Page:Lehrmann v Network Ten Pty Limited (Trial Judgment).pdf/204

 Ms Higgins:

So they were worried that if Cash was sitting there with Kershaw at Senate estimates and they're in the pack and the query was almost just there, they were worried it was going to happen on that day.

Ms Maiden:

Okay, but as it turned out, no one asked anything about anything?

Ms Higgins:

No, not at all …

752 Leaving aside the tone and nature of these interactions, including the journalist's notably leading and suggestive questions (and her apparent reference to the possible existence of some form of Christian cabal), these out-of-court representations of Ms Higgins, if scrutinised and investigated with any rigour, reveal the enigmatic nature of what Ms Higgins was saying; they also reveal the way benign actions revealed in the evidence were being characterised by her as (yet again) "weird" or suggestive of something sinister.

753 In truth, it was not complicated at all. It was plainly appropriate and prudent to warn an alleged victim (who was not, and did not at that time want to be, a complainant) that information had spread, that publicity may come out as a result, and to take prophylactic steps, including preparing answers to questions that might be directed to the AFP. At this time, everyone's interests were aligned. Only someone prone to speculation and avid for scandal could view the objective facts as forming a reasonable basis to suggest the perpetuation of an inappropriate, indeed criminal, cover-up.

IIThe Broadcast of the Four Corners Programmes

754 The importance of the Four Corners ("Inside the Canberra Bubble") programme broadcast on 9 November 2020, as informing Ms Higgins' later conduct, is manifest. Ms Higgins had nothing to do with this programme and it is not to be confused with the 8 March 2021 Four Corners programme ("Bursting the Canberra Bubble"), which dealt with an historical rape allegation made against the then Commonwealth Attorney GeneralAttorney-General [sic] after which Ms Higgins had sent Mr O'Connor a message, twelve days later, saying: "I feel okay. I worked with Four Corners behind the scenes to help piece it all together. I have been staying with Lisa W and Peter FitzSimons in Sydney for the past few days; they have been so wonderful" (T1936.39). It does not really matter in the overall scheme of things, but it is difficult to understand why this text was sent to Mr O'Connor, as it is far from clear on the evidence that Ms Higgins did, Lehrmann v Network Ten Pty Limited (Trial Judgment) [2024] FCA 369