Federal Court Dismisses Lehrmann's Defamation Appeal

The Full Court of the Federal Court on Wednesday dismissed Bruce Lehrmann's appeal against a landmark defamation ruling that found, on the balance of probabilities, he raped his colleague Brittany Higgins in Parliament House in 2019, bringing a measure of closure to a protracted legal battle.

In a decision handed down in April 2024, Justice Michael Lee ruled that Lehrmann sexually assaulted Higgins in the early hours of March 23, 2019, in the office of their then-boss, Liberal defence industry minister Linda Reynolds. The finding came during Lehrmann's multimillion-dollar defamation lawsuit against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson, stemming from a 2021 interview with Higgins on the broadcaster's program The Project. Lee dismissed the suit, upholding the defendants' truth defense to the allegation of assault.

Lehrmann, a former Liberal staffer now studying law and facing financial hardship, had argued in a two-day appeal hearing in August that Lee lacked sufficient evidence and that the described assault differed from the account in the interview. His lawyer, Zali Burrows, contended the primary judge erred in justifying the imputation of assault. However, the appeal...