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Speaker 1: My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Dunda

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Speaker 1: Bungelung Calcuttin woman from Gadighl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges

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Speaker 1: that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the

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Speaker 1: Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres

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Speaker 1: Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to the

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Speaker 1: first peoples of these countries, both past and present.

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Speaker 2: Good morning and welcome to the Daily os. It's Tuesday,

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Speaker 2: the thirteenth of December. Sam, Happy birthday.

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Speaker 3: Thank you, Zarah heank Youlyn Good, I'm feeling twenty eight

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Speaker 3: and happy birthday. That's Taylor Swift as well.

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Speaker 2: Now, we heard earlier this month that the Bruce Lhermon

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Speaker 2: retrial had been dropped due to concerns it would pose

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Speaker 2: a significant risk to Britney Higgins's life. So what happens

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Speaker 2: from here, Well, a criminal trial is off the table,

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Speaker 2: but reports have indicated that civil cases could still be

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Speaker 2: brought by both Higgins and Lherman. There have also been

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Speaker 2: calls for an investigation into the role of the police

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Speaker 2: in the trial. So in today's deep dive, we're going

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Speaker 2: to look at what's happened so far and what could

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Speaker 2: happen next, But first sam the headlines.

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Speaker 3: The federal government will cut the number of subsidized psychology

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Speaker 3: visits in half next year, after it was raised to

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Speaker 3: twenty sessions in twenty twenty. It came after the release

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Speaker 3: of an independent evaluation that found many of the additional

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Speaker 3: sessions were being unused. Shadow Health Minister Anne Rustin called

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Speaker 3: the timing of the cuts staggering, while Health Minister Mark

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Speaker 3: Butler said the cuts would help more Australians get the

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Speaker 3: mental health care and support they need.

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Speaker 2: The new South Wales government has said it'll make rent

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Speaker 2: bidding illegal. Premio Dominic Pairite said the change would give

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Speaker 2: more people security and certainty so that they can plan

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Speaker 2: for their future. The change will apply from Saturday.

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Speaker 3: Bari's governor has said tourists don't need to worry about

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Speaker 3: a new Indonesian criminal code that will ban sex outside

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Speaker 3: of marriage. He said his government wouldn't be checking the

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Speaker 3: marital status of incoming tourists and that you could only

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Speaker 3: be prosecuted if a complaint was received by a family relative.

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Speaker 3: The new code will come into effect in twenty twenty five.

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Speaker 2: And the good news an electric yacht will be entered

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Speaker 2: into the Sydney to Hobart Race for the very first

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Speaker 2: time ever. This year, the Jbird will make history when

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Speaker 2: it launches from Sydney Harbor on Boxing Day, and it'll

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Speaker 2: be powered by six twenty two kilogram batteries in the

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Speaker 2: center of the yacht. Before we go any further, a

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Speaker 2: quick trigger warning on this deep dive. It does deal

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Speaker 2: with sexual assault. Support is available twenty four to seven

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Speaker 2: at one eight hundred respect one eight hundred seven three

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Speaker 2: seven seven three to two.

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Speaker 3: So there's been a lot of news over the last

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Speaker 3: few weeks about the Bruce Lehman case, and just because

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Speaker 3: the retrial has been called off, as you said, doesn't

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Speaker 3: mean we've seen the end of this story. It feels

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Speaker 3: like an appropriate time to look at what's going to

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Speaker 3: happen next. But perhaps to start, Zarah, can you go

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Speaker 3: back and give us some background on what's happened up

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Speaker 3: to this point.

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Speaker 2: Okay, So, Brittany Higgins alleged that Bruce Lehman sexually assaulted

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Speaker 2: her in an office in Parliament House back in twenty nineteen.

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Speaker 2: At the time, both were working as staffers for the

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Speaker 2: Liberal Party. A criminal trial was then held in the

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Speaker 2: Act Supreme Court, and that began on October fourth this year.

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Speaker 2: Lherman has consistently denied the allegations and he pled not

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Speaker 2: guilty in that criminal trial.

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Speaker 3: And the trial didn't reach a conclusion why not.

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Speaker 2: So the jury had been deliberating for a couple of

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Speaker 2: days when on October twenty seventh, a mistrial was declared,

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Speaker 2: and that was because a member of the jury brought

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Speaker 2: unauthorized materials into the jury room and they were discovered

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Speaker 2: in a routine tidying of the room by a Supreme

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Speaker 2: Court security officer. Jurors had been repeatedly instructed not to

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Speaker 2: conduct independent research beyond the evidence presented at the trial,

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Speaker 2: and this was really labored by the judge because of

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Speaker 2: how much publicity this trial had attracted. At the time,

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Speaker 2: Chief Justice Lucy McCallum expressed regret over what had happened, saying, quote,

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Speaker 2: it may be that no harm has been done, but

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Speaker 2: that is not a risk I can take.

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Speaker 3: And when we got that news, we still thought that

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Speaker 3: another trial might be on the way.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So that was our understanding at the time. A

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Speaker 2: retrial was scheduled for February of next year, but then

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Speaker 2: on December twod the Act Director of Public Prosecutions. His

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Speaker 2: name is Shane Drumgold. He announced he'd not be proceeding

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Speaker 2: with a planned retrial because he was concerned it would

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Speaker 2: present a quote significant and unacceptable risk to Britney Higgins's life.

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Speaker 2: That decision meant that there will be no verdict on

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Speaker 2: the criminal allegations made by Higgins. And again Lerman continues

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Speaker 2: to deny these claims.

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Speaker 3: Right, and there's another element to all of this, and

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Speaker 3: that's the call for an inquiry into the handling of

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Speaker 3: the investigation. What do we know about that aspect?

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Speaker 2: Well, shame Drumgold hoo I meant before is the prosecutor here.

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Speaker 2: He's accused the Australian Federal Police of pressuring him not

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Speaker 2: to proceed with the case and trying to undermine it.

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Speaker 2: According to the Act's Attorney General, Shane Raddenbury, the AFP's

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Speaker 2: conduct has now been referred to the Federal Law Enforcement

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Speaker 2: Integrity Watchdog. The Police Union has called drum Gold's accusation

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Speaker 2: a smear and called for a broader legal investigation of

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Speaker 2: all the parties involved, including the prosecutors.

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Speaker 3: So that avenue is still unfolding, but there's also been

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Speaker 3: some talk of more trials, this time not criminal cases,

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Speaker 3: but civil ones. Before we dive into it, can you

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Speaker 3: give me a rundown on the difference between these two.

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Speaker 2: Yes, So, a criminal trial involves the prosecution of a

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Speaker 2: person for an alleged crime, and in this case, it

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Speaker 2: was an alleged sexual assault. So that case has now

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Speaker 2: ended and there was no judgment made on that it

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Speaker 2: was a mistrial and there will be no further retrial.

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Speaker 2: But on the other hand, civil trials are disputes between parties,

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Speaker 2: one party claiming to have been wronged by another, and

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Speaker 2: oftentimes they're seeking financial compensation or damages for the resulting

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Speaker 2: harm that they are alleging. While criminal convictions must be

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Speaker 2: proven beyond reasonable doubt, civil matters are a bit different.

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Speaker 2: That threshold is different, and so that's decided on the

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Speaker 2: balance of probabilities. So it's basically saying it's more likely

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Speaker 2: than not that the party was wronged. That is the

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Speaker 2: threshold that they need to meet.

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Speaker 3: Okay, And because the criminal trial of Lherman has been dropped,

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Speaker 3: what civil avenues are open?

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Speaker 2: Well, if we start with Lherman, it's been widely reported

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Speaker 2: that he's considering suing some media outlets and journalists for defamation,

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Speaker 2: and that's the act of damaging somebody's reputations. So a

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Speaker 2: potential lawsuit could focus on coverage of Higgins's allegation or

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Speaker 2: on the publication of a speech that she gave outside

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Speaker 2: court after that mistrial was declared. There is no suggestion, though,

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Speaker 2: that Lehman plans to sue Higgins herself, but it should

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Speaker 2: be said that any defamation trial would have to include

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Speaker 2: her allegations, because that is at the center of all

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Speaker 2: of this. She's tweeted that she'd be willing to testify

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Speaker 2: that her allegations are true.

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Speaker 3: And what about Brittany Higgins. What have we heard about

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Speaker 3: potential civil claims from her?

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Speaker 2: Well? Several media outlets have reported that Higgins has pursued

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Speaker 2: a civil claim against the federal government and former ministers

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Speaker 2: Linda Reynolds and Machaylia Cash. They were, of course, both

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Speaker 2: her former employers. The Nine Papers are reported that the

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Speaker 2: claims include damages due to negligence. Reynolds has confirmed the

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Speaker 2: existence of a civil claim. During the trials, Reynolds was

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Speaker 2: accused by prosecutor Shane Drumgold of seeking to assist Lehman's

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Speaker 2: legal team, but she has denied that she acted inappropriately.

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Speaker 3: I think it's important to read that helpline again. If

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Speaker 3: this episode has brought up anything for you. Support is

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Speaker 3: available twenty four to seven at one eight hundred respect

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Speaker 3: that's one eight hundred seven three two seven three seven.

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Speaker 3: Thank you for joining us on the Daily OS this morning.

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Speaker 3: Will be back again tomorrow. Until then, have a great day.