Speaker 1: You can listen to the Front on your smart sneaker
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Speaker 1: the news from the Australian. From the Australian, Here's what's
Speaker 1: on the front. I'm Claire Harvey. It's Tuesday, June eighteenth.
Speaker 1: The family of murder victim Lynnett Sims have launched an
Speaker 1: impassioned defense of Lynn's law and nobody no Parole law
Speaker 1: designed to keep her killer Chris Dawson behind bars unless
Speaker 1: he reveals what he did with Lynn's remains. A campaign
Speaker 1: supported by wrongly convicted women Kathleen Folbey and Lindy Chamberlain
Speaker 1: is demanding a repeal of the New South Wales law.
Speaker 1: Bud greg and Marilyn Sims say the families of homicide
Speaker 1: victims deserve certainty. Would scrap offshore wind projects in Australia.
Speaker 1: National's leader David Little Proud says renewables must be on
Speaker 1: rooftops where the environment can't be destroyed. It comes after
Speaker 1: Labour declared an offshore wind zone twenty kilometers off the
Speaker 1: Illawarra coast in New South Wales. Chinese officials have attempted
Speaker 1: to block an Australian journalist at a press conference in
Speaker 1: Parliament House with visiting Chinese Premier Lie Chung and Anthony Albanizi.
Speaker 1: Extraordinary scenes unfolded as Australian officials physically blocked the Chinese
Speaker 1: personnel from obstructing Chung, who spent nearly three years in
Speaker 1: a Chinese jail and now works at Sky News Australia.
Speaker 1: Anthony Albanezi said he didn't see what was going on.
Speaker 2: Look, I'm not aware of those issues. It's important that
Speaker 2: people be allowed to participate fully and that's what should
Speaker 2: happen in this building or anywhere else in Australia.
Speaker 1: The visit is a big deal for Australia, with Premier
Speaker 1: Lee saying the relationship is on the right track and
Speaker 1: announcing Australian nationals will be allowed to enter China for
Speaker 1: holidays or work without needing a visa. That story is
Speaker 1: live now at the Australian dot com dot Au. Bruce
Speaker 1: Lahman will fight to have sexual assault charges against him
Speaker 1: thrown out of court. Media organizations were booted out of
Speaker 1: court into Woomba on Monday when a complainant alleged Laman
Speaker 1: sexually assaulted her in twenty twenty one. Today why Laman
Speaker 1: is arguing, there's no case to answer. I'm buzzing this morning,
Speaker 1: I since the crack of dawn. Those were the words
Speaker 1: spoken by Bruce Lahman as he made his way into
Speaker 1: the to Woomba Magistrates Court on Monday morning. They're being
Speaker 1: read by a voice actor. Hey, Bruce, what happened that night?
Speaker 1: The former Liberal staffer was surrounded by a media scrum
Speaker 1: that had descended on the Queensland City.
Speaker 3: Target.
Speaker 1: There's Peter Costello when you need him, Laman was referring
Speaker 1: there to a physical altercation between the former nine chairmen
Speaker 1: and a reporter from The Australian at Canberra Airport. Lea
Speaker 1: Mendez was knocked to the ground while trying to question
Speaker 1: Costello about allegations of bullying and harassment at the TV network.
Speaker 1: Twenty nine year old Laman is changed with two counts
Speaker 1: of rape relating to an incident that's alleged to have
Speaker 1: happened in his hometown to Woomba in October twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1: He's yet to formally enter a plea, but will defend
Speaker 1: the charges. It was Lahman's first appearance in these proceedings.
Speaker 1: He came with a silk Andrew Hawkkase who's gone in
Speaker 1: with an aggressive approach. He'll be arguing the whole matter
Speaker 1: should be thrown out. After what unfolded on Monday, Laws
Speaker 1: in place in Queensland prior to October meant people accused
Speaker 1: of sexual assault couldn't be named until a matter was
Speaker 1: committed to trial. Committal is a process in a lower
Speaker 1: court where the evidence is tested. If the magistrate believes
Speaker 1: the case should proceed, it goes to a higher court
Speaker 1: where it's heard before judge and jury. Lhman's lawyers fought
Speaker 1: his identification for weeks after the law was scrapped, but
Speaker 1: the Queensland Supreme Court allowed him to be named.
Speaker 4: A high profile person charged with two counts of rape
Speaker 4: in the regional Queensland city of Toowoomba can finally be
Speaker 4: named as Farmer Liberal Party staffer Bruce Lherman.
Speaker 2: Twomber Court House isn't typically known for these sorts of
Speaker 2: high profile cases.
Speaker 1: Mackenzie's got is a reporter with The Australian. She was
Speaker 1: into Womba for the hearing.
Speaker 2: So the public gallery only had sixteen seats and they
Speaker 2: were full almost immediately, so we had people fitting five
Speaker 2: to a roll four We had people standing in the
Speaker 2: middle of the courtroom. At the back we had people
Speaker 2: sitting on the floor. It was quite a sight to see.
Speaker 2: I don't think these courtrooms are really set up for
Speaker 2: these types of notorious cases.
Speaker 1: News organizations, including News Corp Australia, which publishes The Australian
Speaker 1: Nine and the ABC, applied to be present while the complainant,
Speaker 1: a twenty eight year old woman, gave evidence. She was
Speaker 1: cross examined by Council for Lairman, giving evidence over about
Speaker 1: an hour. A barrister for the news outlets, Jessica Goldie,
Speaker 1: argued it was important for journalists to hear the complainant's
Speaker 1: evidence so it could be accurately reported.
Speaker 4: It's an important fundamental proposition to our legal system. This
Speaker 4: matter is a unique case which has attracted a high
Speaker 4: degree of national interest in media coverage. There is therefore
Speaker 4: a high public interest in the matter.
Speaker 1: But Lahirman's defense lawyer Andrewhaw and Crown Prosecutor Nicole Friedwald
Speaker 1: both opposed the application. Both said they were concerned the
Speaker 1: details of the complainant's evidence in chief and cross examination
Speaker 1: would make it easy for her to be identified.
Speaker 2: So obviously in these sort of matters. The law does
Speaker 2: protect a complainant coming forward, so to encourage others to
Speaker 2: come forward in these sorts of cases, our legal presentation
Speaker 2: did put forward alternatives, saying we could be in a
Speaker 2: separate courtroom as she gave her evidence via video link,
Speaker 2: or we could be obscured from view, but both the
Speaker 2: Crown and the defense were concerned about privacy and the
Speaker 2: fact that she may be identified via the evidence that
Speaker 2: she was providing.
Speaker 1: Magistrate Mark Howden ultimately blocked the application, meaning members of
Speaker 1: the media, including Mackenzie, were sent out of the courtroom
Speaker 1: while the complainant gave her evidence.
Speaker 2: So it was frustrating for journalists not to be in
Speaker 2: the room as the complainant gave her evidence, but I
Speaker 2: think it was largely expected. Queensland courts have lacked transparency
Speaker 2: in the past and this matter does tho par for
Speaker 2: the course of what to expect when covering these sorts
Speaker 2: of cases in Queensland.
Speaker 1: Magistrate Howden acknowledged the high degree of public interest in
Speaker 1: this case and accepted the principle of open justice, but
Speaker 1: he said it doesn't overrule the complainant's right to privacy
Speaker 1: in a proceeding like this.
Speaker 2: So it was all very quick. We were in there
Speaker 2: by two and out of there by two ten pm. Basically,
Speaker 2: once we got back in the room, mister Lehman's barrister,
Speaker 2: Andrew Hall Casey, told the court that they would be
Speaker 2: making a submission to basically say there is no case
Speaker 2: to move forward to trial. Mister Lehrman's defense did say
Speaker 2: that the twelve page submission would have some density and
Speaker 2: it would highlight the insufficient evidence within Queensland Police's case.
Speaker 1: Behind closed doors, the complainant laid out her allegations against
Speaker 1: Bruce Lammon. Charges were first laid in January twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1: According to police documents, the complainant heard about allegations against
Speaker 1: Bruce Lammon by Brittney Higgins that prompted the to Womber
Speaker 1: woman to identify Laman as the man she had a
Speaker 1: sexual encounter with in October twenty twenty one. The matter
Speaker 1: heard on Monday into Woomba is unrelated to the earlier
Speaker 1: allegation and the proceedings that have unfolded in the years since.
Speaker 1: In this matter, the complainant says she met Lamman at
Speaker 1: a strip club in twenty twenty one, where he introduced
Speaker 1: himself as Bryce to Woomba is Lahman's hometown, and it's
Speaker 1: believed he was staying with his mother when this incident
Speaker 1: is alleged to have occurred. He was on bail at
Speaker 1: the time, having just appeared in court over an allegation
Speaker 1: made by Brittaney Higgins that he raped her in Parliament
Speaker 1: House in early twenty nineteen. That trial was sensationally aborted
Speaker 1: in late twenty twenty two Good Evening.
Speaker 3: In an extraordinary turn of events, the rape trial of
Speaker 3: former Liberal staff at Bruce Lherman has been aborted after
Speaker 3: a dura's misconduct was discovered by a court sheriff.
Speaker 1: That's when Bruce lamb ensued Network ten and Wilkinson for defamation.
Speaker 1: The allegation made by Brittany Higgins was found on the
Speaker 1: balance of probabilities to be true by Justice Michael Lee
Speaker 1: in the Federal court defamation proceedings brought by Laman against
Speaker 1: Network ten and presenter Lisa Wilkinson. The complainant in the
Speaker 1: Tawomba matter, says she had consensual sex with Laman on
Speaker 1: the night they met and twice the next morning, but
Speaker 1: that he failed to use a condom despite her expectation.
Speaker 1: That he do so, she says she never consented to
Speaker 1: unprotected intercourse and if her allegation is proven, it's technically
Speaker 1: considered rape under Queensland law. Colloquially it's called stealfing and
Speaker 1: it was formally criminalized in Queensland in March as part
Speaker 1: of sweeping reforms to the way allihations of sexual assault
Speaker 1: and coercive control are treated by the justice system. Coming
Speaker 1: up Bruce Lamon's bid to get the whole matter thrown out.
Speaker 1: We'll be back after this break. So there's still lots
Speaker 1: of unanswered questions, aren't there, Mackenzie. You haven't been allowed
Speaker 1: to see the police brief of evidence, you haven't been
Speaker 1: allowed to hear the complainant's claims about what happened that night.
Speaker 1: So what do we know about what the magistrate's going
Speaker 1: to do in terms of committing this to trial or not.
Speaker 2: The matter has been adjourned until July fourth. At that
Speaker 2: time we will reconvene and the submission put forward by
Speaker 2: the defense will be considered by the magistrate. The Crown
Speaker 2: will have to provide its response in writing by July three,
Speaker 2: so we should at that point know whether or not
Speaker 2: this matter will press scene to a jury trial.
Speaker 1: Bruce Lemon appears to have depleted his funds in the
Speaker 1: other legal actions that he's had on foot. He's now
Speaker 1: representing himself in the appeal in the federal court. He's
Speaker 1: got a case in this case which, if he's paying
Speaker 1: those bills will already be running well into the multiple
Speaker 1: tens of thousands of dollars. How did he see him
Speaker 1: on his way out of court?
Speaker 2: Those questions were put to him as he was leaving
Speaker 2: by waiting journalists, but there was no response for mister
Speaker 2: Lhman at all. He just walked straight to his lawyer's car,
Speaker 2: and then as they were driving off, they beat the
Speaker 2: horn and waived at journalists as they walked past.
Speaker 1: It's quite an unusual scene, isn't it. Probably not what
Speaker 1: you're expecting when you went to cover a sexual assault
Speaker 1: matter this morning.
Speaker 2: It was a bit surprising, but we know that this
Speaker 2: case was meant to be three hours, and now we're
Speaker 2: going into two days. We keep getting Kervbull's thrown to us,
Speaker 2: so let's just see what happens when we come back
Speaker 2: next month. Mister Lehman won't have to be in the
Speaker 2: court room next time. He has been given permission to
Speaker 2: appear via video link or via telephone, so I don't
Speaker 2: expect we'll have this same sort of media circus again
Speaker 2: next time.
Speaker 1: Mackenzie is a journalist with The Australian. The Reserve Bank
Speaker 1: Board meets on Tuesday morning and is expected to hold
Speaker 1: the cash rate at four point three five percent for
Speaker 1: a fifth consecutive month. You can follow the decision live
Speaker 1: at Beaustralian dot com dot au.