Bruce Lehrmann says he’ll take a lie-detector test to prove innocence in Sunrise grilling

Bruce Lehrmann says he’s willing to do one thing if that will prove his innocence against Brittany Higgins’ allegations.

Bruce Lehrmann has revealed why he did not check on Brittany Higgins on the night she alleges he raped her and agreed to take a lie-detector test to prove he is telling the truth.

The former Coalition staffer was grilled about not saying goodbye to Ms Higgins during the night in question in his Monday morning appearance on Sunrise.

“Why didn't you just say goodbye. Why don’t you just yell in the general direction, ‘Going now, Brittany, see you later?’” host Natalie Barr asked

Mr Lehrmann conceded in hindsight he probably should have said something but he had no reason to suspect she needed checking on.

“She’s an adult … I had no reason to suspect that she was blackout drunk or anything to that extent. She also had to go back to work as she indicated,” he responded.

Bruce Lehrmann defend himself on Sunrise on Monday.

“But even checking, like, just a sort of, ‘See you, bye?’ Just a natural human behaviour, wouldn’t it?” Barr pushed back.

“Sure, and in hindsight, probably. But you know, I also had missed calls from my girlfriend when I turned around and saw my phone on my desk. So I thought, well, I better get out of here and get home.”

During his initial trial, the court was told Mr Lehrmann and Ms Higgins split an Uber home after a night out drinking with colleagues in Canberra.

The court was told Mr Lehrmann had offered various reasons for the trip back to the ministerial office of then boss senator Linda Reynolds, from doing some work to drinking whiskey.

He told police that he stuck some tabs and added handwritten notes on a question time briefing for Senator Reynolds before exiting without checking in on Ms Higgins, who he said was at that point either in Senator Reynolds’ office or the media space.

Ms Higgins claimed in court that she fell asleep on Senator Reynolds’ couch and woke up to find Mr Lehrmann on top of her.

Mr Lehrmann pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting Ms Higgins in the Parliament House office of Ms Reynolds in March 2019.

His trial was aborted last October due to jury misconduct and a planned retrial was abandoned due to concerns about Ms Higgins’ mental health. The charge was dropped and there have been no findings made against Mr Lehrmann.

Mr Lehrmann is preparing to sue the ACT government over the prosecution.

Sunrise host Nat Barr questioned if he would take a lie-detector test.

On Monday, the Sunrise host asked if he’d be willing to take a lie-detector test or have the matter return to court in order to clear his name.

“Absolutely, yes,” Mr Lehrmann replied.

“I get that this has divided the nation and that’s just because of the high-profile nature of it and how this was advanced in the first place.

“It wasn‘t advanced through the normal means as it should have been for the police.

“I’m entirely confident that on the balance of the material that we had … and the defence team that I had, I would have got a not-guilty verdict.”

He said the defamation proceedings he brought against Channel 10 would in effect be “a re-run of the trial”.

The appearance on Seven’s morning breakfast show comes after he returned for a second interview with 7 News Spotlight.

Mr Lehrmann revealed in the interview that he was considering further legal action worth millions of dollars following the findings of the Sofronoff Inquiry.