Brittany Higgins’ partner David Sharaz discussed going after the ‘Liberal Party machine’ in his initial pitch to journalist Lisa Wilkinson.
More than 100 documents containing emails and text exchanges between the Network Ten star, executives, and producers were released by the court on Thursday evening, pulling back the curtain on how the 2021 report about Ms Higgins was put together.
Bruce Lehrmann is suing Network Ten and the former Project host for the airing of the program that published Ms Higgins allegation of rape against him at Parliament House in 2019.
The program did not name him.
David Sharaz (rear, in glasses) arrives with his fiancee Brittany Higgins’ legal team at the Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial in December, 2023. Mr Sharaz had discussed going after the ‘Liberal Party machine’ in his initial pitch to The Project journalist Lisa Wilkinson
The initial email with the subject line ‘MeToo, Liberal Party, Project Pitch’, was sent by Mr Sharaz to Ms Wilkinson on the morning of January 18.
He did not identify Ms Higgins who he said knew she would no longer be able to continue working for the party once she relaunched her police complaint.
‘I’ve got a sensitive story surrounding a sexual assault at Parliament House,’ Mr Sharaz wrote.
‘She’s asked me to be the one to get the story told this year.
‘The girl has been through a lot, and I’m deeply protective of making sure this is done right, given going after the Liberal Party machine is no easy feat.
He said his experience, as a former Sky News employee, gave him ‘insight’ Ms Higgins would ‘only get one pull of the trigger before they try and discredit and shut the story down’.
‘I can say this, it’s the first time something like that has happened under Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s watch. He can no longer use the excuse: ‘This is a bubble’ issue, or ‘this was before my time’.
Ms Wilkinson responded a couple of hours later indicating she was ‘very keen’ to look into the story further.
Lisa Wilkinson (left) arrives at the Federal Court of Australia in Sydney during Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation trial in December, 2023
In another email sent by Mr Sharaz a day later, he detailed Ms Higgins wanted the story to be aired in March so ‘Brittany can then leave Canberra and be with her dad in QLD’.
‘Brittany knows this will blow up her life, she’s terrified of the party, but wants to make sure no other woman is assaulted within Parliament House.’
Correspondence forwarded on January 20 by Wilkinson to The Project’s producers titled ‘HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL Canberra Story’, she noted there was ‘lots here to work with’.
Later that day, Mr Sharaz sent Ms Wilkinson a link to Mr Lehrmann’s LinkedIn, warning her not to head to the profile unless she set her account to private ‘or he’ll get a notification’.
‘I’ve gone to his Facebook and saved some photos of him just in case we need him,’ he wrote, attaching the pictures.
Ms Wilkinson later forwarded the email to producers Craig Campbell and Angus Lllewlyn.
‘Here is our guy,’ she said.
Wilkinson’s interview with Ms Higgins was at the centre of the five week defamation case that concluded on December 22.
The parties are now awaiting a judgement from Federal Court justice Michael Lee.
Mr Lehrmann’s criminal trial was aborted in 2022 due to jury misconduct. A retrial was dropped due to concerns about Ms Higgins mental health.
Mr Lehrmann has consistently denied the allegations.
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