Justice Michael Lee concluded that the former federal political aide had, on the balance of probabilities, assaulted Higgins inside parliament house in 2019.

This decision by the judge was made public in April 2024, following Lehrmann’s defamation lawsuit against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson for an interview with Higgins where she voiced these allegations.

Lehrmann has now filed an appeal to overturn the decision in the Federal Court, arguing that he was denied procedural fairness and seeks compensation exceeding $20,000.

Wilkinson’s attorney on Thursday encouraged the panel of judges to acknowledge her client’s reasonable actions in airing Higgins’ assault claims on The Project in 2021.

Justice Lee had previously determined that the journalist and Network Ten acted unreasonably in making the allegations public, as the claims of a cover-up were considered far-fetched.

Higgins claimed she had reported the rape to her superiors at parliament house, including her boss then-senator Linda Reynolds, but little action was taken.

But Sue Chrysanthou SC argued the alleged cover-up should have been considered separately from Higgins’ account of sexual assault, because it was not connected to Lehrmann.

“His Honour was distracted by the so-called cover-up when he should have focused on the rape,” she said.

Justice Lee found the journalist wanted to tell the “explosive political story” of “an extraordinary cover-up” and did not do any further checking or research.

But Wilkinson had been shown “compelling” evidence of Higgins’ report of sexual assault and her contact with a rape crisis centre in Canberra, her lawyer said.

“By the time of broadcast, there was no doubt in my client’s mind of contemporaneous reports of rape,” Chrysanthou said.

She contended Justice Lee failed to consider dozens of emails sent to various political figures who were given the opportunity to respond to Higgins’ claims.

Any denials received were included in the broadcast, Chrysanthou said, as part of the “exemplary conduct” of her client and Ten.

“Over and over again, (Justice Lee) criticises the belief in the allegations,” she told the court.

“They didn’t just blindly believe them, they asked people: ‘Is this right?'”

The court was told Lehrmann, who has not been convicted of any offence related to Higgins’ allegations, was also emailed for his response on the Friday afternoon prior to the broadcast, but he claimed he only received the query afterwards.

Justice Lee was critical that the former Liberal staffer had not been provided enough time to respond to the claims, but it was not Wilkinson’s job to contact him, her lawyer said.

The broadcast veteran had been so “convinced he might respond” that she spent the night preparing interview questions, Chrysanthou told the court.

Wilkinson was an experienced journalist who discharged her responsibilities well but was excluded from some relevant emails and discussions of the final broadcast, the court was told.

Lehrmann has argued that, given the seriousness of the rape claims, Wilkinson should have personally made her own inquiries and properly notified him about Higgins’ allegation.

Chrysanthou encouraged the court to uphold Justice Lee’s finding that the rape claims broadcast on The Project were substantially true.

Lehrmann is arguing the judgment should be overturned on four grounds, including that Justice Lee used a definition of rape that was inconsistent with what an ordinary person would understand.

He maintains he did not sexually assault Higgins and a criminal case in 2022 was abandoned without any findings against him.

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