Exactly three years ago on Thursday, Channel Ten aired an explosive interview by its star broadcaster with a young former Liberal staffer who alleged she was raped by a colleague in the Parliament House office of her boss, a minister of the Crown.
When Lisa Wilkinson finished the interview, two days before it was broadcast on February 15, 2021, she texted a triumphant “mission complete!” to her boss, veteran news chief Peter Meakin.
Lisa Wilkinson leaves court on Wednesday.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
Back then, there was no hint of the woe that would follow – a political scandal that would contribute to the downfall of a government, a criminal trial aborted, strong protestations of innocence by the young man accused, rancour between police and prosecutors over the worthiness of that trial, a defamation suit, Wilkinson’s own cross-claim in that defamation suit, an inquiry into the criminal trial, then a court bid to overturn the findings of that inquiry, amid allegations of inappropriate professional contact between the inquiry head (a former judge) and a journalist.
Three years ago, Wilkinson could never have foreseen how bitterly relations with her employer, Channel Ten, would break down in the intervening years.
On Wednesday, she won a significant victory against the network (she is still officially on the books, although no longer appears on television) when Channel Ten conceded it was reasonable for her to hire her own lawyers to defend her interests in the defamation trial brought against Ten and Wilkinson by the accused rapist Bruce Lehrmann. The judge also decided it was reasonable.
Lehrmann was not named as the alleged rapist in Wilkinson’s 2021 interview, but he argued he was identifiable anyway.
Michael Elliott, SC, for Wilkinson, said Ten had led her on a “merry dance”, only to capitulate at the last minute, and while such late-stage changes of heart are common in litigation, it was hard to disagree.
Throughout evidence adduced in court, it seemed Wilkinson had been thrown under a bus by her employer.
Wilkinson wins the day – but messy legal battle still has a long way to run
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14.02.2024
Exactly three years ago on Thursday, Channel Ten aired an explosive interview by its star broadcaster with a young former Liberal staffer who alleged she was raped by a colleague in the Parliament House office of her boss, a minister of the Crown.
When Lisa Wilkinson finished the interview, two days before it was broadcast on February 15, 2021, she texted a triumphant “mission complete!” to her boss, veteran news chief Peter Meakin.
Lisa Wilkinson leaves court on Wednesday.Credit: Dominic........
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