197 Eighthly, her evidence the Commonwealth "came to an agreement that a failure of a duty of care was made" (T1025.28–29) when the Commonwealth made no such admission of liability (Ex 59).
198 Ninthly, Mr Lehrmann submitted that Ms Higgins' draft manuscript (Ex 49), "was full of inaccuracies and inconsistencies with her evidence" and her unsatisfactory excuse that "the book is crap" (T743.44), notwithstanding she was under a contractual obligation to tell the truth in the manuscript (T735.29–34).
199 Tenthly, Mr Lehrmann relies upon what he describes as Ms Higgins' "misleading and dishonest claims about lack of forensic analysis of Mr Lehrmann's phone in her speech to the media after the mistrial", when she well knew Mr Lehrmann's phone had been analysed by the AFP.
200 Before moving on, it is convenient to deal with the last two points shortly. They are not of real significance. As to the book, as the saying goes, an autobiography usually reveals nothing bad about its writer except his memory. I propose to focus on representations made on more solemn occasions than those appearing in a draft of what, by its very nature, is a self-serving account. As to the final point, senior counsel for Mr Lehrmann suggested (not unfairly) that these factually inaccurate comments reflect a broader aim of Ms Higgins to engage in commentary to shape the public relations narrative from 2021 to draw attention to what she and her supporters consider to be the unfairness of her account being scrutinised or questioned in any way, but the speech was given at a highly emotional time, and it does not seem to me to have much present relevance.
IV2019 Conduct Issues
201 Consistently with what I have identified as temporal differences, I will initially deal with these matters raised by Mr Lehrmann to the extent they involve Ms Higgins' conduct immediately after the incident in 2019.
202 The notion Ms Higgins' evidence has been so discredited by post-incident representations to Mr Dillaway or the AFP (or Ms Brown as discussed below), such that the Court cannot safely rely on anything she has said, not only puts the point much too highly but is simplistic.
203 There are inconsistencies and untruths in 2019, but, as the respondents and Ms Higgins point out, they must be contextualised. Additionally, there is the lack of nuance and superficiality
