What we heard in court today
The defence called a number of witnesses this afternoon who Network Ten’s barrister, Matt Collins KC, said would support Brittany Higgins’ version of events.
Bruce Lehrmann is suing Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson for defamation over an interview with Higgins broadcast on The Project and online which did not name him but alleged she had been raped by a Liberal staffer in 2019.
Lehrmann has denied raping Higgins and pleaded not guilty to a charge of sexual intercourse without consent. His criminal trial was abandoned due to juror misconduct and the second did not proceed due to prosecutors’ fears for Higgins’ mental health.
Here’s what we heard this afternoon:
Justice Michael Lee ruled that details of ABC and News Corp’s settlements with Lehrmann over his defamation claims will be released.
Austin Wenke, a former media adviser to Peter Dutton, agreed with the suggestion of Lehrmann’s barrister, Steve Whybrow SC, that it was “an open secret” in Parliament House that Lehrmann was the subject of the media reports. “So in my own mind I concluded, what I understood to be the inference from the story, which was an allegation against him … against Mr Lehrmann,” Wenke told the court.
The Liberal staffer Lauren Gain told the court that the day after she left Higgins and Lehrmann at 88mph bar in Canberra she sent a message to a colleague saying Higgins and Lehrmann “hooked up”.
Gain also said that Higgins and Lehrmann had been “touchy with one another” and had been “kissing” on the night Higgins claims she was raped.
Read more about what was said this morning here, and follow our coverage again tomorrow when the case is back in court.
Updated
Judge dismisses application for confidentiality orders over News Corp and ABC defamation case settlements
Justice Michael Lee has dismissed an application by News Corp and the ABC for confidentiality orders over how much each media organisation paid Bruce Lehrmann to settle his defamation claim.
Lehrmann sued the ABC and the publisher of news.com.au and journalist Samantha Maiden, but the parties settled out of court.
Barrister Dauid Sibtain SC, for News Corp, asked Lee to grant a confidentiality order to keep the dollar amount paid towards Lehrmann’s legal costs confidential. The ABC asked for the entire settlement document to be suppressed.
“I do not believe that either order should be made,” Lee said.
Lee said details of the ABC’s settlement were likely to come out at Senate estimates anyway and ordered that both deeds of settlement be made public.
The hearing has adjourned and will resume on Thursday at 10.15am.
Updated
After a short adjournment, the court is hearing legal arguments about the suppression of the details of News Corp’s settlement with Bruce Lehrmann of a defamation claim.
News Corp’s barrister, Dauid Sibtain SC, has told Justice Lee that parties would not be encouraged to settle out of court if they knew the settlement would not be confidential.
Sibtain said he had no problem with the public knowing that a settlement had been made but he seeks restrictive orders on the amount paid.
Updated
Former Dutton staffer says it was 'open secret' in Parliament House that Lehrmann was subject of media reports
Austin Wenke, a former media adviser to Peter Dutton, said he first became aware of Brittany Higgins’ allegation of rape against an unnamed Liberal staffer on the day the news.com.au story was published.
“It was hard to miss,” Wenke said. “It was a prominent news story on that day.”
Wenke told the court when he read the story he thought it might be Bruce Lehrmann because there was enough detail to identify him and the night the incident took place.
He agreed with the suggestion of Lehrmann’s barrister, Steve Whybrow SC, that it was “an open secret” in Parliament House that Lehrmann was the subject of the media reports.
I didn’t immediately [know who it was] but as I read and reflected on the story, there was enough detail to sort of remind me that it could well be that evening [at The Dock] and it was a small group of people.
So in my own mind I concluded, what I understood to be the inference from the story, which was an allegation against him … against Mr Lehrmann.
Wenke said he does not recall Higgins falling over at the nightclub.
Updated
Liberal staffer sent message to colleague saying Higgins and Lehrmann ‘hooked up’
The Liberal staffer Lauren Gain told the court the day after she left Brittany Higgins and Bruce Lehrmann at 88mph bar in Canberra she sent a message to a colleague saying Higgins and Lehrmann “hooked up”.
Gain told the court she saw them kissing in the booth at the nightclub on the night of the alleged rape, and that the message was a reference to them kissing.
Gain said she sent the message on 23 March 2019 to an aide-de-camp of Linda Reynolds, which said: “Brittany hooked up with Bruce.”
Lehrmann’s barrister, Steve Whybrow SC, asked: “Do you accept that your recollection of how much time you may have spent in various places could be faulty after the amount of time and alcohol you drank?”
Gain: “Yes.”
Gain said that she watched The Project after becoming aware of media reports that day but denied that she would have been “subconsciously influenced” by them.
Updated
Higgins and Lehrmann were ‘touchy with one another’ on night of alleged rape
Lauren Gain has told the federal court her colleague Brittany Higgins was drunk and falling over when she went to the 88mph nightclub with Higgins, Bruce Lehrmann and another staffer, Austin Wenke, on the night Higgins claims she was raped.
And I remember Brittany falling over and having to be helped back up.
I remember Brittany and Bruce sitting quite close together. I remember them being quite touchy with one another. I remember them kissing and I remember her taking selfies of the two of them.
Gain said she saw Higgins fall over and Lehrmann help her up.
I remember [Higgins] being on the ground. And I remember Bruce helping her to her feet and back into the booth.
I observed him going to help her to come back to the booth … He stood up and reached over and pulled her back on her feet and then helped her back into the booth.
Gain said she saw Lehrmann and Higgins touching each others’ thighs and sharing a passionate kiss.
Under cross-examination, Gain said she could not remember how she got to the 88mph nightclub and she had consumed six to seven drinks.
Updated
Liberal staffer thought Lehrmann was ‘an idiot’ during conversation at pub
The Liberal staffer Lauren Gain, who was at The Dock hotel with Brittany Higgins and Bruce Lehrmann on the night Higgins claims she was raped, is first in the witness box after lunch.
Gain is being questioned by the defence barrister, Matt Collins KC, about who was at the pub that night and she has recalled a conversation with Lehrmann.
She says she thought Lehrmann was “an idiot” and he was not telling the truth because he told her he was waiting on a security clearance to come through on a job at the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (Asis).
I remember [Lehrmann] telling me that he was waiting on a clearance to come through so that he could go and work at Asis. And I remember my response being surprised because typically, if you’re an applicant wishing to work at one of those agencies, it’s very clear that you’re not to tell people that you’re actually applying to work at those agencies.
So I remember thinking that that must not be true. And I remember saying to my friend … that I thought that he was an idiot for saying that.
Updated
What we’ve heard so far today
In case you’re just joining us, we’re in the lunch break. To catch you up, here is what we’ve heard so far today.
Brittany Higgins finished up in the witness box yesterday on her fourth full day of testimony. This morning we’ve heard from other witnesses in Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson’s defence.
Just a reminder: Bruce Lehrmann is suing Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson in the federal court over an interview with Higgins on Ten’s The Project in which she alleged she was raped by a Liberal staffer in Parliament House. Network Ten and Wilkinson are defending the case.
Lehrmann had pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual intercourse without consent, denying that any sexual activity had occurred in the criminal trial which was aborted due to juror misconduct.
Here’s what happened this morning:
• The former Liberal staffer Nicky Hamer was in the witness box. She said that, a few weeks before the alleged rape, Lehrmann had said that Higgins was “good looking” and asked Hamer to invite her to the pub for a drink.
• Hamer said Lehrmann had taken Higgins’ phone away so she didn’t call an Uber to leave that event. When she defended Higgins’ right to leave, Hamer said Lehrmann called her a “feminist”.
• Hamer said she had been angry with Lehrmann for putting pressure on Higgins to stay for another drink.
• Hamer said after that day she had offered her resignation to Senator Linda Reynolds because she didn’t want to be in Canberra any more, but had been talked out of it. Reynolds had told her she would speak to Lehrmann, and another staffer, Jesse Wotton, over the incident.
• The former Liberal staffer Jesse Wotton then entered the witness box. He said he couldn’t recall if Lehrmann had grabbed Higgins’ phone. He recalled Hamer being “upset and unhappy”, saying that Hamer had “voiced her displeasure and unhappiness that Ms Higgins felt that she needed to stay for a drink in order to have a job in the minister’s office”.
• Wotton said that when The Project aired he had worried that, as he and Lehrmann were the only two male advisers in Reynolds’ office, someone might believe the allegations related to him.
Updated
Jesse Wotton says he was afraid people might think The Project report was about him
Defence witness Jesse Wotton has told the court that when he watched The Project he was afraid some people might think the Liberal staffer who allegedly raped Higgins in Parliament House was him.
The Project did not name Lehrmann.
Wotton told the court that at the time of the allegation he and Lehrmann were the only two male advisers in Reynolds’ office and he did wonder if anyone would believe it related to him.
Separately, Wotton said he worked for Reynolds in Perth during the election campaign at the same time that Higgins was there and he did not discuss the senator’s relationship with Higgins.
“I had very little to do with the senator during that time I was out campaigning, so I didn’t have discussions with her about anything of that nature.”
The court has adjourned for lunch and will resume at 2:15pm.
Updated
Jesse Wotton tells court he believes Nicky Hamer overreacted
Former Liberal staffer Jesse Wotton has told the federal court he can’t recall if Lehrmann grabbed Higgins’ phone in early March at the Kingston Hotel. He said he and Lehrmann had asked Higgins to stay for another drink because they hadn’t had a chance to speak to her yet.
He said Lehrmann told him he had invited Higgins along and that she needed a job because her minister Steve Ciobo had resigned.
Wotton was with Hamer and Lehrmann at the hotel.
Wotton told the federal court that he remembers Hamer being angry with him and Lehrmann at the hotel over him allegedly pressuring Higgins to stay for a drink.
Wotton said after Higgins left – because she had another event to attend – Hamer expressed her anger at their treatment of her and he believes she overreacted.
“Ms Hamer was very upset and unhappy … she was of the view that Ms Higgins had left the hotel believing that because she had left she wouldn’t have a job in the minister’s office and that we had pressured her … into staying,” Wotton said.
“I recall very clearly, Ms Hamer first turned to Mr Lehrmann, and said ‘you shut the fuck up’ then she turned to me and repeated it.
“And then she voiced her displeasure and unhappiness that Ms Higgins felt that she needed to stay for a drink in order to have a job in the minister’s office.”
Earlier Hamer had been “excited” about the prospect of Higgins working for Reynolds, Wotton said.
Wotton said he and Lehrmann asked Higgins to stay for another drink.
Wotton said he was called into Reynolds’ office and he was reprimanded for his behaviour at the Kingston Hotel.
He said he had a later phone call with Lehrmann in which they discussed their separate meetings with Reynolds. “I can’t remember the formal words but it was [that] we were very unhappy with the view that the minister had taken on what occurred at the Kingston Hotel”.
Updated
Hamer said she got angry when Lehrmann put pressure on Higgins to stay for another drink
Hamer said Senator Linda Reynolds told her she would speak to Lehrmann and fellow staffer Jesse Wotton about an argument at the Kingston Hotel.
Hamer said she got angry when Lehrmann put pressure on Higgins to stay for another drink.
“I just said that when the phone was taken away from Brittany, I kind of stepped in to defend her,” Hamer said.
“Bruce then kind of got defensive, made a comment about me always feeling the need to stand up for women. I then got defensive and then I [had] enough. I didn’t want to be [in Canberra] any more.”
“I recall [Reynolds] saying that she would speak to both Jesse and Bruce,” Hamer said.
Hamer was asked by Whybrow whether she saw Reynolds talking to the two staffers and she said she recalls “them walking out of the office”.
“So I assumed that they had gone in to speak to [Reynolds].”
The court heard that Lehrmann had earlier denied he was reprimanded by Reynolds over the incident at the Kingston Hotel.
Updated
Former Liberal staffer says she felt she ‘was being ganged up on by Bruce’
Former Liberal staffer Nicky Hamer, who worked with Bruce Lehrmann and Brittany Higgins in Canberra, is being cross-examined by Lehrmann’s silk Steve Whybrow SC.
Hamer said after drinking at the Kingston hotel with Lehrmann and Higgins and others on 2 March 2019 she was “angry” with Lehrmann for putting pressure on Higgins to stay for another drink and later that night she sent an email to Senator Linda Reynolds and resigned.
She said she thought Lehrmann was “ganging up” on her and she had a heated argument with him when he called her a feminist.
Hamer said the argument with Lehrmann wasn’t the only reason for her resignation. “I mean, the resignation was not just in relation to that particular incident,” Hamer said.
“It was one of the reasons … I’d already been unhappy in the office and I just felt like I was being ganged up on by Bruce.”
The following morning, Reynolds called her in for a meeting and convinced her to withdraw her resignation.
Hamer continued to work for Reynolds during the election campaign in Perth, along with Higgins who had moved to Perth from Canberra.
Hamer said she took some of the media inquiries when the story of the alleged rape broke in 2021 and she watched The Project at Parliament House when it went to air.
Updated
Journalist Lisa Wilkinson, who is being sued by Lehrmann for defamation alongside Network Ten, is also back at court today:
Updated
Here is Nicky Hamer, the current witness, arriving at court today:
Updated
Lehrmann asked colleague to invite Higgins for a drink weeks before alleged rape
Bruce Lehrmann said Brittany Higgins was “good looking” and he asked a colleague to invite her for a drink at the Kingston Hotel a few weeks before the alleged rape, former Liberal staffer Nicky Hamer has told the federal court.
Hamer said she they were discussing who would come and work in Senator Linda Reynolds’ office with them from Steven Ciobo’s office after his resignation.
“And then we were talking about who that might be,” Hamer said. “And Bruce made a comment about Brittany being good looking and asked me if I knew [her and] I had Brittany on Instagram at the time, although I’d never met Brittany before. And he asked me just to see if she was free to pop down to the pub.
“Bruce asked me if I could reach out to Brittany and see if she was available to come to the pub that night. I just reached out to her [on Instagram] and she came on down to the pub.”
Hamer said Higgins had to leave early and Lehrmann didn’t want her to leave and he grabbed her phone.
“Brittany picked up her phone to book an Uber app,” Harmer said. “And Bruce took her phone away for a bit of play, I guess to kind of stop her from being able to book Uber.”
Hamer said Lehrmann was telling Higgins to stay for another drink and when she defended Higgins’ right to leave Lehrmann called her “a feminist”.
Updated
Lehrmann arrives
Bruce Lehrmann is back at court this morning – here he is photographed on arrival:
Updated
Federal court continues to livestream the case
This blog will cover major developments during the day.
In the interests of open justice and due to significant public interest, the federal court is livestreaming this case.
You can follow the Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial live stream on YouTube here.
Last week Justice Michael Lee warned if members of the public denigrate the barristers on social media he will reconsider allowing the case to be livestreamed on YouTube.
Lee heard that court staff were monitoring activity on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Lee said:
I just make it perfectly clear to those observing that abuse of any legal practitioners involved in the case, it won’t be tolerated.
And if the situation becomes one which I consider the benefits of livestreaming are outweighed by the fact that it’s encouraging activity which I regard undermines the integrity of the process then I’ll cease the live stream.
Day 10 of the Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial
The defence is expected to call a number of witnesses who Network Ten’s barrister, Matt Collins KC, has said will support Brittany Higgins’ version of events.
They include Liberal staffers and former colleagues of Higgins and Lehrmann: Nicky Hamer, Jesse Wotton and Austen Wenke.
Higgins’ former housemate in Canberra Alex Humphries will also give evidence.
The court has already played extensive CCTV footage which showed Higgins and Lehrmann socialising and drinking on a Friday night in 2019 after work with other parliamentary staffers.
Today we will hear from some of those staffers who were at the social event which led up to the alleged rape in Parliament House.
Lehrmann is suing Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson for defamation over an interview with Higgins broadcast on The Project and online which did not name him but alleged she had been raped by a Liberal staffer in 2019.
Lehrmann has denied raping Higgins and pleaded not guilty to a charge of sexual intercourse without consent. His criminal trial was abandoned due to juror misconduct and the second did not proceed due to prosecutors’ fears for Higgins’ mental health.
Lehrmann and Higgins have both completed their evidence.
Updated
