Lisa Wilkinson denies turning to senior politicians over Higgins’ rape allegations
Channel 10 personality and former The Project host Lisa Wilkinson has denied claims that she approached senior level politicians with a request to pose questions about Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations against Bruce Lehrmann during Question Time.
The dismissal came in the wake of Channel 7’s Spotlight episode featuring the formerly accused, where a recording of a phone call between Wilkinson, her producer Angus Llewellyn, Higgins, and Higgins’ partner David Sharaz was exposed.
During the conversation, which was recorded in January 2021, they were reportedly discussing which politicians they might be able to work with to steer the conversation in parliament, with Wilkinson telling Higgins that she wanted to see her “enunciate the fact that this place [Parliament House] is all about suppression of people’s natural sense of justice”.
Sharaz noted that he had a “friend in Labor”, and that Senator Katy Gallagher could “probe and continue it [the conversation] going”. At one stage, Wilkinson went so far as to claim that “certainly Albo” should be considered, though she later went on to retract that, and suggested “Tanya Plibersek, definitely”.
And while Sharaz had questioned what Wilkinson hoped to gain from the conversation, Wilkinson assured them that that wasn’t the case.
“No. Whether it’s white privilege, male domination, whether it’s, you know, criminal activity. I am from the western suburbs of Sydney. I have always been motivated by exactly the same thing, people who deserve to be heard not being heard,” she explained.
Wilkinson had more to say on the matter when it came to the likes of former deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop, sharing her frustration about the “many opportunities” she had to “speak out against the culture”.
“The minute she was out of there [she said], ‘oh it’s really sexist’,” Wilkinson added. “I tried to get her on the record with that so many times when she could’ve actually effected change, and she wouldn’t.”
And now, despite the leaked recording - which was handed over by Channel 10 under subpoena during the criminal trial, with more shared on TV than in court - Wilkinson has released a statement to declare that she did not approach the politicians in question.
“Nor did I speak to any other politicians, their minders or apparatchiks,” she said.
The audio came up during Sunrise as well, when Natalie Barr asked their entertainment commentator, Peter Ford, whether or not the recording might be a problem down the line.
“Was that coaching?” she asked. “Or was that a journalist talking before the interview?”
Ford agreed that it was a fine line, then added, “but I generally think when someone says, ‘I don’t want to put words in your mouth,’ that is exactly what they want to do.”
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