‘Go after the Liberal Party machine’: David Sharaz’s email to Wilkinson revealed

Brittany Higgins’ fiance David Sharaz discussed the Liberal angle in his first pitch to TV personality Lisa Wilkinson, and told a Ten producer he knew a Labor MP who would let The Project team ‘secretly’ film in their office.

David Sharaz and Brittany Higgins.

Brittany Higgins’ fiance David Sharaz discussed “going after the Liberal Party Machine” in his initial email pitch to Lisa Wilkinson, and later told a Ten producer he knows a Labor MP who “owes” him and would let The Project team “secretly” film in their office to accompany the programme, new court documents reveal.

Text messages and emails written by Mr Sharaz were released in a tranche of documents from Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation trial with Ten and Ms Wilkinson on Thursday night.

Ms Higgins’ interview with Ms Wilkinson, in which she detailed rape allegations against Mr Lehrmann but did not name him as the alleged attacker, is at the centre of the mammoth defamation case, which stretched over a five-week trial at the end of last year.

The parties are now awaiting a judgment from Federal Court justice Michael Lee, who could deliver it at any time. Mr Lehrmann denies raping Ms Higgins, and says no sexual activity ever took place.

One email tendered to the trial reveals Mr Sharaz’s first correspondence with Ms Wilkinson in January 2021, pitching Ms Higgins’ interview with The Project. The email subject reads “MeToo, Liberal Party, Project Pitch”, but does not yet identify Ms Higgins as the alleged victim.

“I‘ve got a sensitive story surrounding a sexual assault at Parliament House; a woman who was pressured by the Liberal Party and female cabinet minister not to pursue it. She’s asked me to be the one to get the story told this year,” Mr Sharaz wrote.

“She’s still working for the party but will be relaunching an official police investigation over the next few months, and is using this time to prepare to leave as she knows she won’t be able to stay while this is going on. It’s sad, but there’s no way she could remain working in that place while fighting this.”

Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz at Federal Court during the defamation case.

The trial heard that Mr Sharaz had worked with Ms Wilkinson briefly, and reconnected with her over email to pitch Ms Higgins’ story.

“To limit the pressure on her, and the stress of telling the story too many times, we’ve spoken about doing one major print and television interview only,” Mr Sharaz wrote.

“I’ve already got the print journalist on board, and it’s someone I know you’d respect. I’ve shown her your stuff regarding family violence and explained our shared past, and how nice you were to me, and she wants you to be the person who does the television interview when the time comes.

Mr Sharaz said Ms Higgins had “been through a lot” and said he wanted to make sure the story was “done right, given going after the Liberal Party machine is no easy feat”.

“She’ll only get one pulll (sic) of the trigger before they try to discredit and shut the story down. My experience in politics and Sky (News) sadly gives me that insight,” he said. “I can say this, it’s the first time something like that has happened under Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s watch. He can no longer use the excuse: ‘This is a bubble’ issue, or ‘this was before my time’.”

Mr Sharaz told Ms Wilkinson he “always admired” her “journalistic integrity”, which was why he recommended her to Ms Higgins. He signed the email off “much love”.

Ms Wilkinson replied to Mr Sharaz two hours later, saying she would be “very keen” to pursue the story.

“So lovely to hear from you, although I am saddened by the story of your friend. I hope she is OK,” Ms Wilkinson wrote. “Thank you too for thinking of me, and trusting me with such a sensitive topic.”

When they later tried to connect for a phone call, Ms Wilkinson said she was in a “slightly noisy cafe” working on her memoir. They organised to call at another time.

Lisa Wilkinson pictured with her lawyer Sue Chrysanthou leaving Federal Court, Sydney.

Ms Wilkinson was asked by Justice Lee during the trial whether she thought it was “odd” Mr Sharaz signed his first email off “much love”, considering they hadn’t had contact in years.

She agreed it was peculiar Mr Sharaz would sign the email that way, saying “to be honest, I’ve never noticed that before”.

The email comes following suggestions the couple had political motivations for telling Ms Higgins’ story.

Ms Higgins conceded under cross-examination that Mr Sharaz was “holding a grudge” against the Liberal Party at the time he approached the media, but denied that she came forward with her story in early 2021 to affect the impact of the federal election.

“At the time when I came forward, I was angry at the way that my rape had been handled, but I didn’t think that anything I said would be consequential enough to impact the election,” she said last month. “I didn’t have that big of an ego to think that I could change the course of an election, and I still don’t.”

Ms Higgins said she was “angry” at the Parliament House culture and “hurt by the Liberal Party”.

She mentioned she was no longer a supporter of the party.

Text messages between Mr Sharaz and The Project producer Angus Llewelyn were also released by the Federal Court on Thursday night, including one where Mr Sharaz suggests contacting a Labor MP who “owes” him to film in their office for the programme.

“Hey mate, me again. If you need an MPs office to film in secretly. I know some Labor MPs who owe me,” Mr Sharaz wrote to the Ten producer. “I’m sure they wouldn’t mind us filming on their couch etc (they’re all the same). You’ve probably got your own avenues but I wanted to just offer that to you.”

Mr Llewelyn responded: “Thanks.”

It is unclear which Labor MP Mr Sharaz was referring to, or if he ever got in contact with them.