Ten could have probed Higgins claim further, court told

The producer behind a TV report on Brittany Higgins’ claim of sexual assault did a “good job”, but more could have been done to probe her version of events, a consultant has admitted.

Peter Meakin worked with the team at Network Ten on The Project broadcast, which aired an interview with Ms Higgins in February 2021.

Testifying in the Federal Court on Monday, he said he was “initially sceptical” of Ms Higgins’ story but changed his mind after seeing the interview she gave journalist Lisa Wilkinson.

He acknowledged, however, certain material provided by Parliament House to Ten contradicted what Ms Higgins claimed happened in the alleged rape’s aftermath.

Contemporaneous evidence suggested Ms Higgins’ boss Senator Linda Reynolds and acting chief of staff Fiona Brown were supportive of her going to police and said she could retain her job if she did so.

The Project report said Ms Higgins was forced to choose between her job and making a police complaint, and presented the Parliament House culture as one in which her silence about the alleged incident was preferred.

Ms Higgins’ alleged rapist Bruce Lehrmann has denied anything criminal occurred and is suing Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson for defamation.

Mr Meakin said the documents provided by parliament revealed a different narrative to that of Ms Higgins and admitted it would have been “desirable” for Ten to go back and double check her version of events.

“In retrospect, yeah we could have done a lot of things,” he told the court.

He added he thought Ten producer Angus Llewellyn had done a “good job” when working on the broadcast.

Ms Higgins alleges she was sexually assaulted by Lehrmann in Senator Reynolds’ office on March 23, 2019.

Describing the story as a “legal minefield” in an email sent a week before The Project segment aired, Mr Meakin admitted Ten chose to use more details about Lehrmann than a News.com.au article on Ms Higgins’ claims published the morning before The Project segment.

He denied suggestions from Lehrmann’s barrister Matthew Richardson SC that this allowed his client to be identified despite not being named.

Ten executive producer Christopher Bendall said in signing off on the news broadcast, he relied on information passed to him by Mr Meakin and Mr Llewellyn.

Also on Monday, Queensland Liberal National Party MP Sam O’Connor said Ms Higgins told him of her alleged rape weeks after the incident.

“Sorry, I’m just over it,” she wrote to him via text on April 19, 2019.

“This super f***ed up thing happened a little while ago and I’ve just lost the fight.”

In a phone conversation soon after those texts, Ms Higgins said she had been raped by a male Liberal staffer, Mr O’Connor told the court.

“She told me that he had taken her back to Parliament House and that he had raped her,” he said.

“I absolutely remember the word rape, that’s not something that you forget.”

In subsequent phone calls, Ms Higgins told Mr O’Connor she didn’t want to report the alleged incident to police fearing it would “define her” personally and professionally.

Being a “real go-getter” who had been excited about her parliamentary job, the MP recounted how Ms Higgins’ demeanour had changed after the alleged rape.

“She absolutely was different,” he said.

The court also heard evidence from toxicologist Dr Michael Robertson who created a report for Ten on Ms Higgins’ estimated level of intoxication on the night she was allegedly sexually assaulted.

Lehrmann stood trial in the ACT Supreme Court charged with raping Ms Higgins, but it was derailed by juror misconduct.

Prosecutors did not seek a second trial, citing concerns for Ms Higgins’ mental health.

He has been charged with allegedly raping another woman twice in Toowoomba in October 2021 and remains before Queensland courts.

He has not yet entered a plea but lawyers have indicated he denies that allegation.

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