Editorial
Bruce Lehrmann’s big lie

Bruce Lehrmann is a liar. For years now, he has lied about the night he raped Brittany Higgins. He has made a small industry from this lie. He has sold it to television networks, in exchange for cocaine and sex. He has laundered it in the Murdoch press, where he has been invited to mock his victim and her husband.

Some on the right have tried to make a bloated hero of him. Early on, Bettina Arndt raised money for his legal costs. She emailed friends on his behalf: “He’d love an occasional game of golf … and other opportunities for some discrete socialising.”

Lehrmann’s is the traumatising lie of the rapist. Unsatisfied by the damage of his crime, he then insists it never happened. It is the smirking lie of the man who thinks he’ll get away with it, who knows the system well enough to believe it has been built in his image. Everyone who has been involved with his charade should be ashamed.

On Wednesday, the full bench of the Federal Court found Lehrmann had raped Higgins. The court went further than the trial judge, finding that Lehrmann not only raped Higgins but that he knew she was not consenting. They rejected all four arguments of his appeal.

Lehrmann has indicated he intends to take his case to the High Court. He has an inexhaustible appetite for cruelty and failure. His lying so far has cost him at least $2 million.

For Higgins, it is a small justice. Her evidence flattened his specious case against Network Ten. His repudiation is her victory. His use of the court system has never been anything more than cynical, the hubris of believing he could profit from his own crime.

“Finally, it feels like I can breathe again,” Higgins said after the judgement.

“While on the face of it this was a defamation case against a media outlet, in reality this was once again a rape trial.

“I cannot begin to tell you how retraumatising it is to have your rapist weaponise the legal system against you for daring to speak out.

“Sadly, this isn’t uncommon. It’s a legal tactic that is being increasingly used around the world by perpetrators in a bid to sue victim-survivors into silence as a direct response to the #MeToo movement.”

Higgins is campaigning for reforms to sexual assault laws. She would like special powers for judges to dismiss cases brought with the intention of intimidating survivors. “Even after everything, I still believe in the importance of speaking out about gendered violence,” she says. “There is inherent value in showing the one in five Australians who have experienced sexual assault aren’t just statistics. They are your friend, mother, daughter, sister and neighbour.”

It is those words that should finish this story. They mean more than anything Bruce Lehrmann has ever thought or said.

This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on December 6, 2025 as "Bruce’s big lie".

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