Lisa Wilkinson drags Brittany Higgins Logies speech back to spotlight

Television presenter Lisa Wilkinson is attempting a final defense of her Logies award speech, which led to the delay of Bruce Lehrmann's rape trial. Wilkinson's lawyers have filed written submissions to the Federal Court, challenging Lehrmann's defamation appeal and questioning Wilkinson's decision to deliver the speech before a national audience.

In June 2022, Wilkinson's speech was found by a judge to have implied the truth of Brittany Higgins' sexual assault allegations, and it was delivered eight days before Lehrmann's criminal trial was set to begin. The trial was subsequently delayed until October and ultimately aborted due to juror misconduct. In dismissing Lehrmann's defamation suit against Wilkinson and broadcaster Network Ten, Justice Michael Lee deemed Wilkinson's conduct as improper and unjustifiable.

However, Justice Lee also suggested that those who encouraged Wilkinson to deliver the speech, including Ten's lawyers, should bear greater responsibility. Wilkinson's lawyer, Sue Chrysanthou, stated in the submissions that the judge failed to consider evidence that Wilkinson, a high-profile journalist, had also discussed the speech with prosecutors in Lehrmann's criminal case. Wilkinson is also challenging the judge's findings regarding the reasonableness of her and Ten's program, *The Project*, in airing Higgins' allegations of being raped by Lehrmann in Parliament House in February 2021.

These claims come as Lehrmann explores potentially overturning his defeat in the Federal Court defamation lawsuit against Ten and Wilkinson. Should the appeals court rule in Lehrmann's favor after a hearing later in 2025, it could include an assessment of damages payable to the 29-year-old. Lehrmann is appealing a judgment from April 2024, which found he was not defamed by reports about his alleged sexual assault of Brittany Higgins in Parliament House, as the allegations were substantially true.

If the court overturns the "substantially true" finding, Wilkinson argues that Lehrmann's case against her should be dismissed, asserting that Justice Lee should have upheld her "qualified privilege" defense, including giving the former staffer a fair opportunity to comment before publication. "Wilkinson repeatedly demonstrated a desire to speak to and question Lehrmann and others she wanted to appear on the program, which is contrary to the trial judge's findings about her state of mind," Chrysanthou said.

Higgins' allegations were emailed to Lehrmann on the Friday afternoon before the interview aired on Monday. He did not respond, and the judge did not accept that Lehrmann received either the email or a follow-up sent on Monday morning. However, Justice Lee found that, in any event, it was unlikely that Lehrmann would have contacted *The Project*.

In one of the most closely watched defamation trials in Australian history, Justice Lee dealt a heavy blow to Lehrmann in his April judgment, finding that, on the balance of probabilities, Lehrmann raped Ms. Higgins in March 2019. The criminal case against Lehrmann was previously abandoned in 2022, with no findings made against him. "Mr. Lehrmann escaped from the lion's den but has made the mistake of returning to get his hat," Justice Lee said in his ruling.

If you need to, please call 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) for the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service.