Days before a decision was set to be made in Bruce Lehrmann‘s defamation case against Channel 10 and journalist Lisa Wilkinson, the network’s lawyers have requested to re-open its defence to include new information brought to them by a former Channel Seven producer.
On Sunday, Channel 10’s lawyers filed a request which asked for “leave to reopen the case for the purpose of adducing fresh evidence be granted”.
The ABC reported that the court has agreed to hear the new evidence in an interlocutory hearing in the Federal Court on Tuesday at 5pm.
According to The Australian and news.com.au, this evidence was provided to Channel 10 by former Channel Seven producer Taylor Auerbach who provided information about how the Seven network’s program Spotlight obtained material used in the interview with Lehrmann.
Auerbach — who recently was named as the producer who booked a $1000 Thai massage on a Seven credit card without the permission of his higher-ups— worked for Spotlight in 2022. He was the one tasked with locking in an interview with Lehrmann for the program.
This included recordings of a five-hour pre-interview with Lisa Wilkinson, her producer Angus Llewellyn, Brittany Higgins and her partner David Sharaz, in which Wilkinson allegedly referred to former defence minister Linda Reynolds as a “nobody” and an “idiot”.
In the affidavit, Auerbach reportedly claimed that Lehrmann was the source of the documents. However, Lehrmann has long denied this. PEDESTRIAN.TV is not suggesting that Lehrmann provided documents to the Seven Network.
Previously, the court proceedings of the defamation case revealed that Channel Seven had been paying Lehrmann’s rent in exchange for interviews.
In case you missed it, in November 2023, former liberal staffer Lehrmann’s defamation trial against Wilkinson and Channel 10 began. He filed the lawsuit over the coverage of allegations by Brittany Higgins in which Higgins claimed that Lehrmann sexually assaulted her in 2019. While Lehrmann was not named in the segment, he claimed he was identifiable from the interview and hence had been defamed.
Lehrmann has always maintained that he is not guilty. The criminal case against him was dropped in December 2022 after it was deemed that the trial posed too much of a risk to Higgins’ mental health.
