Former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann sues ABC over Brittany Higgins Press Club address

Bruce Lehrmann says the ABC broadcast of the address was defamatory because the imputation was that he ‘raped Brittany Higgins on a couch in Parliament House’.

Bruce Lehrmann. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Flavio Brancaleone

Bruce Lehrmann is suing the ABC over its broadcast of the joint National Press Club address by Brittany Higgins and Grace Tame.

Mr Lehrmann lodged Federal Court defamation proceeding against the ABC on Wednesday after they televised the National Press Club address of Ms Higgins on February 9, 2022, and uploaded a YouTube video, which received a joint 276,000 views. The documents associated with the case were made available to the public on Thursday.

His trial into the rape allegation by his former colleague and Liberal Party staffer Ms Higgins was abandoned in October. He has always maintained his innocence.

Mr Lehrmann says the ABC broadcasts were defamatory because the imputation was that he “raped Brittany Higgins on a couch in Parliament House”.

Brittany Higgins addresses the media at the National Press Club in February 2022. Picture: Getty Images/AFP.

Ms Higgins did not name Lehrmann during her address in Canberra.

In her speech, she 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”.

He claims 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.

Lisa Wilkinson and Brittany Higgins.

He also says 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”, according to the Statement of Claim.

The live Press Club address, at about midday on February 9, was viewed by 149,000 metro viewers and a subsequent YouTube video uploaded to the ABC News channel received another 127,000 views.

Mr Lehrmann sent a concerns notice to Managing Director of the ABC David Anderson, News Director Justin Stevens and General Counsel Ingrid Silver in February this year.

Mr Lehrmann pleaded not guilty to rape charges at his trial, which was aborted when a juror was found to have brought outside material not presented as evidence into the jury room.

The ACT Director of Public Prosecutions did not pursue a retrial amid concerns for Ms Higgins’s health.

Mr Lehrmann is also suing Network Ten and News Life Media Pty Ltd – an arm of News Corp Australia, publisher of The Australian – over interviews with Ms Higgins broadcast and published in 2021.

Journalists Lisa Wilkinson, former co-host of The Project, and Samantha Maiden, political editor for news.com.au, are second respondents in proceedings.

Defamation lawyer Mark O’Brien is listed as Mr Lehrmann’s legal representative.

His lawsuit comes as Federal Court judge Michael Lee determines whether he will extend the one-year limitation period to allow the former political staffer to sue Ten and News Life.