Network Ten producer Angus Llewellyn was called back to the witness stand on Wednesday morning to continue his cross-examination.
Bruce Lehrmann’s barrister, Matthew Richardson SC, asked him about a portion of a recorded meeting he and Lisa Wilkinson had with Brittany Higgins and her boyfriend about three weeks before her rape allegations were aired.
During that meeting, Ms Higgins said she was given a choice between going to Perth to help with the election campaign or going home to the Gold Coast in 2019 – the week after her alleged rape.
Ms Higgins had said she recalled her former chief of staff saying that if she chose to go to the Gold Coast, she wouldn’t be able to go back to Parliament House.
During a pre-interview chat, Wilkinson had asked: ‘You were told you’d lose your job if you proceeded with the police charges?’
Ms Higgins responded: ‘Not explicitly, but it was clear. It was … you can proceed with this … but you just don’t have a job.’
In court on Wednesday, Mr Richardson said: ‘She’s saying that because she has made a rape complaint, she is being told that she will not have a job if she goes home.’
Mr Llewellyn recalled Ms Higgins explaining that her boss didn’t explicitly use those words, but she told the producer the implication was that she wouldn’t have a job if she chose not to go to Perth.
Mr Richardson said: ‘[Ms Higgins said] earlier that Linda Reynolds and Fiona Brown were supportive of her going to police.’
He agreed that’s what Ms Higgins said at an earlier part of the conversation.
He said: ‘I think taking a black and white look at this is incorrect – if a chief of staff stopped her going to the police that would be a story, but we had no proof so we didn’t do that.’
Justice Michael Lee intervened: ‘Are you saying that, at the time the program was broadcast, you had no proof that she was being told that if she proceeded with police charges, that she’s lose her job?
‘Was that your state of mind at the time?’
Mr Llewellyn started providing an explanation but the judge interrupted again.
‘Please, it’s yes, no, or I can’t recall.’
Mr Llewellyn said: ‘I didn’t have proof.’
Justice Lee said: ‘Does that mean the answer is yes?’
Mr Richardson then read Wilkinson’s introduction to the episode, aired on February 15, 2021.
He specifically pointed to the part where she said, ‘a young woman forced to choose between her career and the pursuit of justice’ – which implied Ms Higgins was forced to choose between her job and her rape complaint.
‘Remember that? You approved that?’
Mr Llewellyn said: ‘It wasn’t me who wrote that.’
Mr Richardson asked: ‘Would you have preferred it to say something different?’
Eventually, he said: ‘I have no problem with that studio opening.’