Lehrmann sues Ten: Brittany Higgins admits to circulating ‘incorrect’ media dossier
Brittany Higgins has admitted a timeline she handed to journalists and police included numerous errors about major conversations she had after she was allegedly raped by Bruce Lehrmann.
Brittany Higgins has admitted that a dossier she circulated to journalists and police, with the help of her fiance David Sharaz, was incorrect and included numerous errors about major conversations she had after she was allegedly raped by Bruce Lehrmann on a couch in Parliament House.
Ms Higgins in the Federal Court on Friday defended her decision to ignore police advice and take her allegations of sexual assault to the media, but denied doing so to affect the outcome of the 2022 federal election.
Mr Lehrmann is suing Network 10 and presenter Lisa Wilkinson over her interview with Ms Higgins on The Project in 2021, detailing accusations that Mr Lehrmann had raped Ms Higgins on March 23, 2019, but not naming him as the alleged attacker. Mr Lehrmann has consistently denied raping Ms Higgins.
Ms Higgins on Friday endured a second day of cross-examination under Mr Lehrmann’s barrister Steven Whybrow SC, grilled over inconsistencies in a timeline she gave to The Project, news.com.au journalist Samantha Maiden, police and “half the press gallery”.
Mr Whybrow took specific aim at Ms Higgins’ account of three meetings she had with senator Linda Reynolds and her chief of staff Fiona Brown after the alleged rape occurred, about which she wrote: “They both repeated that if I chose to report the incident to the authorities that they would be supportive.”
Mr Whybrow suggested this timeline, written in January, 2021, contradicted evidence Ms Higgins gave earlier this week claiming Senator Reynolds told her: “‘If you go to police, please keep us informed.”
“You’ve changed it from ‘supportive’ to ‘we want to know what’s going on’,” he said.
Ms Higgins replied: “It was what I inferred at the time. They said the words ‘if you go to police, let us know’ and I was giving them the benefit of the doubt in this document.”
Mr Whybrow suggested the true reason she changed the story was that Ms Higgins “needed to feed the story that you were treated badly in that office”.
“I didn’t need to feed any story,” Ms Higgins replied.
In the timeline, Ms Higgins also wrote that Senator Reynolds was “shocked and appalled” by the alleged rape.
Mr Whybrow put to Ms Higgins this was inconsistent with evidence given earlier this week that Senator Reynolds told her “these are things women go through” upon learning of the alleged rape.
“How is ‘I’m shocked and appalled by what has taken place’ anything like ‘these are things women go through’?” Mr Whybrow said.
Ms Higgins was adamant Senator Reynolds told her “these are the things women go through”.
Justice Michael Lee eventually interrupted the cross-examination and asked Ms Higgins why her recollection is better now than it was when she wrote the timeline in January 2021.
Ms Higgins accepted the document was “incorrect”.
“I’ve been questioned about it each way, upside-down now, and now I’ve got a much clearer picture about what happened,” she said.
The court also heard Ms Higgins gave the timeline to police at least two weeks after she initially gave it to The Project, “after I quit my job, when I felt like I could finally go forward with my police complaint”.
Ms Higgins accepted she gave incorrect evidence in Mr Lehrmann’s criminal trial about who she supplied the timeline to.
In the criminal trial, Ms Higgins said she did not provide the document to The Australian’s journalist Rosie Lewis, but Mr Sharaz did while she was “passed out on valium”.
“I didn’t realise I sent it to Rosie as well, but I accept it,” she said.
“I have no issue. I passed this to journalists. I passed it to The Project. I passed it to Sam (Maiden). I may have passed it to Rosie on that day, but then the rest of the afternoon I was on valium.”
Ms Higgins said Mr Sharaz “sent it to, like, half the press gallery”.
Mr Whybrow suggested to Ms Higgins that she ignored the advice of police and went to the media with her rape allegations because she wanted to affect the Coalition’s chances of winning the 2022 federal election.
“The reason you didn’t comply with police’s urging of you not to go to the media was because you wanted to try and affect the outcome of the upcoming election, wasn’t it?” he probed.
Ms Higgins denied this.
“I was a Liberal, through and through, since I was born,” she responded. “I had no intention of impacting the election, but I did want to change the culture in Parliament House.”
Under cross-examination, Ms Higgins was adamant Michaelia Cash learned about the alleged rape in October 2019 – despite the Liberal senator denying she had any knowledge of it until 2021 – and said she believed Senator Cash’s attempts to “check in” on her wellbeing were “nefarious”.
Ms Higgins said Senator Cash was told about the alleged rape after her chief of staff Daniel Try was contacted by Senator Reynolds, because a media inquiry about an incident between two staffers had been raised by the Canberra Times.
Ms Higgins says she met Mr Try and a staffer from Senator Reynolds’ office, Kristy Pearson, in which the alleged assault was discussed. Mr Try then told Senator Cash about the alleged rape, Ms Higgins claims, and the three of them had a meeting.
Mr Whybrow suggested to Ms Higgins that this timeline of events was incorrect.
“I suggest that you had never set out Minister Cash or Mr Try the details of what you say happened to you in March 2019 before … February 2021,” Mr Whybrow said.
Ms Higgins said that was “not true”.
“I went to them about my panic attacks, I went to them when I was concerned about Bruce having a staff pass in 2020, I spoke to Michaelia Cash about it extensively,” Ms Higgins said.
“She was a really good support for me, and when I worked for her I was really close to her and she was wonderful. She was really supportive about this.”
Ms Higgins said attempts Senator Cash made to check in on her after disclosing the alleged rape were “nefarious” considering “she denies ever knowing”.
The court was forced to take a short break on Friday afternoon to determine whether a secret 15-minute recording made by Ms Higgins of a conversation she had with Senator Cash in February 2021 could lawfully be played. Justice Lee will determine on Tuesday, when the court returns, whether it will be submitted into evidence.
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