Bruce Lehrmann received a defamation settlement of $445,000 from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and News Corp, court documents have revealed.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The combined figure, going towards his legal costs, became public on Wednesday evening after Mr Lehrmann's deeds of settlement were published to the Federal Court website.
The ABC agreed to pay Mr Lehrmann $150,000 after it was sued for its decision to run a live broadcast of Brittany Higgins addressing the National Press Club in February 2022.
News Life Media Pty Ltd agreed to pay him $295,000 following the journalist's reporting of Ms Higgins' allegation she was raped inside Parliament House in 2019.
The news.com.au stories published by Samantha Maiden two years later, over which the journalist and her employer were being sued for defamation, remain online.
The court documents were made public despite a last-minute and ultimately fruitless attempt to have the deeds suppressed.
Mr Lehrmann settled his civil suits against both media companies prior to his current defamation trial proceedings against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson relating to reporting of the same story.
$143,000 of the ABC sum was paid to Lehrmann's lawyers, and the other $7000 to ABC journalist Laura Tingle's solicitors relating to the return of subpoenas.
As part of the settlement, the national broadcaster was also required to remove a Facebook video of the National Press Club speech and agree not to republish the speech on YouTube.
On Wednesday afternoon, Justice Michael Lee denied applications made to suppress the contents of the ABC's entire deed of settlement, and the figure agreed between News Corp and Mr Lehrmann.
"I do not believe that either order should be made," the judge said.
MORE ON THE DEFAMATION TRIAL:
"The order must demonstrate necessity to prevent prejudice to the administration of justice and not merely be objectively sensible or desirable," Justice Lee said.
The judge concluded by saying that money being exchanged due to the settlements was "as plain as a pikestaff" and the need to keep the figures confidential "alludes me".
Neither the ABC or News Corp have admitted any liability as part of their settlements.
No findings have been made against Mr Lehrmann, who has always denied raping Ms Higgins when the pair worked for the then-defence industry minister.
Tim Piccione
Tim is a journalist with the Canberra Times covering the ACT courts. He came to the nation's capital via the Daily Advertiser in Wagga. Contact: tim.piccione@canberratimes.com.au.
Tim is a journalist with the Canberra Times covering the ACT courts. He came to the nation's capital via the Daily Advertiser in Wagga. Contact: tim.piccione@canberratimes.com.au.
