Rita Panahi: Lisa Wilkinson deserves to be charged with contempt of court after Logies speech

Lisa Wilkinson’s decision to deliver her Logies speech is all the more appalling given she received a warning about the risk of speaking publicly about the case.

It takes a particularly noxious brand of self-delighted arsehattery to prejudice a rape trial for the sake of a Logies speech.

Lisa Wilkinson deserves to be charged with contempt of court for the reckless manner she has jeopardised Brittany Higgins’ rape trial.

The Project host’s conduct is all the more appalling given she received a warning just four days before the Logies from the ACT’s Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold about the risk of speaking publicly about the case.

Not that Wilkinson should’ve needed any warning, anyone who has been near a newsroom knows that once charges have been laid you cannot say or write anything that could prejudice a trial.

Wilkinson isn’t some inexperienced intern who didn’t know any better; she is a media veteran in her 60s well aware that her speech could undermine the accused, Bruce Lehrmann, receiving a fair trial.

Indeed on August 6, 2021 Wilkinson tweeted this warning to others: “On the issue of the 26yo man summonsed for an alleged sexual assault of a woman in Parliament House in March 2019 can I implore everyone to respect what’s in play here. Naming the man on social media & passing judgment could have dire consequences for the outcome of any trial.”

You don’t say, Lisa. But perhaps Wilkinson believes the law doesn’t apply to her.

Lisa Wilkinson’s Logie speech was critised by legal experts and ACT Supreme Court Chief Justice Lucy McCallum. Picture: Channel 9

ACT Supreme Court Chief Justice Lucy McCallum was damning in her comments on Tuesday as she “regrettably and with gritted teeth” vacated the rape trial which was set to begin this coming Monday but will now take place in early October.

Justice McCallum noted that the “distinction between an allegation and finding of guilt has been completely obliterated in the discussion”.

“The recent publicity does in my view change the landscape because of its immediacy, its intensity and its capacity to obliterate the important distinctions between an allegation that remains untested at law, and one that has been accepted by a jury giving a true verdict according to the evidence in accordance with the respective oaths or affirmations,” she said.

Lawyers acting for Wilkinson have assured the court that she will not publicly discuss the case again.

Talk about shutting the gate after the horse has bolted and fled to the next town.

On Thursday Justice McCallum was again scathing of the conduct that had seen a rape trial delayed by over three months.

“The publicity this week has focused sharply on the very fact that was being overlooked, which was that a man is facing trial for a serious offence, and he’s entitled to the presumption of innocence,” she said.

A number of legal experts have opined on the possibility of Wilkinson being charged with contempt of court including Australian Bar Association president Matthew Collins who called the Channel 10 presenter’s comments “ill-advised” and said it’s “certainly possible” that authorities would charge her.

Wilkinson with Brittany Higgins.

“It’s certainly possible that the authorities will be looking at the speech that she made to the Logies and assessing that speech against the standard that applies in this branch of the law,” he said.

“That standard is, did anything that she did do have a tendency to interfere with the administration of justice?”

In a shock twist, some hours after making those critical comments, Collins was hired by Wilkinson and Ten.

The Network also made this bizarre statement through a spokeswoman: “Both Network 10 and Lisa Wilkinson take their legal obligations very seriously, including in the preparation and delivery of her speech given at the Logies event.”

Really? If that was the case we wouldn’t have a serious matter before the court derailed. A high school media studies student could’ve told Wilkinson, and the entire brains trust at Ten, that the speech was out of bounds.

This sorry episode must serve as a warning to others in the media who have also been irresponsible in discussing the allegations against Lehrmann who has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting Ms Higgins in 2019.

Every accused person deserves a fair trial and that is not possible if members of the media undermine the judicial process.

The interests of alleged victims are not served by prejudicing a trial.