Finally, the media can report that Bruce Lehrmann is the ‘high profile’ individual charged with two counts of rape in Toowoomba in Queensland.
Lehrmann’s association with this case has been a widely known not-so-secret, secret in media and social media circles, including by Women’s Agenda. However, the media has been unable to report his name due to Queensland laws banning the identify of accused rapists being made public.
Those archaic and outdated laws hailing back to standard “rape myths” — like the notion of women making up assault allegations to destroy reputations — were repealled, as of this month.
Despite this, Lehrmann and his lawyers have been desperately trying to appeal for the laws to apply retrospectively, noting Lehrmann’s serious “risk of harm” should his name be publicly released.
But on Thursday, Justice Peter Applegarth declared time was up.
He noted that Lehrmann had hardly shied away from the public spotlight in recent times, giving three high-profile television interviews in 2023, and seeming “well enough to engage with sections of the national media”.
As such, Justice Applegarth said he hoped Seven had “paid him or the solicitor a lot of money … for the consequences it has had on this application, if nothing else.”
Lehrmann declared in his first Seven interview that the evidence in his trial was “fabricated” and that “it would appear” he was framed. He also offered some memorable interview lines, such as “let’s light some fires”.
Lehrmann’s legal team had hoped to keep his name suppressed in relation to these current charges, sharing a report from his clinical psychologist Dr James Brown, who had diagnosed Lehrmann with adjustment disorder and depressed mood, with symptoms persisting since the allegations of him sexual assaulting Brittany Higgins (which he has always denied) were first aired in 2021.
According to The Guardian, one of the publications that had fought to have the suppression order on Lehrmann’s name removed, the clinical psychologist declared Lehrmann remained a “high risk to himself under the pressures he is facing, and to allow him to be identified in the current matter may result in dire consequence.”
Magistrate Clare Kelly agreed with the legal team who had fought to remove the suppression order, ruling that Lehrmann’s willing participation in media interviews in June and August of this year was “inconsistent with the contention that the media pursuit had been relentless.”
Justice Applegarth then suggested that rather than move to “lower his public profile and retreat from the media spotlight” in recent months, Lehrmann had instead chosen to appear multiple times on national television, revisiting the events from early 2021 that the psychologist argued had “triggered his mental illness”.
In Queensland, Lehrmann is charged with two counts of raping a woman in 2021, with early committal proceedings being in progress since January this year at Toowoomba magistrates court. Lehrmann has not yet been committed to stand trial.
Queensland changed its alleged rapist-naming protection laws this month, thanks to legislation that sought to remove the “reputational damage” protections that prevent those charged with sexual assault from being named until they are committed to stand trial.
Former Attorney-General Shannon Fentimann said on proposing these changes last year that the bans on publishing offender names came down to archaic “rape myths”, such as the idea that women make up allegations.
Accused sex offenders can be named in all other states, and the ACT, with some restrictions on identifying the individual if it identifies the alleged victim. The Northern Territory is the only jurisdiction now where someone charged with rape can still not be identified until committed to stand trial. Although in South Australia, alleged offenders can still not be named until their first court appearance.
Lehrmann was accused of raping Brittany Higgins in an office in Parliament House in March 2019, and previously faced one charge of sexual intercourse without consent in the ACT.
Lehrmann’s initial trial was abandoned after a juror accessed external research on sexual assault despite repeated warnings from the judge not to do so. At the time, a retrial was set for February 2023. In December 2022, Shane Drumgold, the Director of Public Prosecutions, announced that the retrial of Lehrmann would not go ahead, stating that “I have made the difficult decision that it is no longer in the public interest to pursue a prosecution at the risk of the complainant’s life,” Drumgold said at the time.