In 2021, the Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins made an explosive allegation, claiming she had been raped two years earlier on a minister’s couch in Parliament House.
She made the claim in an interview with news.com.au and a television interview which was aired by Network Ten’s The Project on 15 February.
The media outlets did not name the alleged rapist, but Higgins’ colleague Bruce Lehrmann later claimed he was identifiable and sued news.com.au, Network Ten and its presenter Lisa Wilkinson for defamation.
Lehrmann maintains his innocence, and at his criminal trial in 2022 pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual intercourse without consent, denying that any sexual activity had occurred.
After his criminal trial was aborted in December 2022, prosecutors dropped charges against Lehrmann for the alleged rape of Higgins, saying a retrial would pose an “unacceptable risk” to her health. Lehrmann then pursued Ten and Wilkinson in the courts, resulting in a five-week defamation trial which ran until just before Christmas.
Here’s how the story has played out so far.
2019
Friday 22 March
Liberal staffers Bruce Lehrmann and Brittany Higgins drink at The Dock bar in Canberra with colleagues, where Higgins consumes multiple drinks. At the time, Lehrmann and Higgins worked for the then defence minister, Senator Linda Reynolds.
Video source: Federal Court of Australia
Lehrmann, Higgins and two other staffers kick on to another venue, the nightclub 88mph.
Saturday 23 March
Lehrmann and Higgins share an Uber to Parliament House, arriving about 1.40am. Lehrmann tells security he has been requested by the minister to pick up work documents.
Video source: Federal Court of Australia
Security guards escort the pair to Reynolds’ ministerial suite. Higgins can be seen in security footage carrying her high heels after struggling to put them on. There is no security camera footage of what happened inside the suite.
Higgins later alleges that Lehrmann raped her in the ministerial suite. Lehrmann has vehemently denied the allegation.
About 40 minutes later Lehrmann leaves parliament alone.
Eight hours later, at about 10am, security footage shows Higgins leaving parliament wearing a jacket she found in the suite.
Video source: Federal Court of Australia
Tuesday 26 March
The Department of Parliamentary Services provides a report to Reynolds’ chief of staff, Fiona Brown, about a “security breach” involving staff entering the office after hours and inebriated.
Higgins and Lehrmann are called into separate meetings with Brown and interviewed about the security breach. Lehrmann leaves the office shortly afterwards.
Friday 5 April
Lehrmann’s employment in Reynolds’ office is terminated over the security breach.
Monday 8 April
Higgins meets with Australian federal police (AFP) at Belconnen police station and says she was raped, but drops the complaint a week later.
2021
Wednesday 27 January
Higgins is working as an adviser for Senator Michaelia Cash when she and her partner, David Sharaz, meet with The Project journalist Lisa Wilkinson and producer Angus Llewellyn in Sydney.
Friday 29 January
Higgins resigns from her adviser position in Cash’s office.
Tuesday 2 February
Higgins records an interview with Wilkinson for The Project in which she alleges she was raped on a couch in the minister’s office.
Thursday 4 February
Higgins contacts the AFP to reopen her police complaint.
Monday 15 February
Higgins’ interviews with news.com.au’s Samantha Maiden and Ten’s Wilkinson are published by news.com.au in the morning and aired by The Project that evening.
Monday 19 April
Lehrmann is interviewed by police.
Wednesday 26 May
Higgins meets with the AFP and hands over her phone for extraction after the interview.
Thursday 16 September
Lehrmann pleads not guilty after being charged with sexual intercourse without consent.
2022
Tuesday 21 June
Lehrmann’s trial for the alleged rape of Higgins is delayed after Wilkinson’s Logies speech in which she thanked Higgins. Later the defamation trial hears the speech was approved by Ten’s legal team.
Tuesday 4 October
Lehrmann’s criminal trial begins in Canberra before the ACT Chief Justice Lucy McCallum. Higgins’ evidence is delayed after she is unavailable to attend court.
Wednesday 19 October
Jury begins deliberations after final instructions, but asks for more time.
Thursday 27 October
The chief justice dismisses the jury after it is discovered one juror obtained information outside the evidence presented in court.
Friday 2 December
The ACT prosecutor Shane Drumgold announces the case has been dropped, after receiving medical advice regarding Higgins.
2023
Tuesday 7 February
Lehrmann starts legal action against Network Ten and news.com.au in the federal court.
Wednesday 5 April
Lehrmann files defamation proceedings against the Australian Broadcasting Corporation over its broadcast of an address to the National Press Club by Higgins and Grace Tame. He now has three defamation cases running against the media.
Tuesday 30 May
Lehrmann discontinues defamation proceedings against News Corp’s news.com.au after it pays $295,000 towards his legal fees as part of a settlement.
Sunday 4 June
Lehrmann appears on Seven’s Spotlight program for an exclusive, paid interview and says the alleged assault “simply didn’t happen”.
Tuesday 21 November
The ABC settles with Lehrmann, paying $150,000 towards his legal fees the day before the trial starts.
Wednesday 22 November
The defamation trial against Ten and Wilkinson begins in Sydney’s federal court before Justice Michael Lee. Ten and Wilkinson rely on the defences of truth and qualified privilege. They argue the imputation that Lehrmann raped Higgins is substantially true and because defamation proceedings are civil matters, rather than criminal, the standard of proof is different. Under the qualified privilege defence, Ten and Wilkinson must prove the program was in the public interest and they acted reasonably.
In the interests of open justice, Lee makes the trial available to the public on the court’s YouTube channel.
Lehrmann is the first witness and he spends five days in the witness box.
Tuesday 28 November
Higgins begins her evidence, spending four full days in the witness box.
Tuesday 5 December
Documents released by the court suggest Lehrmann’s deal with Channel Seven for exclusive interviews was worth $104,000.
Tuesday 19 December
The forensic lip-reader Tim Reedy flies in from the UK and tells the court he believes CCTV footage from The Dock in Canberra showed Higgins being “plied with alcohol”. His expert report is accepted into evidence despite objections raised by Lehrmann’s barrister Steve Whybrow.
Thursday 21 December
In closing submissions Ten’s legal team say Lehrmann was “revealed to be a fundamentally dishonest man who was prepared to say or do anything he perceived to advance his interests”.
Wilkinson’s team say the presenter “had no decision-making power as to the final content of the broadcast”.
Friday 22 December
On the last day of the trial, Lehrmann’s lawyers say Higgins told “complete falsehoods” and her allegations were part of a “political hit job” fuelled by her partner, Sharaz.
Lee thanks the parties for their exemplary conduct in what could have been “an extraordinarily difficult case to control and manage in the courtroom given its controversy”.
Lee retires to consider more than 15,000 pages of transcript and 1,000 separate exhibits, including hours of CCTV footage as well as audio and video recordings.
2024
Friday 16 February
Court documents reveal Wilkinson blamed the network for failing to stop the bad press and that she was afraid she would lose her harbourside mansion if Ten didn’t pay her legal costs.
Friday 1 March
Lehrmann, Ten and Wilkinson make final submissions after additional evidence was heard in a cross-claim brought by Wilkinson against Ten for her legal fees. The former presenter on The Project won the case the previous month.
Sunday 31 March
In a surprise move late on Easter Sunday, Network Ten file an interlocutory application asking the federal court to reopen its defence based on “fresh evidence”.
Tuesday 2 April
In an urgent hearing, Lee allows Channel Ten to present additional evidence in defence of the defamation case brought by Bruce Lehrmann. His judgment – due to be handed down on Thursday 4 April – is delayed.
Monday 15 April
Lehrmann loses his defamation case against Channel Ten and Wilkinson with Lee ruling that, on the balance of probabilities, Lehrmann raped Higgins in Parliament House.
