The finding was made by Justice Michael Lee at the Australian Federal Court in a defamation trial initiated by Lehrmann against Network Ten and other media operators.

[4] On 15 February 2021, Liberal Party staffer Brittany Higgins alleged to two media outlets, news.com.au and The Project,[5] that she was raped in the early hours of 23 March 2019 in then-Defence Industry Minister Senator Linda Reynolds' office in the ministerial wing of Parliament House by a colleague, later named as Bruce Lehrmann, after security guards admitted the pair into the building.

[6][7] Higgins said she became heavily intoxicated at a work party and left with her colleague in a taxi, believing they would both be dropped at their respective homes; instead she said she was taken to Parliament House and raped while slipping in and out of consciousness,[8][9] waking to find her skirt around her waist.

[5][7] Three days later, on 26 March 2019, Lehrmann was told by Fiona Brown, Reynolds' chief of staff, to "collect his belongings from the office and leave" because of his late-night entry into the office at 1:48 am on the previous Saturday, and an earlier unrelated incident of him mishandling a classified document,[7][13] with Reynolds consequently terminating Lehrmann's employment formally on 5 April 2019.

[15] Higgins went to the police after the alleged rape, but dropped the complaint in April 2019, fearful the report would result in termination of her employment.

[16] Eventually Higgins transferred to work for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business Minister Michaelia Cash for a year before resigning a month before going public with her allegations.

[29] Lehrmann, appeared by telephone at the Magistrates Court of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) on 5 November 2021 and pleaded not guilty to raping Higgins.

[31] Higgins made a complaint against the Australian Federal Police for unlawfully giving Lehrmann's defence team protected evidence, including counselling notes and video recordings.

[41][42] Higgins subsequently criticised the criminal justice system on live television, saying it "has long failed to deliver outcomes to victims of sexual assault".

[43] The matter was relisted for 20 February 2023,[41][42] although a senior barrister soon after said it remained to be seen if the case is retried, given the extent of comments by politicians and media personalities now making Lehrmann virtually untriable.

[58] The senior investigating officer admitted that police made a mistake in providing Higgins' private counselling notes to Lehrmann's legal team.

[63][64] Recommendations issued included training police on handling of protected confidential material, disclosures to the defence, and the threshold for charging over sexual offences.

[67] Lehrmann settled defamation proceedings against News Corp and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) for $295,000 and $150,000 respectively without admission of liability.

[71] On 15 April 2024, Justice Michael Lee of the Federal Court ruled that, on the balance of probabilities, Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins at Parliament House in 2019.

[81] The submission, prepared by Matt Collins, argued it was an abuse of process because Lehrmann came to the Federal Court seeking substantial damages when he knew the allegations he complained about were true.

[85] Lawyers for Lisa Wilkinson and Network Ten requested $200,000 in security to cover its legal costs if Lehrmann loses the appeal.

[85] On 23 October 2024, the federal court decided that Lehrmann's appeal can proceed without him having to pay any security and a stay was put on collection of costs.

[86] On 26 October 2023, it was revealed that, in December 2022, Lehrmann was charged with two counts of rape in a matter unrelated to the allegations made by Brittany Higgins.

Justice Peter Applegarth in ruling against the continuation of the suppression order made reference to media interviews that Lehrmann had engaged in, and how his participation in them was hard to reconcile with the psychologist's report.

[94] However, Lehrmann later withdrew as a speaker a day after the conclusion of his defamation trial, being "concerned that his participation may threaten the audience, jeopardise this important event, and distract from its main purpose".