893 Only one change was made due to the materials provided by Mr Carswell (line 107) when a mention was made that the Government had stated that Senator Reynolds and Ms Brown had encouraged Ms Higgins to speak to the police, and Ms Higgins was guaranteed there would be no impact on her career. But as counsel for Mr Lehrmann submit, this was undercut by the succeeding segment regarding what Ms Higgins said happened to her. This was done advisedly. Mr Meakin suggested this structure to avoid the Government getting "the final word" (Ex R718), with the inclusion of the almost immediate reference to "the alleged assault left [Ms Higgins] feeling she had to choose between her career and seeking justice" and then further claims attacking what the Government spokesman had been reported as saying.
894 It is unnecessary to spend further time on what was broadcast, save to make three points.
895 First, at the conclusion of the broadcast, Ms Wilkinson said (line 167): "we of course approached all the people named in our story, and all our requests for interviews were declined". This was misleading in that: (a) Senator Cash was approached but was not asked if she was willing to be interviewed (Ex R625); and (b) Mr Meakin gave evidence (T1978.30) that this comment "was intended to refer to [Mr Lehrmann], even though he wasn't named in the story". Although literally correct because Mr Lehrmann was not named, in context, the clear impression to an ordinary viewer would have been as Mr Meakin explained, but, of course, he had not said that he declined to be interviewed.
896 Secondly, after the above comment, and referring to statements being available on the website, Ms Wilkinson said:
But there is some good news for Brittany tonight, after almost two years, Parliament House authorities have finally told us the CCTV will be available to investigators.
897 This was misleading, and not in a minor way. As I have explained, the CCTV had been seen by the AFP as early as 16 April 2019; had been promptly secured; and had never been unavailable in the event it was required to be used for the purpose of a criminal prosecution. The only rationale for this form of words was to: (a) reinforce the notion that Ms Higgins had been improperly denied access to CCTV footage by Ms Brown, an allegation expressly made earlier in the programme; and (b) implicitly suggest that some "roadblock" had finally been removed, presumably because of the pending publicity, thus reinforcing the validity of the cover-up allegation.
