified by the broadcast, even though he was not named.
Text messages between Network Ten producer Angus Llewellyn and news.com journalist Samantha Maiden have revealed discussions about the level of detail that would be given about Mr Lehrmann in Ms Maiden's article on the morning before the broadcast that night.
"I chose to describe the alleged offender as a Liberal staffer and not say he worked in the office," Ms Maiden told Mr Llewellyn.
"I just think it defames everyone in [the] office who is a man as [a] potential rape suspect."
Network Ten gave more details about Mr Lehrmann, including that he worked in Senator Reynolds's office, and that he was working in Sydney at the time the broadcast went to air.
The court heard the network was concerned about the risk of identifying the wrong person as the alleged offender.
Justice Michael Lee has reserved his decision in the case.