Bruce Lehrmann defamation case: No Seven heaven as Taylor Auerbach tells all

Seven reimbursed Bruce Lehrmann for $750 in illicit drugs and prostitutes as a ‘pre-production expense’, former Spotlight producer Taylor Auerbach claims.

Seeking shelter from the storm: Taylor Auerbach confronts the press outside Federal Court in Sydney on Friday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

Former Seven producer Taylor Auerbach messaged his boss telling him about “six hours of audio recordings” taken of Brittany Higgins and presenter Lisa Wilkinson that Bruce Lehrmann could provide as part of an exclusive interview with Spotlight, explosive messages released by the Federal Court reveal.

The messages, sent to former Spotlight producer Steve Jackson, also reveal Auerbach believed Ms Higgins was “blatantly lying” about evidence given during Mr Lehrmann’s rape trial, and described her as “combative” while on the stand.

This comes as new claims alleging Seven reimbursed Bruce Lehrmann for $750 in illicit drugs and prostitutes as a “pre-production expense”, with Auerbach saying the company covertly categorised the payment because “that was the vaguest of the categories that we could choose without being deceptive or misleading”.

Auerbach concluded giving evidence in Mr Lehrmann’s defamation case against the Ten Network and Lisa Wilkinson on Friday morning, but not before providing more details of efforts the Spotlight production team went to in order to convince the former Liberal staffer to give it his exclusive interview rights.

Ten this week successfully applied to reopen its case after Auerbach signed affidavits claiming Seven gave Mr Lehrmann expensive perks in attempts to persuade him to sign on with Spotlight.

The Spotlight episode, that eventually aired mid-last year, featured never-before-seen CCTV footage of Mr Lehrmann and Ms Higgins in Parliament House on the night of the alleged rape, and an audio recording of a pre-interview between Wilkinson, The Project producer Angus Llewelyn, Ms Higgins and her partner David Sharaz.

Mr Lehrmann has denied providing Spotlight with any confidential documents or recordings.

The Federal Court released hundreds of messages between Auerbach and his former Spotlight bosses, Jackson and Mark Llewellyn, late on Friday night, showing extensive plans to get Mr Lehrmann on board.

Former Network Ten presenter Lisa Wilkinson attends the hearing. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

In one message, Auerbach told Jackson “we’re in luck” because former Liberal dirt unit staffer John Macgowan was handling Mr Lehrmann’s media relations.

“I’ve told him to pick the most expensive restaurant in Canberra and it’s my shout,” he wrote in messages sent during Mr Lehrmann’s criminal trial.

After meeting Mr Macgowan, Auerbach messaged Jackson again, informing him of documents Mr Lehrmann could provide Spotlight with, in addition to an interview.

“They have six hours of audio recordings with Brittany Higgins and Lisa Wilkinson in which Brittany is apparently coached and says ‘don’t worry I can turn the waterworks on and off like a tap’,” Auerbach wrote in the message

“They also have text messages where Brittany is frustrated with how the AFP is running the case and says ‘if they don’t start toeing the line I’ll go on the Project and start crying’.”

The Federal Court on Friday heard, in the same meeting, Mr Macgowan and Auerbach discussed Seven giving Mr Lehrmann a $200,000 payment for an extensive interview with Spotlight, but talked of putting the money into a separate trust account belonging to a friend to avoid scrutiny.

In other messages to Jackson, Auerbach said he thought Ms Higgins was “lying” about her evidence.

“She has a weird way of speaking trying to sound smart and professional but it just comes across as a pose,” Mr Auerbach wrote in one message in October 2022, when the trial began.

He said “it’s fathomable” that Ms Higgins “blew up someone’s life so she wouldn’t get sacked for getting hammered and breaking into parliament”.

He described Ms Higgins as “very combative” and said “she keeps yelling and swearing”.

Referring to an email from Mr Lehrmann to his boss, Auerbach wrote: “Doesn’t sound like a letter someone who’d raped someone would send.”

Auerbach on Friday was again questioned over a night in early January last year in which he described seeing Mr Lehrmann buy cocaine at an expensive Potts Point restaurant, and Google prostitutes in a hotel Seven had put him up in.

Texts from that night reveal Auerbach messages Jackson at 7.07pm, saying “He’s on the warpath again”.

At 3am, Auerbach messaged Jackson again, saying “Omg I have got the greatest yarns ever”.

Following that night, Auerbach said Mr Lehrmann “indicated to me he needed to replenish his bank account after the bender”.

He told the court a $750 “pre-production expense” for Mr Lehrmann’s drugs and sex workers was paid by the network.

While Auerbach said he did not see receipt of payment from Seven, he said Llewellyn “told me it was approved” and Mr Lehrmann ­informed him he received the ­reimbursement funds.

A spokesperson for Seven said the network “never reimbursed Bruce Lehrmann for expenditure that had allegedly been used to pay for illegal drugs or prostitutes”.

“Seven again confirms that Mr Auerbach was never offered a promotion or a pay rise in late 2022 or afterwards. As the court heard today, there is nothing to suggest otherwise,” the spokesperson said.