Brittany Higgins, Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial LIVE: Andrew Bolt unleashes on ‘mega-payout’, Brittany could be recalled over compo dealthedigitalchaps

Justice Michael Lee said Brittany Higgins’ $2.3million settlement deed with the Commonwealth shows a ‘disparity between the evidence she gave in these proceedings and the truth of the matter’.

Lisa Wilkinson’s barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC objected to the document being tendered in Federal Court on Thursday, but the judge said ‘it’s substantially relevant’.

‘It’s pretty relevant in a number of ways,’ he said.

‘I must say to you that I would need great persuasion for that document not to [be released] in circumstances given the evidence given by the witness.’

The court will hear submissions about the release of the deed at 4pm.

Parliament House security guard Nikola Anderson told the Federal Court on Thursday morning that she led Bruce Lehrmann and Brittany Higgins into the ministerial suite at about 1.30am on the night of the alleged rape.

At about 4.20am, she went back up to the suite to do a welfare check because Ms Higgins hadn’t left.

Ms Anderson told the court she announced herself when she entered the suite, and then again when she got to the minister’s office – before she opened the door.

M Lehrmann’s defence barrister Steven Whybrow SC asked Ms Anderson if she saw a woman lying on her back, completely naked, on the lounge.

When she went over to the couch to ask if Ms Higgins was OK, she said the former staffer briefly opened her eyes, before she rolled over into the fetal position and went back to sleep.

Ms Anderson said Ms Higgins’ did not appear to be in distress, and her makeup appeared intact.

She told the court Ms Higgins’ dress and shoes were on the floor next to the couch.

‘[The dress] looked like it had been taken off and thrown on the floor,’ she told the court.

Ms Anderson said while she appeared to be intoxicated when she arrived, she couldn’t make a call on ‘how drunk’ she was.

Brittany Higgins’ $2.3million settlement with the Commonwealth was tendered to the Federal Court on Thursday morning.

Justice Michael Lee said he would not allow public or media access to the document until about 4pm today.

Bruce Lehrmann’s barrister Steven Whybrow SC said he wants to recall Ms Higgins to the witness stand to cross-examine her over the payment.

Ms Higgins’ lawyer Leon Zwier was also required to provide a copy to the Federal Court.

‘Do you propose to make an application to further re-examine Ms Higgins in relation to the document or not?’ Justice Michael Lee said on Wednesday.

‘Yes,’ Mr Whybrow SC replied.

Lisa Wilkinson’s barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC said she does not oppose the release of the deed, provided Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyers do not plan to use it to recall Ms Higgins to the witness stand.

Any submissions for non-publication or suppression should be made before that time, otherwise the document will be released.

The Federal Court adjourned for a late lunch on Thursday because Justice Michael Lee has to attend a funeral.

Before the break, the court heard Brittany Higgins’ $2.3million settlement deed contains disparities between the evidence she gave in court and the claims she made to the Commonwealth.

The deed was tendered this morning, which means it could be released. Legal parties opposing the release will make submissions to the judge at 4pm.

Earlier, Parliament House security guard Nikola Anderson told the court she found Ms Higgins laying on her back, naked, on Linda Reynolds’ couch after the alleged rape – in the early hours of March 23, 2019.

Ms Anderson said Ms Higgins’ makeup was intact and she did not appear to be in distress.

Former colleague Nikita Irvine, who is an Australian Army Major, told the court that no one was rude to Ms Higgins’ Bumble date, Nick, at The Dock in Canberra.

Ms Higgins previously told the court Nick left the pub that night because her colleagues were ‘mean’ to him and she ignored him.

Major Irvine told the court Mr Lehrmann gave her ‘bad vibes’. When asked to explain why, she said it was ‘women’s intuition’.

She recalled Ms Higgins told her about the alleged rape about a week after the fact, and said she and Mr Lehrmann had gone back to Parliament House because he wanted to show her some whisky.

Ms Higgins’ ex-boyfriend Ben Dillaway then told the court they texted the day after the alleged assault.

When he asked what she did that evening, she said: ‘We brought the party back to Parliament House.’

Mr Dillaway told the court he thought it was an odd statement because he used to work in Parliament and staffers didn’t normally go there to party.

He was also one of the first people she disclosed her alleged rape to and described her as ‘very broken’ when she detailed the situation.

Mr Dillaway also said Ms Higgins didn’t want to ‘tell a soul’ about her allegations because she didn’t ‘want to be known as the girl who got raped in Parliament House’.

His evidence-in-chief will resume at 3.25pm.

Ben Dillaway told the Federal Court on Thursday that Brittany Higgins broke down crying on the phone when she told him she was allegedly assaulted, on March 26 2019.

The conversation happened about a week later, following text messages from Ms Higgins saying she and Bruce Lehrmann had gone back to Parliament House on March 22, 2019 – adding, ‘I was barely lucid’ and saying she didn’t think it was consensual.

‘I recall asking her along the lines of, you know, basically, were you raped,’ he said.

‘During the course of that conversation, she’s become quite upset, and the conversation ended which then I sent her a follow up message kind of apologising for upsetting her.’

A few days later, they had a drink together at a hotel bar in Canberra and he started asking her questions.

‘She broke down,’ he said.

‘My recollection of that was, she was crying and sobbing and I was holding her and supporting her.

He recalled suggesting Ms Higgins should see a doctor, and asking if she wanted to go to the police.

‘She told me back that her main concern is that she didn’t want anyone to know, she wanted to keep it secret.

‘She was very invested in her career and she was concerned how this could affect her job.’

He also recalled Ms Higgins saying: ‘I don’t want to be known as the girl who got raped in Parliament House’.

Brittany Higgins’ former colleague and flame, Ben Dillaway, was called to the stand on Thursday afternoon.

Mr Dillaway told the Federal Court he had a phone conversation with Ms Higgins on March 23, 2019 – the morning after the alleged rape.

He asked how her night was, and she said ‘we brought the party back to Parliament House’.

Mr Dillaway told the court he thought that was ‘weird’ because he worked in Parliament and didn’t think anyone would go back to work for a party.

‘It didn’t make any sense to me, so I started questioning her…. who came back, why they came back, and for how long,’ he said.

‘She was cagey… I got the sense that she was hiding something and wasn’t telling me something.’

The call was a few minutes long before Ms Higgins abruptly ended the phone call.

Nikita Irvine told the Federal Court on Thursday that she was ‘upset’ when she found out about Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations in the media, on February 15, 2021.

She was working from home that day, but said people who knew she was in Linda Reynolds’ office at the time of the alleged assault, in March 2019, were texting her asking who the alleged rapist was.

Major Irvine told the court she didn’t want to talk about it to others, at the time.

Bruce Lehrmann’s barrister Steven Whybrow SC asked: ‘You understood the alleged perpetrator was Mr Lehrmann?’

Nikita Irvine had a tense exchange with Bruce Lehrmann’s barrister Steven Whybrow SC in the Federal Court on Thursday.

Major Irvine told the court she was told there was an incident in Linda Reynolds’ office around the weekend of March 23, 2019, but no one told her what happened.

She said that she ‘somehow knew’ the issue was to do with Ms Higgins.

Mr Whybrow asked how she knew, ‘is that another example of women’s intuition?’ he asked, referencing Major Irvine’s evidence earlier when she told the court Mr Lehrmann gave her ‘bad vibes’.

Major Irvine said she believed the issue was to do with Ms Higgins because she had been ‘very upset’ that day, ‘she was very down’.

Ms Irvine replied: ‘I’m not sure. I knew it involved Bruce and I knew it was a serious incident.’

Mr Whybrow: ‘Or maybe you’re just saying things because you believe that she was the victim of a rape and you’re prepared to say evidence in support of that?

Ms Irvine: ‘Are you accusing me of lying under oath?’

Mr Whybrow: ‘I’m not accusing you, I’m putting to you that maybe there are subconscious additions to your evidence.’

Ms Irvine: ‘I don’t believe there’s any subconscious additions to my evidence. I’ve gone through everything very thoroughly, and I have tried to separate things I’ve learned since, and things that I knew then.

‘Brittany was very down that day. I knew something had happened with Bruce, and then Chris Payne told me that so I maybe just put that together.’

Nikita Irvine told the Federal Court on Thursday that she couldn’t recall anyone being rude to Nick, Brittany Higgins’ Bumble date, at The Dock hotel on March 22, 2019.

Ms Higgins previously told the court her colleagues were rude to Nick and made fun of his public service job and his clothes, and that he left the pub because everyone was rude to him.

However, Major Irvine told the court she spoke with Nick and she wasn’t rude at all. She also didn’t witness anyone else being rude to him.

Mr Lehrmann’s barrister Steven Whybrow SC asked Major Irvine how clear her recollection of that evening was.

She said: ‘Someone told me three days later told me she was raped, so yes I remember.’

‘My memory is very good of that night.’

Ms Higgins disclosed her alleged assault to Major Irvine at work the following week back at work.

She told the court that she did not tell anyone about the allegations before Ms Higgins went public with them in February 2021 – two years later.

Mr Whybrow asked: ‘Since it was made public, you and Ms Gain have spoken about it because it became a high-profile matter?’

Mr Whybrow then asked if Ms Gain believed Ms Higgins’ allegations, to which Major Irvine agreed.

He then asked if she believed Ms Higgins.

‘Do I believe Ms Higgins? Yes,’ she replied.

Nikita Irvine told the Federal Court a colleague told her Brittany Higgins and Bruce Lehrmann ‘hooked up’ ont he night of the alleged rape.

Major Irvine was at The Dock hotel with Mr Lehrmann, Ms Higgins and other colleagues on March 22, 2019.

She did not go to the nightclub 88mph after the pub, but she got a text from another colleague, Lauren Gain, the following day that said ‘Brittany and Bruce hooked up’.

Two days later, she had dinner with Ms Gain who repeated the claim, ‘Brittany hooked up with Bruce’.

When Network Ten’s lawyer asked Major Irvine whether she had spoken with Mr Lehrmann at the pub that evening, to which she said: ‘I had bad vibes on Bruce.’

When asked why she didn’t like him, she said ‘It’s just women’s intuition, Dr Collins, I can’t explain’.

She also told the court Ms Higgins told her the following week that Mr Lehrmann had allegedly assaulted her.

She told the court: ‘I asked “Are you okay’ she said “no, have you heard what’s happened?”.’

Major Irvine told hte court Ms Higgins said: ‘Bruce, Austin, Lauren and I went to 88mph and Bruce and I were in an Uber to go home and he wanted to come back to Parliament House.

‘Hhe had some whiskey to show me or something.

‘When we came back to Parliament House, I fell asleep on the couch and I woke up and he was on top of me.’

Major Irvine asked: ‘Was it….?’

Ms Higgins nodded, with Ms Irvine taking it as confirming sexual assault.

Major Irvine also said she wasn’t sure if Ms Higgins identified the situation as a rape.

She also recalled Ms Higgins telling her in early April 2019 that she decided not to go ahead with a formal complaint because police told her it would be too difficult to get a conviction.

Fiona Brown was Bruce Lehrmann and Brittany Higgins’ chief of staff in 2019, when both worked for then-defence industry minister Linda Reynolds.

Ms Higgins has made claims against Ms Brown, telling the Federal Court last week and the ACT Supreme Court last year, that she did not feel supported when she disclosed her alleged rape.

Ms Brown was cross-examined during Mr Lehrmann’s criminal trial last year. At one point, she became overwhelmed with emotion and ran out of the courtroom in tears.

In court on Thursday morning, Ms Brown’s barrister said she wanted to provide evidence in the defamation trial but was advised by her psychiatrists not to do so.

If Ms Brown is required to give evidence, her lawyer asked if the hearing livestream could be limited.

Justice Michael Lee said Ms Brown could be called because Ms Higgins told the court she first disclosed her alleged rape during a meeting with her and Ms Reynolds in April 2021.

Ms Reynolds and Brown have previously denied the alleged assault was disclosed.

Andrew Bolt has asked why Brittany Higgins was handed $2.3million in compensation, partly based on 40 years of lost wages, when she kept working in politics after making her rape allegations.

The political commentator raised the question in a column in the Herald Sun on Wednesday evening.

Ms Higgins secured the hefty payment in December last year after the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions dropped the charge against Bruce Lehrmann – citing fears for her mental health.

The payment was settled following just one day of mediation with the Albanese government.

Higgins claimed she was not supported by her former Parliament House bosses, Linda Reynolds and Michaelia Cash, after she disclosed her alleged rape to them.

Ms Reynolds and Ms Cash have denied any wrongdoing, but were not given the opportunity to defend themselves during mediation.

Bolt pointed out that she secured a job as a media advisor for Victoria’s First Peoples Assembly in February 2021 – when she first went public with her allegations on The Project.

She also secured a $108,000 advance to write a book about her rape allegations a month later, in March 2021, and was due to get a further $200,000 once the book was finished.

She later completed at internship at the United Nations in Geneva, but told the court it was unpaid.

‘This mega-payout stinks,’ Bolt claimed.

‘Higgins got the job. And she got the cash. Why?’

Bruce Lehrmann is suing Lisa Wilkinson and Network 10 in the Federal Court over her 2021 interview with Brittany Higgins where she alleged he raped her in Parliament House in 2019.

He was not named, but claims friends and former colleagues were able to identify him as the alleged rapist.

He has continually maintained his innocence.

The trial began on November 22 and Mr Lehrmann gave evidence over five days.

Brittany Higgins admitted on Tuesday that her settlement with the Commonwealth was worth $2.3million.