Exactly how much rent Channel 7 paid to house Bruce Lehrmann to live a beachside apartment has now been revealed.
And it’s far in excess of the average Sydney rent for a unit.
Under an arrangement reached with the former Liberal staffer to deliver a “bombshell” interview to Seven’s Spotlight program, the network agreed to pay his rent for a year.
Former 60 Minutes reporter Liam Bartlett fronted the television special with the man who was accused of the rape of Brittany Higgins at Parliament House.
Mr Lehrmann pleaded not guilty, was never convicted and the charge against him was dropped in December, 2022. He maintains his innocence.
Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann have both been in the witness box in recent weeks as part of his defamation trial against Channel 10 and its star interviewer Lisa Wilkinson.
He is suing over Ms Wilkinson’s February 2021 interview with Ms Higgins on The Project regarding the Parliament House allegations. Mr Lehrmann claims that even though he wasn’t explicitly named in the segment he was still defamed.
Earlier in the case, it emerged that Channel 7 had an agreement with Mr Lehrmann where it paid his rent for a year while he agreed to provide “all information, documents, video and photographs” reasonably requested by Seven.
However, Mr Lehrmann said he did not do this and only provided an interview.
The rent was paid by Seven on an apartment in Sydney’s northern beaches between April 2023 to April 2024.
When he was in the witness box, Mr Lehrmann was asked by barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC how much the rent was on the unit. He said he didn’t know because the “network handled the accommodation arrangements”.
However court documents have now revealed that Channel 7 paid $4000 a fortnight for the flat, or $104,000 a year.
The average fortnightly rent for a unit in Sydney is around $1360.
An invoice for the accommodation was released by the Federal Court as part of the court case.
An exclusivity agreement between Seven and Mr Lehrmann was also part of the documents.
It read that “Seven will provide the Interviewee 12 months’ accommodation at a residence to be agreed by Seven and the interviewee.”
At the time of the Spotlight interview, Channel 7 stated that there was “no payment of Bruce Lehrmann for the interview, however, the program assisted with accommodation as part of the filming of the report”.
A Channel 7 spokeswomen said that the statement about accommodation was “well reported back then”.
“The 7 NEWS Spotlight report was rightfully judged by the esteemed Walkley Foundation as one of the top three scoops of 2023,” she added.
However, the Walkley Foundation, whose annual awards are the most prestigious in Australian media, has said it will review its rules on “chequebook journalism” following the rent revelation.
In a statement, the foundation said that it could in future rescind nominations, and even cancel winners, if they failed to make a “full disclosure of any and all payments or benefits-in-kind to participants or third parties”.
The Spotlight program is still posted as a nominee in the “scoop of the year” category of the 2023 Walkleys. But it missed out on the top gong to The Daily Telegraph’s reporting of the tasering death of 95 year old woman Clare Rowland.
‘Aren’t you paying his rent’
On her final day of giving evidence at the defamation trial, Ms Higgins snapped at Channel 7 reporter outside court and brought up Mr Lehrmann’s rent payments.
Ms Higgins was asked by the reporter whether she would give evidence in another criminal trial.
“And should there be (another trial)?” the reporter asked.
She responded: “Aren’t you paying his rent?”
Ms Higgins walked away without answering any other questions from the media pack.
The court had heard Ms Higgins was paid a total $2.3m in compensation after settling her personal injury claim with the Commonwealth.
In December last year, Ms Higgins settled her claim following mediation with the Commonwealth.
“Yes I received money from the Commonwealth, they made an agreement that a failure of duty of care was made,” Ms Higgins told the court.
“And they did pay me.”
She said the gross settlement was for $2.3m and after paying legal fees and taxes, she received $1.9m.
“I received 1.9 million … I think around 2.3 (million) was the amount and then there were taxes and the lawyer took some,” Ms Higgins said.
“But I was never focused on that … it was only on what I received that I cared about.”