A quick note before we jump into today's episode that tda's editor and familiar voice on this podcast is Billy Fitzsimon's Lisa Wilkinson's daughter. Billy had no editorial oversight or involvement with this podcast or any post we've made on this topic already. And this is this is the Daily Oh, this is the Daily OS.
Oh, Now it makes sense.
Good morning, and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Thursday, the fourth of December.
I'm Zara Seidler, I'm Emma Gillespie.
Yesterday, former Liberal staffer Bruce Lhman lost the appeal of his failed defamation case against Network ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson. It comes after the Federal Court ruled last year that it was more likely than not that Lherman raped Britney Higgins at Parliament House back in twenty nineteen. In today's podcast, m we're going to explain this latest judgment and what it means for the very long run case.
Okay, Zara, we have covered this case many, many times over the past several years. It has been a long running saga and a pretty difficult one to keep up with. I think if you are just in the general public dipping in and out. But for anyone who might have forgotten or might be confused, what is the background to this appeal that we need to know about.
Yeah, you're right, this has had many turns and many twists. But what you need to know is that Bruce Lherman, who I mentioned at the top, is a former Liberal staffer, launched defamation proceedings over an interview broadcast on TENS the Project in twenty twenty one. That show is no longer even running and I think that shows how long this
has been going on for. During that interview, Britney Higgins, also a former Liberal staffer, alleged to journalist Lisa Wilkinson that Lehman had raped her in Parliament House in March twenty nineteen. Lerman, who to this day maintains his innocence, was not named in the interview, either by Higgins nor
by Wilkinson. However, Bruce Lehman has alleged that his reputation was damaged and as such that he was defamed because he was identifiable, so his name was not said, but he argued at the time that his identity was still clear okay, that people.
Who maybe knew him knew his job could have pieced together the details from the interview and landed on him being the alleged suspect exactly.
And it was on that basis that Bruce Lehman brought a defamation case against both Network ten and Lisa Wilkinson. Now fast forward to that case. One of the ways to defend a defamation case is to prove that the claims made were truthful, and so that is what both Wilkinson and Ten used during that case as a defense.
So they said, in a nutshell, we did not defame Bruce Lemmon because the claims that and the interview are true.
Correct. That is what they argued, and we had a judgment back in twenty twenty four at the time, Justice Michael Lee ruled the claims laid out by Wilkinson and Ten that Lehman raped Higgins were true on the balance of probabilities, so more likely than not that those claims were true. Important to note that this was a civil case, it was not a criminal case, and so that standard of proof was a bit lower than it is in a criminal case.
So civil balance of probabilities criminal case, a claim has to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
Yes, but that was found to be the case in this specific defamation case. Now, there was a lot said in that judgment. We've done a bunch of podcasts on that, so I won't rehash everything that was said by Justice Lee at the time, but I do think that it's important to note that Lee's ruling stated that Lherman could
not have been defamed because the allegations were truthful. Many listeners will remember the now famous line from Lee, who when he handed down the judgment said, and I quote, having escaped the lion's den, Lehman made the mistake of going back for his hat. At the time, the court ordered Bruce Lehmon to paid two million dollars in legal costs.
So Justice Lee's assertion there being that there were these allegations of rape, but Lermon decided to fight against them with this defamation case, ultimately, in his perspective, wasting the court's time. There were those costs that were ordered to be paid. So the ruling was that Lehmon was not defamed. YEP, that was in twenty twenty four last year. It's now nearly the end of twenty twenty five and we are still talking about this.
Why is that, well, if we're to continue with Justice Lee's turner phrase. Bruce Lehman went back into the lions den yet again when he filed an appeal against Lee's findings on four main grounds. So he appealed the failed defamation case. He appealed on the basis that he believed he was denied fairness on some of the claims made against him, and that Justice Lee had erred in accepting
the truth defense. And so we had a full bench of the Federal Court, so three judges who weren't involved in the original case they heard the appeal, and that was a little while ago. At the time, Lehman's lawyer, Zalie Burrows, told the court that her client was probably Australia's most hated man, and she cited abusive social media posts directed at him. She argued that Justice Lee in the defamation case had turned it into an unfair quasi
rape trial. So that was essentially just giving you a bit of color as to what Bruce Lemon and his lawyer were arguing. That hearing wrapped up early at the end of the second day, after the panel of Federal Court judges said they struggled to understand Burrows's argument.
Yeah, I remember this on earlier in the year, and we were expecting the appeals hearings to last a lot longer than those two days. It all ended quite abruptly at the time, and there was some confusion as to why, and it came down to that legal argument. So we got the result from that appeal yesterday, some months in between the hearings ending and that final word being handed down.
What was it. Lehman's appeal was rejected. So Justice Michael Wigney, who is not Justice Lee, different person, yep, He explained the panel of judges reasoning for dismissing the appeal. He said that the judges found that Lee had not denied Leermon fairness in the defamation case. He also said, and I thought that this was interesting that the judges had concluded that Lehman knew Higgins had not consented to sex.
That was a different finding to what Justice Lee had found and it was almost elevating what they understood to have happened at the time in front of the law. Lehman's appeal was dismissed, as I said, and he was again ordered to pay the other side's costs.
So we have this fresh panel of judges reassessing what went on in those initial defamation proceedings, ultimately upholding Justice Michael Lee's findings, also finding that he acted fairly and reaffirming essentially the truth defense that Lehmann did rape Higgins according to the court. So he's lost his defamation case, he's lost his subsequent appeal. What happens now for Bruce.
Lemon yees so he could appeal this decision in Australia's top court, the High.
Court, which would take the appeal from the Federal Court to a more senior court.
Correct, But it doesn't automatically happen. What needs to happen is that Lehman would first need to seek permission for his appeal to be heard, and that would need to be accepted by the High Court in a order for the case to progress. For example, with Ben Roberts Smith, he did this, He requested that the court here his
appeal and they rejected that. If that happens, that is the end of the road for appeals and the Federal Court's judgment is final, So there would be no other avenues for Bruce Lehmon to continue to try and progress this case.
Do we know if he is planning to appeal the appeal.
Lots of appeals In that one sentence, Yes, AAP is reporting that Lehman is planning to appeal his appeal, So we're going to have to wait and see if that's the case. There are obviously costs involved as well, so we'll keep an eye on that one.
Yeah, and I think if we look at what Bruce Lemon's lawyer, Zali Burrows was saying outside of court yesterday, it certainly sounds like they are maybe interested in continuing to defend this. Burrows said, quote, Bruce is really overwhelmed. I just want everyone to remember that at the heart of the matter, we have a young man who was accused of rape at Parliament House. Bruce's life has been destroyed.
Yeah, and that's certainly the type of language that's been used this whole time.
Yes, exactly.
I should say not just in this case, but in other cases, so not to confuse listeners, but this is likely not to be the last time that we hear about Bruce Lehman in the headlines, even this week. Bruce Lehman is actually also due to face court in Tasmania today for a separate case that is in regards to an allegation that he stole a car in Tasmania in November last year, and that case has been postponed for
a number of reasons. Lehman's lawyers argue that there were medical reasons why he couldn't appear before the court and so that's been delayed until now where he is again, as I said, expected to face court on that charge.
Completely separate to the defamation and the parliament House allegations.
Correct, But there is also a another case, a third one. There is a third and also separate case. Bruce Lemon has also been accused of rape into Woomba in Queensland. While the defamation case that we've been speaking about throughout this podcast is a civil case, as I mentioned, this one is a criminal case in regards to the charge of rape. These charges were first heard in court in January of twenty twenty three and that trial is forthcoming.
We don't really have much more information. We do know that Zali Burrow's, the lawyer who has defended Bruce Lemon in the civil case, is expected to be defending him here as well. So again there is a lot happening, a lot of different court cases, all kind of happening at the same time, but we will be sure to update listeners as we learn more.
Thank you so much, Zara for breaking that all down for us, so just to recap, the appeal could yet be appealed in the High Court TBC. Lemon is appearing in Tasmania for a separate case this week about the alleged stolen car, and there is that criminal case regarding the rape allegation into Woomba, Queensland. Correct lots to keep an eye on, and we will continue to do so here at The Daily OS. Zara, Thank you so.
Much, Thank you em and thank you for joining us for another episode of The Daily OS. If you need support, please reach out to one eight hundred. Respect, take care of yourself, and we'll be back again later today. My name is Lily Madden and I'm a proud Arunda Bungelung Calcuttin woman from Gadighl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Island and nations. We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries, both past and present,