Bruce Lehrmann blames judge in last-ditch appeal to High Court

Former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann has appealed to the country’s highest court to overturn a finding that he raped colleague Brittany Higgins inside Parliament House.

Lehrmann applied to the Supreme Court on Friday for special leave to hear his case, arguing that the 2024 dismissal of his defamation bid against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson by Judge Michael Lee was based on improperly conducted research that compromised the judge’s impartiality.

Lehrmann had filed a lawsuit against the channel over an interview with Higgins. Project, However Lee confirmed the network’s defense that the report was accuratefound on the balance of civilian probabilities that Lehrmann raped Higgins.

This is Lehrmann’s latest attempt to overturn the decision in a multimillion-dollar legal battle. In December the Full Federal Court rejected his first appeal against defamation loss and produced even more devastating findings that former federal Liberal staffers were not only reckless but knew Higgins had not consented to sex.

Lehrmann, who was not convicted after the criminal case against him collapsed due to juror misconduct, maintained that he did not rape Higgins.

His lawyer, Zali Burrows, argued in the application that the High Court should reject both Lee’s and the Full Federal Court’s findings and send the matter back to the Federal Court.

Although Lee stated that his decision was not based on matters that were not in evidence, he argued that Lee had conducted his own research and obtained “illegal extraneous material”.

The document noted the “extensive empirical studies” Lee cited on how victims can freeze when sexually assaulted, and said the research influenced Lee’s decision.

“It should have been clear to the Full Court that the chief justice had conducted his own investigation and obtained irrelevant material,” the document said.