Apologise and pay compo or I’ll sue, Bruce Lehrmann tells ABC

Bruce Lehrmann has warned the ABC he will sue for defamation over its broadcast of the National Press Club address by Brittany Higgins and Grace Tame.

Bruce Lehrmann. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann has warned the ABC he will sue for defamation over its broadcast of the National Press Club address by Brittany Higgins and Grace Tame in February last year unless it takes down the YouTube video of the event, apologises and pays compensation.

In a concerns notice sent to the ABC on Wednesday, Mr Lehrmann’s lawyers say the broadcast was “a malicious and an apparent contemptuous attempt by the ABC to prejudice the jury” in the rape case against him.

They say even though Mr Lehrmann was not named in the broadcast, he was identifiable to many viewers because of the extensive reporting – including by the ABC – that he was the man accused of, and charged with, the sexual assault of Ms Higgins.

If the ABC did not take the video down within 28 days, Mr Lehrmann would “immediately institute proceedings”, lawyer Mark O’Brien said.

At time of writing, the video was still available on the ABC’s YouTube site and had been watched more than 126,000 times over the past 11 months.

The concerns notice comes a day after Mr Lehrmann sued Channel 10 and star presenter Lisa Wilkinson for defamation, accusing them of seeking to exploit allegations of sexual ­assault against him for ­personal and professional gain.

Mr Lehrmann, who has denied raping former colleague Ms Higgins, has launched defamation proceedings against Network Ten and News Life Media Pty Ltd – an arm of News Corp Australia – in the Federal Court.

The concerns notice to the ABC cites statements by Ms Higgins at the press club including: “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. The parliament of Australia is safe, it is secure, except if you’re a woman.”

It also references her statements that “a little over a year ago, I sat down with my partner David, and I told him that I’d decided to speak publicly about my assault”.

These statements carried the imputation that Mr Lehrmann raped Ms Higgins on a couch in Parliament House and was therefore “grossly and indefensibly defamatory of him”, Mr O’Brien said. “Furthermore, publication to such large numbers of persons had the effect of seriously harming the reputation of [Mr Lehrmann] in the ACT among potential jurors by communicating to them that he was guilty of the very offence with which he was charged.”

No notice had ever been given to Mr Lehrmann as to the proposed content of the press club address so that he could respond to the allegations, so the defences of statutory qualified privilege and public interest would not be available to the ABC, Mr O’Brien said.

Mr Lehrmann pleaded not guilty at trial. The DPP has withdrawn the charges.