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 – that it would have been, obviously, important to go and check this account with Ms Higgins?---It certainly tells a different narrative, yes.

Now, Mr Meakin, could you - - -

HIS HONOUR: Does that mean the answer to the question is yes, Mr Meakin?---I – I think it would have been desirable, yes.

883 Unlike Ms Wilkinson (who gave evidence she had difficulty understanding the question about inconsistency) and Mr Llewellyn (who understood the inconsistency but discounted it), the more experienced Mr Meakin recognised it and appreciated the desirability of going back to Ms Higgins in relation to contemporaneous documents that cut across what the Project team had been told. But the Project team had organised things in such a way as they needed to broadcast when they did and there was no time to make further enquires and reinterview Ms Higgins as any contradictory information or seek further material.

884 Mr Llewellyn's response to this material is telling. He focused on what he perceived to be the good parts of the response, while discounting and not pursuing the fact that the response clashed with the cover-up narrative. If Mr Llewellyn had been interested in uncovering the true position, it was incumbent upon him to put these documents to Ms Higgins and seek clarification. If he did so, perhaps it would have become evident, even to those who had been predisposed to being convinced of the cover-up narrative, that further work was necessary or even that the core allegation not based on facts (that is, what people said or did) and there was an insecure basis to make allegations that possibly amounted to criminal wrongdoing.

885 Mr Llewellyn also gave evidence (T1678–9) that he did not think it was "necessarily" important to alert Ms Wilkinson to the two contemporaneous documents. This evidence I accept. It was not important because Mr Llewellyn knew Ms Wilkinson, like him, was committed to recounting what they thought was the most important part of Ms Higgins' account, irrespective of any comment they received.

VIIStatutory Declaration

886 Where a source has allegations that are or seem contentious, it is common for the Project team to obtain statutory declarations before the allegations are broadcast (Bendall (at [74]); Campbell (at [42])). Consistently with this practice, prior to 8 February, Mr Llewellyn had discussed with Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz the fact that the Project team would require a statutory declaration from Ms Higgins. Lehrmann v Network Ten Pty Limited (Trial Judgment) [2024] FCA 369