Key Points
- Bruce Lehrmann's defamation case against Network Ten has been reopened days before judgment was due to be delivered.
- A former Seven Network producer alleges that Seven reimbursed Lehrmann for illicit drugs and sex workers.
- The payments were allegedly made to secure Lehrmann's participation in a tell-all interview.
Broadcaster Seven allegedly reimbursed Bruce Lehrmann for money spent on illicit drugs and sex workers during its efforts to recruit him for a tell-all interview.
The claims are among many in an affadavit from former Seven Network producer Taylor Auerbach that have led to Lehrmann's defamation case against Network Ten being reopened days before judgment was due to be delivered.
Lehrmann is suing Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson over a February 2021 report on The Project in which Brittany Higgins claimed she had been raped in a Parliament House office in 2019, though she did not name the alleged perpetrator.
Lehrmann has always denied any wrongdoing.
In three affidavits filed with the Federal Court, Auerbach claimed Lehrmann leaked private and confidential texts from Higgins, sending them to Seven ahead of an exclusive interview on the network's Spotlight program.
On Tuesday evening, the court heard the texts were provided to Seven in breach of the so-called Harman undertaking, which sought to ensure evidence from the abandoned criminal case against him was not used for other purposes.
Lehrmann previously denied in court providing any material to Seven other than his recorded interview.
Auerbach also said Lehrmann was heavily reimbursed by Seven during the lead-up to his explosive interview with the broadcaster, including through lavish meals, flights, a golf excursion to Tasmania and more than $10,000 spent on a Sydney Thai massage.
For the latter, texts attached to the affidavits show a Seven employee trying to reverse the credit card charges to the massage business, instead trying to pay in cash.
Lehrmann allegedly supplied the confidential texts to Seven during the Tasmanian golf trip in December 2022 and later during a "data dump" at a house the network rented for him in Sydney's eastern suburbs.
Lawyer Steven Whybrow and former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehmann arriving at the Federal Court of Australia in Sydney in December. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas
"I recall that monies paid by (Lehrmann) for illicit drugs and (sex workers) that evening at the Meriton and the following evening at a brothel in Surry Hills were reimbursed to (Lehrmann) by Seven," he said in his affidavit.
Auerbach left Seven in August 2023 to work as an investigations producer at Sky News.
He said he was fired from Sky in March, due to media reports about an alleged $1,000 payment by Seven to Lehrmann for the Thai massage.
Auerbach has threatened to sue Lehrmann for defamation over comments that he was a "disgruntled" employee.
He has also threatened defamation and contractual lawsuits against Seven over the firm's public statements that he had been disciplined for the misuse of the company credit card.
Saying he was "aggrieved" by these suggestions, he sent a concerns notice to Seven and Lehrmann on March 27.
Seven said in a statement it strongly denied Auerbach's "false and misleading claims".
The network said it would never reveal its sources, noting Lehrmann's prior denials that he leaked the texts.
"Furthermore, Seven did not condone or authorise the alleged payments to Lehrmann referred to in the affidavits," a Seven spokesman said.
Brittany Higgins told Channel Ten's The Project she was raped at Parliament House but did not name the alleged perpetrator. Source: AAP / Dean Lewins
On Tuesday night, Justice Michael Lee accepted Ten's last-minute bid to admit fresh evidence, saying it could change the determination of the case.
The reopening of the case means the parties will return to court on Thursday to hear from Auerbach.
The ex-producer's work to secure an exclusive interview with Lehrmann was revealed in court to have involved a $100,000 in-kind payment.
Justice Lee remained hopeful of delivering his judgment in the coming week but would confirm the timing on Monday, he said.
The last-minute hearing came after Ten filed its bid to reopen the case on Easter Sunday.
The criminal case was derailed due to juror misconduct, with prosecutors dropping the charge over fears for Higgins' health.
