Bruce Lehrmann’s text messages to girlfriend revealed at defamation hearing

Former federal Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann texted his then-girlfriend on the day Network Ten and News Corp aired rape allegations made by his former colleague Brittany Higgins and told her he had legal advice that a criminal trial was “off the cards”, the Federal Court has heard.

But he gave evidence in Sydney on Thursday, marking his first comments in public, that he fabricated this claim to placate his girlfriend.

Bruce Lehrmann outside the Federal Court in Sydney on Thursday.Credit: Kate Geraghty

“She was incredibly stressed and traumatised,” Lehrmann said. “Rome was burning, and I was trying to put on a brave face.”

Lehrmann filed Federal Court defamation proceedings against Ten and News Corp last month over interviews with Higgins on The Project and news.com.au, broadcast and published on February 15, 2021.

He names Lisa Wilkinson, a Ten employee who left The Project last year, and news.com.au political editor Samantha Maiden as respondents to the lawsuits against their respective employers.

Lehrmann alleges the publications, which did not name him, conveyed a series of defamatory meanings, including that he “raped Brittany Higgins in [then-]Defence [Industry] Minister Linda Reynolds’ office in 2019”. He denies the rape allegation.

Federal Court Justice Michael Lee must decide whether he will allow Lehrmann to sue the media outlets because he did not file the claim within a one-year limitation period for bringing a defamation suit. The publications at the centre of his claim are two years old.

The media outlets say Lehrmann should not be granted an extension of time and the issue was agitated at a hearing on Thursday. He appeared in court for the first time and gave evidence he received advice from a criminal defence lawyer not to bring a defamation case before any criminal process had been resolved.

Sue Chrysanthou, SC, acting for Wilkinson, read a message sent by Lehrmann to his then-girlfriend on February 15, 2021, at 5.06pm, before The Project broadcast Wilkinson’s interview with Higgins.

“If I’m named tonight then he says I’m up for millions as defamation,” Lehrmann texted, referring to legal advice he said he had received.

The messages continued that night, the court heard, with Lehrmann telling his girlfriend: “Warwick [Korn, his solicitor] doesn’t think I will be named.

“Criminal, he says, is off the cards completely. One, it’s false, and second, they have nothing.” He went on to say that there may be civil proceedings.

The court heard Lehrmann also texted: “He said tonight I won’t see the light of a courtroom.”

Chrysanthou said she had requested Korn, of Sydney-based firm Korn Tlais Defence Lawyers, to give evidence about his advice to Lehrmann because “it’s said that Mr Korn disagrees with what is recorded” and “in particular ... he doesn’t agree that he told Mr Lehrmann he was clear of any risk of being prosecuted”. Korn will give evidence on March 23.

Lehrmann’s barrister, Steven Whybrow, SC, has argued it was not reasonable for Lehrmann to file defamation proceedings within the one-year time limit because of legal advice he received, pending or existing criminal proceedings, and health concerns including mental health issues.

But Wilkinson and the media companies have argued it would not have been reasonable for Lehrmann to delay filing defamation proceedings pending a criminal trial if he had in fact been advised he would never stand trial.

Lehrmann told the court he watched The Project broadcast in Korn’s office. He said he was “outraged” and wanted to commence defamation proceedings.

He said Korn advised him a defamation lawsuit “could happen” but they would need to await the resolution of any criminal proceedings or investigation.

He did not recall Korn saying that Ten and others would be “up for a lot of money” or “millions” for defamation, and added: “I don’t believe he did say that.”

“I was placating [my girlfriend] ... given that she was incredibly upset and distraught,” he said.

He said he could not recall Korn telling him he did not think he would be named by The Project.

Matt Collins, KC, acting for Ten, put it to Lehrmann that the texts were contemporaneous records of his conversations with Korn, adding: “I’ve caught you out, haven’t I?”

Lehrmann said he wasn’t telling his girlfriend the exact advice being given to him. He added “I disagree” when Collins put it to him that the texts were a faithful record of his lawyer’s advice.

He denied that further texts he sent his girlfriend at 5.58pm and 7.39pm that night, saying Korn “reckons defamation is definite” and “I’m a pawn, Rick [Korn] says, as part of a bigger political hatchet job”, reflected advice Korn had given him. He said Korn was not being paid at this stage.

Lehrmann said he was “not in a good way, to put it lightly” after the stories and presented himself to Royal North Shore Hospital the next day. He later spent about 12 days in a health facility, he said.

Neither News Corp nor Ten named Lehrmann but he was subsequently named in the media in August 2021 after he was charged with sexual intercourse without consent.

He pleaded not guilty to the charge. His trial was aborted in October last year due to juror misconduct. The charge was later dropped altogether amid concerns about Higgins’ mental health. Lehrmann has always maintained his innocence.

He told the court he participated voluntarily in an interview with the Australian Federal Police on April 19, 2021, when no charge had been laid.

Lehrmann agreed under questioning by Chrysanthou that in April that year, before the AFP interview, he had no reason to believe he was going to be charged.

He also agreed that he was confident by June 18, 2021, that “there was a resolution to clear the criminal allegations in the near future” and that he could return to work, then at British American Tobacco. He agreed he formed that view on the basis of legal advice.

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