ABC settles Bruce Lehrmann defamation action

The ABC has settled a defamation matter with Bruce Lehrmann over a National Press Club address given by Brittany Higgins and former Australian of the Year Grace Tame.

Brittany Higgins and Grace Tame at the National Press Club.

The ABC has settled its defamation matter with former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann over a Nat­ional Press Club address given by Brittany Higgins and former Australian of the Year Grace Tame.

Mr Lehrmann had launched legal action against the public broadcaster earlier this year over the address, which he said imputed he “raped Brittany Higgins on a couch in Parliament House”, despite his name not being used.

The matter was due to be heard on Wednesday, but ABC barrister Tim Senior told the Federal Court the matter had been settled and requested the trial date be vacated.

“We are pleased to be able to tell Your Honour the matter has been settled,” he said. “The parties have signed or executed a deed of settlement. It is presently enforceable. It’s yet to be performed.”

Judge Michael Lee approved the discontinuance. There was no discussion as to costs or damages in court.

The televised Press Club address on February 9, 2022, was also uploaded to YouTube.

The broadcasts received a joint 276,000 views.

In her speech, Ms Higgins said: “I was raped on a couch in what I thought was the safest and most secure building in Australia, in a workplace that has a police and security presence 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

Bruce Lehrmann leaves court on Wednesday. Picture: John Feder

Mr Lehrmann had claimed while some viewers were already aware he was the person alleged to have sexually assaulted Ms Higgins when she made her address, others were “invited … to speculate about the identity of the accused person” by looking up articles that named him as the accused online.

He also said he was identified through the broadcast by “commonwealth politicians, political assistants and staffers, journalists and other people who worked at Parliament House Canberra” as well as “family, friends and acquaintances”.

The ABC had argued the broadcast was in the public’s interest, including that it concerned former prime minister Scott Morrison’s response to an allegation of rape and regarded the “safety of persons in Parliament House”.

It also argued it related to the forthcoming federal election and the “work of Ms Higgins as an advocate for survivors of sexual assault and her treatment by members of the public, the media and others.”

Further, it said the matter was in the public interest as it related to “the circumstances of child sexual abuse and the trauma caused by such abuse; the relationship between perpetrators of child sexual abuse and survivors of such abuse; and the government’s response to the issue of abuse, the adequacy of funding for preventive education and the need for legislative change in respect of the perpetrators of abuse.”