Politics is an ugly business. The legacy media are even uglier. The annals of Australia’s political history since Federation are littered with grubby shenanigans and a long train of wreckage smashed, picked over, looted and left to burn by the political-media class. The Brittany Higgins–Bruce Lehrmann saga will surely be remembered as one of the ugliest and most shamefully opportunist.
Not that it doesn’t have plenty of company. Even in the last decade or so, the political-media pack-feeding has ruined plenty of lives, even leading in one case (the 1997 Travel Rorts affair) to attempted suicide. But for sheer, naked political bastardry, this one surely stands out.
Leaving aside the heavily disputed claims and scarce facts of the allegations at the centre of the scandal, the behaviour of the media and political class has in almost every instance left everything to be desired.
In Australia, most prosecutors remain largely anonymous. This is in stark contrast to the United States, where district attorneys create significant public profiles because they are (usually) elected by voters.
ACT director of public prosecutions (DPP) Shane Drumgold appears intent on changing that narrative, with repeated public appearances after the disastrous Bruce Lehrmann mistrial.
In other words, Drumgold is what we in Australia call a “media tart”, desperately milking his 15 minutes in any way he can. Including by attacking Australian Federal Police as being somehow in cahoots with the accused’s defence team.
Drumgold’s complaints appear highly unusual, especially given the eventual result of the trial. If the police had advised Drumgold to not continue with the prosecution, then such advice appears to have been prophetic. Not only did Drumgold fail to secure a guilty verdict, but Brittany Higgins appears utterly broken, now recovering in a Queensland mental health clinic.
As Janet Albrechtsen pointed out recently, much of that is surely the result of her own actions.
She is also, allegedly, several million dollars richer, courtesy of a compensation process that makes the Star Chamber look like the model of legal transparency. But more on that later.
His decision to prosecute the Lehrmann case at first instance appeared to be incredibly high risk. In particular given the extraordinary public awareness of the matter, including desperate commentary in Parliament from then prime minister Scott Morrison.
In fact, she and her boyfriend by their own admission timed their media appearances, ahead of formally speaking to police, to inflict maximum damage on the then-government, and enlisted the help of a Labor “friend” who is now Minister of Finance (in other words, overseeing the very department that decided on her compo payout).
In the Lehrmann case, there was a lack of physical evidence — Higgins didn’t make a formal complaint to police for two years but she spoke to the Australian Federal Police shortly after the incident, at the time asking officers not to pursue an investigation. There were difficulties with her testimony coupled with the unfortunate circumstance of Higgins discussing a $325,000 book deal with Peter FitzSimons and Lisa Wilkinson prior to lodging the police complaint.
A text message to her boyfriend noting that Higgins was “clearing out [her] phone ahead of the police” also didn’t help in a trial that completely depended on the credibility of the defendant and his alleged victim.
Nor did the fact that she avoided further formal interviews with police, choosing to do media appearances and front a feminist rally instead.
Given the lack of corroborating evidence, Drumgold’s decision to prosecute such a difficult matter amid the political backdrop and intense media interest was clearly the wrong one. And the result is two young people whose lives have been largely destroyed.
Crikey
Although one is now considerably richer. Which brings us to the compensation process, such as it was.
The Albanese government muzzled former Liberal minister Linda Reynolds in her defence against Brittany Higgins’ multimillion-dollar lawsuit, threatening to tear up an agreement to pay her legal fees and any costs awarded unless she agreed not to attend a mediation.
So, Brittany Higgins may claim that she has been “denied justice”: but she has had every opportunity to air her accusations. The people she has accused have had no such luck. Bruce Lehrmann has been denied the finality of a verdict. Her former employers were silenced from speaking out in their own defence.
Senator Reynolds is understood to have been determined to defend herself against Ms Higgins’ allegations but in correspondence obtained by The Australian, the commonwealth’s lawyers told her she could not take part in the mediation.
Senator Reynolds was therefore unable to dispute any of Ms Higgins’ allegations about a failure to support her or properly investigate the incident, some of which were contested at Mr Lehrmann’s trial […]
The Australian understands [Senator Michaelia Cash] was also sent a letter muzzling her and instructing her not to attend the mediation in return for her legal fees being paid by the commonwealth.
Instead, alleged millions of taxpayer dollars have been handed over in what taxpayers could be forgiven for thinking was nothing more than a politically-motivated rubber-stamp exercise.
The taxpayer-funded settlement was revealed by Ms Higgins’ lawyers in a late-night statement on Tuesday apparently designed to minimise media coverage.
Legal sources have expressed astonishment that such a complex and expensive settlement was resolved in a single sitting.
The Australian
Does anyone seriously think this whole business doesn’t stink to high heaven?
