Lisa Wilkinson will be called to the witness stand at 10.15am.
She will not aim to prove that Brittany Higgins was allegedly raped by Bruce Lehrmann – instead, she’ll try to prove that she did everything in her power to prepare a fair report of the allegations before The Project broadcast.
For Wilkinson, it could be a career-saving move.
Her life in the public eye came to a pause in the wake of her disaster Logies acceptance speech in 2022, which she won for her interview with Ms Higgins.
The speech delayed Mr Lehrmann’s criminal trial by three months and she faced such heavy criticism that she stopped making television appearances and was rarely seen in public at all.
On Thursday, she is expected to try and redeem herself.
She could be asked about her negative views on Linda Reynolds, following a lengthy rant about the former defence industry minister in a five-hour recorded meeting with Ms Higgins – a few weeks before the broadcast.
‘I’ve so got Linda Reynolds in my sights now,’ she said.
Network Ten producer, Angus Llewellyn, was cross-examined by Mr Lehrmann’s barrister Matthew Richardson SC on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Mr Llewellyn appeared to fumble on the witness stand while trying to explain why he accepted Ms Higgins’ version of events so readily.
Namely, why he didn’t notice that she airdropped him a screenshot taken at 8.45am on January 27, 2021, rather than in April 2019, as her statutory declaration suggested.
He failed to ask Ms Higgins for the metadata, relied only on her word, and put the photo to air – telling viewers it was an injury as a result of the alleged rape.
Mr Llewellyn also couldn’t explain why he didn’t quiz Ms Higgins over various inconsistencies in her version of events.
One example was a claim that she was not supported by Linda Reynolds and her chief of staff Fiona Brown, and forced to choose between her job and pursuing an official police complaint.
In her televised interview with Wilkinson, Ms Higgins said Senator Reynolds and Ms Brown as ‘nice’ but seemed to imply she had a feeling her job was on the line.
Mr Llewellyn told the court he didn’t discuss the finer details with Wilkinson, and it’s likely she will be probed about the same thing.
Wilkinson hired Sue Chrysanthou SC to represent her rather than using the lawyers for Network Ten.
