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 complainants may change their mind and hence the course of preserving the relevant CCTV footage was sensible and allowed it to be able to be played both at the criminal trial and in this proceeding. The implicit and sometimes express notion that there was something conspiratorial or improper about the way the CCTV footage was dealt with in 2019 does not bear scrutiny. I will return to this topic below when considering the conduct of Network Ten.

I.7Later Events

740 What is evident is that as time went on, the concerns of Ms Higgins grew and, when triggered, she felt significant trauma, most notably in around October 2019 when there was a media enquiry about an assault in Senator Reynolds' office by a journalist from the Canberra Times, which brought into focus the reality "there was already people, sort of, who knew or who peripherally somehow knew about the assaults in media circles in Canberra" and this was a "retraumatising event" (T687.18–25).

741 It is unnecessary for the purposes of these reasons to go into much detail of what then happened or the later dealings between Ms Higgins while she worked in the office of Senator Cash. It is, however, worth referring to two matters, which received some focus in the evidence.

IThe Canberra Times Enquiry

742 What is evident is that by October 2019, neither Senator Cash nor her chief of staff, Mr Daniel Try, knew of the incident but, because of the Canberra Times enquiry, it was thought necessary to inform Mr Try, and through him Ms Higgins and then Senator Cash, of the possibility the incident could become public.

743 Mr Try had a meeting with Ms Higgins and explained he had received a call from Senator Reynolds' office about the media enquiry and that someone from Senator Reynolds' office was going to come and speak to them. Mr Try told Ms Higgins: "God, I'm so sorry" (T694.28–30). The staffer, Ms Christie Pearson, told her the distressing news about the media enquiry and informed her "we're considering how to respond". Ms Higgins gave evidence that she told Ms Pearson and Mr Try about the sexual assault (T852.1–9) and that she was very upset and said (wrongly) that she had not told anyone, and she did not know how they (meaning the journalist) had found out (T695.36–42). Mr Try asked questions about how they could publish such a story without Ms Higgins' consent (T695.43–45). According to Ms Higgins, he talked about trying to "squash" the story (T849.25–29). Lehrmann v Network Ten Pty Limited (Trial Judgment) [2024] FCA 369