Allegations ‘do not reflect’ culture says Seven, as executives distance themselves from Spotlight boss

The Seven Network says it is “appalled” by recent allegations about conduct at current affairs program Spotlight, as the outgoing commercial director distanced its senior executives from executive producer Mark Llewellyn in fresh evidence in court on Thursday afternoon.

Bruce McWilliam, who will depart Seven in the coming months, said company executives relied on “untested assurances” from Llewellyn that there were no further communications to hand over after it was subpoenaed by Network Ten in its defamation suit brought by Bruce Lehrmann.

(From left) Seven West Media chair Kerry Stokes; former Spotlight producers Taylor Auerbach and Steve Jackson; Spotlight executive producer Mark Llewellyn.

“Given Mr Llewellyn’s status as executive producer, I had no reason to doubt his indication that no written or electronic communications with Mr Lehrmann existed and consistent with that indication extensive searches of Seven’s email system were not performed at that time,” McWilliam said in an affidavit tendered in the Federal Court.

Llewellyn, alongside the show’s former producers Steve Jackson and Taylor Auerbach engaged in a months-long process to court Lehrmann before agreeing to an exclusive multipart interview series.

Former producer Taylor Auerbach made explosive claims about the broadcaster’s dealings with Bruce Lehrmann in the reopened defamation case on Thursday, saying the former Liberal staffer invoiced the network for a bag of cocaine and sex workers.

Following the court proceedings, the network issued a statement in which a spokesperson said the behaviour described in Auerbach’s evidence did not “reflect the culture of Seven” and rejected his assertion he was offered a promotion in November 2022 following the alleged payment for masseuses on a company credit card.

“Seven did not reimburse Bruce Lehrmann for expenditure that has allegedly been used to pay for illegal drugs or prostitutes, and has never done so. Seven notes the matter remains before the courts,” the statement said.

“Contrary to claims reported in the media, Seven complied with all of its obligations in relation to producing documents in response to subpoenas issued to it. Seven has at no point asked anyone to delete or destroy evidence.”

“As previously stated, Seven did not condone or authorise the alleged payments to Mr Lehrmann referred to in the affidavits recently made public. The person involved admitted to the misuse of a Seven corporate card and all unauthorised expenses were immediately reimbursed. Seven has acted appropriately at all times.”

The reopened defamation case has drawn further attention to the workings of Seven’s Spotlight program.

Bruce Lehrmann during the 2023 Spotlight interview.Credit: Seven

One of Australia’s top governance advisers, Vas Kolesnikoff, the ANZ’s head of institutional investor advisory firm ISS, said Seven “has to explain this, to themselves and everyone else”.

“Optically, it’s not a good thing from an investor perspective,” he said.

Most of the shares in Seven West Media, owner of the Seven Network, are controlled by Kerry Stokes and his company Seven Group.

Its share price languished at 18¢ at the close of business on Thursday, down 56 per cent across the past year and only marginally above last month’s near-four-year low of 18¢.

The flurry of attention on Spotlight arrives at an unfortunate time for Seven, two months after delivering its worst ever half-year result and with its chief executive James Warburton readying his departure.

Warburton will depart Seven in the coming months, and the company’s senior executives, including chief financial officer [and new CEO] Jeff Howard will have to face scrutiny over the allegations raised by Auerbach, says Kolesnikoff.

“The accountability of the board is to shareholders,” says Kolesnikoff. “Even he [Stokes] would want appropriate standards in place for how the company does business.”

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