The former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann told the tobacco giant he lobbied for that the public revelation of rape allegations against him had “not hindered the relations within my political network” and said he was still able to influence federal policy to “further the business financially”, documents show.
New documents filed in Lehrmann’s defamation case against News Corp, Network Ten, Lisa Wilkinson and Samantha Maiden reveal Lehrmann’s correspondence with British American Tobacco Australia, his then employer, in the days and months after Brittany Higgins’ allegations were first made public in February 2021.
Lehrmann did not work but was kept on full pay for months after the public airing of the allegations on 15 February 2021. That same day, the company was approached by a journalist who named Lehrmann as the subject of Higgins’ allegations.
The company quickly called Lehrmann and told him it was assessing “whether the allegations impact your ability to perform your role and whether there is any impact to the business”, according to notes of the conversation.
Lehrmann was admitted for mental health treatment the next day and no action was taken to terminate his employment. He was kept on full pay after a decision to extend his personal leave entitlements until 4 June 2021.
The documents show in June, following advice from his doctors, Lehrmann attempted to convince the company to allow him to return.
The tobacco giant warned him that it was concerned he may not be able to perform his job any more. His job description appears to show he had responsibility for implementing a political strategy on “new reduced risk products”, as well as “traditional tobacco products”.
“A critical inherent requirement of this role is that, together with the head of corporate & government affairs, you actively seek to engage the government on our behalf,” the company said in a letter.
But Lehrmann, according to the documents, told the tobacco giant the “false allegations” had done little to disrupt his political network.
“In relation to my ability to engage the government on behalf of BATA, these false allegations in my view have not hindered the relations within my political network, my unique skillset to effectively advise the business on regulatory affairs and policy or effect state and federal policy changes to further the business financially,” he said.
The federal court has also released an emailed threat sent to Lehrmann the month before the allegations became public.
The threat, which was previously canvassed during evidence at Lehrmann’s criminal trial, was sent anonymously and had the subject line: “Coming for you”.
“I want you to think about what you did, and what might be around the corner for you,” it said. “It’s inspiring when justice is delivered and the truth comes out. You know what they said: The truth will set you free.”
The ACT supreme court has previously heard that Lehrmann told police about the emailed threats during his 2021 interview and forwarded the documents to them.
Screenshots from a “blue book” kept by Lehrmann were also made publicly available on Friday. The notes list a series of journalists, some of whom Lehrmann says were friendly.
The court has previously heard the so-called friendly journalists included Sky News broadcasters Andrew Clennell and Andrew Bolt. They also included Chris O’Keefe and Chris Uhlmann, the court has heard.
He had also listed the names of journalists who he was “outraged” at, the court has heard. That included Sydney Morning Herald reporter Alexandra Smith, the Australian’s Rosie Lewis, and the Daily Telegraph columnist Vikki Campion, who is Barnaby Joyce’s partner.
The notebook also lists the name of a PR agent with a price of $3,000 and his conversations with “media John”, who the court has previously heard was a friend, John Macgowan.
Lehrmann has previously told a court that he was considering telling his side of the story publicly and fighting back against what was in the media, but did not do so.
Lehrmann denies raping Higgins and pleaded not guilty at trial. His first trial was aborted due to juror misconduct and the second was not pursued due to concerns about Higgins’ mental health.
