WEBVTT - Is OnlyFans Bruce Lehrmann’s only option? 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:07.360 From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey. 0:00:07.440 --> 0:00:14.400 It's Tuesday, October fifteen. King Charles hits Australia on Friday, 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:17.560 but there's a dispute over whether he really holds the 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:21.160 title King of Australia. The government has agreed to pass 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:25.720 special legislation enabling the title, but it won't happen before 0:00:25.760 --> 0:00:33.760 he arrives. Another Sydney restaurant owner has shared anti Semitic material, 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:36.959 this time an image of an Israeli soldier in the 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:40.479 form of a pig. Those stories alive now at the 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:48.519 Australian dot com dot au. Bruce Lemmon has no money 0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:51.080 and the only way he could pay costs for an 0:00:51.080 --> 0:00:55.800 appeal is something silly like going on only fans. That's 0:00:55.840 --> 0:00:58.120 the argument made in the Federal Court on Monday by 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:01.640 a lawyer for Lamon, who comeback for an attempt to 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:05.640 clear his name today. Why Lherman says it's his right 0:01:05.920 --> 0:01:07.000 to appeal. 0:01:14.760 --> 0:01:17.679 Having escaped the lines dead, Mister Lehman made the mistake 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:19.199 of coming back for his heat. 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:24.120 After a Federal Court judge makes this joke at your expense, 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:28.280 you'd think you may hesitate to go again. But Bruce 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:31.440 Lahmon is back, and this time he's fighting to have 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:35.199 the full bench of the Federal Court overturn Justice Michael 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:39.120 Lee's finding that, on the balance of probabilities he raped 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:44.600 Brittany Higgins. He's also seeking to delay payment of the 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:47.960 two million dollars Justice Lee ordered him to hand over 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:49.040 to Network Ten. 0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:54.960 Mister Lehman is arguably probably Australia's most hated man. 0:01:56.040 --> 0:01:58.080 These are the words spoken in a Federal court on 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:03.160 Monday by Zally Burrows, a barrister representing Bruce Lamman. We've 0:02:03.240 --> 0:02:04.320 used a voice actor. 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:07.960 He's a young man, he's got his whole life behind 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:10.120 him and he really does need his day in court 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:13.840 to basically defend this charge of being labeled a rapist. 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:17.200 Even though it's on a civil standard. He's forever going 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:19.080 to be on the Internet and will be labeled a 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:22.600 rapist and people don't know the difference between a criminal 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:24.960 standard or civil standard. 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:29.680 This hearing is not the appeal. It's two applications heard 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:33.960 before trial. The first is an application by the defendants 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:39.760 Network ten and Lisa Wilkinson seeking security for costs. That is, 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:42.400 they want the court to order Laman to put two 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:46.880 hundred thousand dollars in an account. During the hearing on Monday, 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:50.640 Matt Collins CAC, the barrister for Network ten, reduced that 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:54.040 figure to one hundred and eighty thousand dollars, estimating the 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:58.080 appeal would take two days to hear. But everyone agrees 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:02.560 Lamman doesn't have anything like that amount of money. 0:03:03.600 --> 0:03:06.680 We don't understand there to be any controversy between the 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:11.400 parties that mister Lehman is impecunious and the effect of 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:14.920 an order for security for costs would likely be to 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:17.079 stultify the hearing of the appeal. 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:20.239 In other words, that would be the end of the case. 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:24.520 Lahman's lawyer, Zali Burrows says that would be an unfair 0:03:24.600 --> 0:03:26.720 denial of his right to appeal. 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:30.520 It's a bit rich in asking him to put up 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:33.600 two hundred thousand dollars when they are one of the 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:37.800 contributors as to why he is pretty much unemployable. The 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:40.640 only shot he'd probably ever be making money is by 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:43.200 going on only fans or something silly like that. 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:48.000 For his part, Bruce Lemmon is telling the court the 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:51.360 reason he is impecunious, that he is penniless is that 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:55.040 his reputation and job prospects have been destroyed by media 0:03:55.120 --> 0:04:00.160 reporting about Brittany Higgins allegations. Remember, Lahman has a never 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:03.320 been convicted in a criminal court. He was charged and 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:06.920 went trial in the Act, but the trial was aborted 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:11.320 with no verdict because of Dura misconduct. The Act's Director 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:15.280 of Public Prosecutions declined to bring on another trial, saying 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:20.640 Brittney Higgins's mental health was too fragile. Lahman's lawyers have 0:04:20.720 --> 0:04:24.200 told the court he effectively lost his job with British 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:28.680 American Tobacco on February fifteen, twenty twenty one, the day 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:32.000 Brittney higgins allegations were first published by news dot com 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:35.039 dore U and then later that day by Network ten 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:39.280 on its show The Project, But neither Ten nor News 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:43.120 dot Com doree U named Laman. Ten is arguing that 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:46.960 it wasn't until August, when police charged him with sexual 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:51.520 assault without consent, that Lahman's name went into the public domain. 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:57.480 The substantive cause of mister Lehman's impecuniosity in our submission 0:04:57.880 --> 0:05:01.320 must logically arise from the fact that he was subsequently 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:04.080 charged with rape and then named. 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:07.080 In other words, says Ten, we didn't name him, so 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:10.680 we're not responsible for his lack of a job. Matt 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:13.520 Collins told the court ten served Bruce Lemmon with a 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:17.719 bankruptcy notice electronically on twenty fifth of July twenty twenty 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:21.279 four and in person by a process server who tracked 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:26.560 him down on August five. Laman's lawyer denies that. She 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:31.000 says ten unsuccessfully attempted to serve the notice on Lahman's mother. 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:35.680 Colin said ten doesn't have any expectation that Laman has 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:37.640 two million dollars lying around. 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:42.719 I think we are frankly all proceeding on the basis 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:47.040 that there'll never be any recovery. But that's just an 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:51.760 assumption on our part. Only when a trustee in bankruptcy 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:55.200 gets in and looks at mister Lehman's affairs will we 0:05:55.279 --> 0:06:04.640 have some clarityll. 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:03.520 Burrows, barrister for Bruce Lahman, says Tenant tried to name 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:06.680 and shame Laman in relation to another rape charge. He 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:09.640 is now facing a claim that he raped a woman 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:13.320 into Woomba, which is yet to be heard. Laman has 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:15.800 not yet entered a plea, but he is likely to 0:06:15.839 --> 0:06:18.160 defend that charge. 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:21.640 My client is on a centerlink income and he won't 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:24.159 be able to meet a security of costs order. 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:28.760 Burrows noted Laerman had won settlements of around two hundred 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:30.920 thousand dollars from other publishers. 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:35.279 Now, if Channel ten were making a commercial decision, you 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:38.040 would think that they would be wanting to offer something similar. 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:41.440 If this was all about money. The security of costs 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:44.919 for about two hundred thousand dollars is a bit disingenuous 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:48.640 when basically they would make that on advertising revenue just 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:50.560 reporting on these proceedings. 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:53.400 She said, two hundred thousand just was not a lot 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:54.719 of money to Network ten. 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:58.480 This application for security of costs is pretty much a 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:01.960 bullying tactic just to hard fisted and shut down this 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:05.160 appeal because they know my client will not be able 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:07.960 to come up with two hundred thousand dollars at all. 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:11.720 Burrow said Lahman's mental health had suffered from the negative 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:14.280 publicity and that he was watching the live stream of 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:17.400 the hearing rather than showing up in person because he 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:21.120 was scared of what she called the media onslaught and 0:07:21.160 --> 0:07:22.640 assault outside court. 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:25.760 The effect of all this is that it really really 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:27.840 has smashed my client. 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:33.160 Lherman is making his appeal on four grounds. 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:36.200 The first two are hopeless. 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:41.240 Colin said three and four are extraordinarily weak, but not hopeless. 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:46.040 Mister Lhirman has had his day in court, more than 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:50.440 a day in court, twenty six days in court in 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:56.160 circumstances where factual findings went against him and no novel 0:07:56.280 --> 0:07:59.280 or important questions of law arise. 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:04.400 Collins is also arguing that there's no public interest in 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:06.600 the continuation of the proceedings. 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:12.160 He brought the proceeding. Of course, the findings are devastating 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:15.880 to mister Lahman, but that doesn't mean that the reversal 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:21.040 of those findings serve some broader public interest. He's had 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:24.920 his day in court. He had a very expensive trial. 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:29.720 It was conducted in the full glare of the entire nation. 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:35.280 He was very ably represented, and his honor has made 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:38.240 findings at the end of the day of the kind 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:41.440 that civil courts make every day of the week. 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:48.760 Here's what Sukrasanthu, SC. Council for Lisa Wilkinson said about that. 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:52.920 He chose to ender the fray. He walked over the 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:55.720 line and asked this court, knowing the likelihood that my 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:59.559 client and Network ten would plead truth. Mister Lahman has 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:03.000 had his day in court. His impecuniosity did not deprive 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:05.280 him of having his day in court, and he's had it, 0:09:05.679 --> 0:09:07.680 why should he get another day in court? 0:09:12.720 --> 0:09:15.920 Coming up the question of whether Bruce Lammon was reckless. 0:09:16.360 --> 0:09:32.560 That's after the break. One of Bruce Lammon's submissions, one 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:35.520 of the two Matt Collins says are hopeless, is that 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:38.640 Justice Lee made a mistake in finding that Bruce Lammon 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:43.280 was recklessly indifferent to whether or not Brittany Higgins consented. 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:46.960 So I'm satisfied that it is more likely than not 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:49.440 that mister Lehman's state of mind was such that he 0:09:49.559 --> 0:09:52.360 was so intent upon gratification to be indifferent to Miss 0:09:52.440 --> 0:09:56.000 Higgins's consent, and hence where head was sexual intercourse without 0:09:56.040 --> 0:10:00.560 caring whether she consented. He's pursuit of gratification here one 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:03.240 way or the other, whether Miss Higgins understood or agreed 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:04.199 to what was going on. 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:08.120 Lahman says this is unfair because this question of reckless 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:11.680 indifference to Higgins's consent was never put to him in 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:15.240 cross examination. Colin's on Monday took the court to a 0:10:15.280 --> 0:10:18.320 part of the cross examination from November twenty twenty three, 0:10:18.960 --> 0:10:23.120 using this to explain why he never directly asked Laman 0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:31.240 whether he obtained Higgins's consent. Here's that cross examination with 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:35.280 Matt Collins questioning Bruce Lahman. We've used voice actors. 0:10:36.200 --> 0:10:39.640 Now. Did you come into the support staff area and 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:44.920 find Miss Higgins semi conscious or passed out? No, she 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:48.400 wasn't in that area. Did you enter the Minister's office 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:52.960 and find Miss Higgins on the minister's couch either semi 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:55.000 conscious or passed out. 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:55.800 No. 0:10:56.160 --> 0:10:59.040 I didn't enter the Minister's office during part of the 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:03.880 period between one eight am and two thirty am on 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:08.479 the twenty third of March twenty nineteen. You had sexual 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:10.360 intercourse with miss Higgins. 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:10.920 I did not. 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:14.680 I put to you that you were aware that Miss 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:18.160 Higgins was either passed out or semi conscious. 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:20.000 No, Doctor Collins. 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:23.599 I put to you, mister Luhman, that you were approaching 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:28.520 a climax when Miss Higgins came to regaining a consciousness 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:31.359 of her surroundings. No, Doctor Collins. 0:11:31.920 --> 0:11:34.760 Collins noted that the judge found that Higgins was either 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:38.800 unconscious or not fully aware of her surroundings, but came 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:41.320 to during the act of intercourse. 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:46.960 Did you, at any time seek Miss Higgins's consent to 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:51.080 have sexual intercourse with you. I didn't have sexual intercourse 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:56.280 with her. Well, answer my question, did you at any 0:11:56.400 --> 0:12:00.880 time seek her consent to have sexual inter course with her? 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:05.360 There was an objection which was overruled and then Justice 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:06.400 Lee intervened. 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:10.200 I assume your answer to the question is, at no 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:13.040 stage did you seek to procure consent to have any 0:12:13.080 --> 0:12:17.720 sexual intercourse? Yes, because you deny the fact that sexual 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:21.400 intercourse took place, and you deny you asked for any consent, 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:22.800 Is that correct? Yes? 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:28.520 Yes, Colin says there's no procedural unfairness because Laman was 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:40.280 adamant they didn't have sex at all. When that trial starts, 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:42.720 we'll take you into the courtroom with us. And of 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:45.640 course it and all the big trials are reported live 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:50.200 with unrivaled analysis at the Australian dot com dot Au