Sex therapist turned men’s rights activist Bettina Arndt says that Bruce Lehrmann is living “like a hermit” after he was driven out of his last house by media attention.
Ms Arndt, who rose to fame as a sex advice columnist in the 1970s, is organising a conference where Mr Lehrmann is the headline act in June.
Tickets to hear Mr Lehrmann speak at the Restoring the Presumption of Innocence Conference in Sydney are expected to cost $80-$100.
The 74 year old is a published author who wrote a number of books on sex advice, including The Bettina Arndt Guide to Lovemaking for Women before also running a mail-order lingerie and sex toys.
Writing over the weekend, she insisted that reports Mr Lehrmann had been partying at a North Sydney home where he was staying after his lease paid for by Channel 7 came to an end, were overblown.
“Where was the presumption of innocence for Bruce Lehrmann in the face of this latest media onslaught?” Ms Arndt said.
And she revealed that “attractive cousins” of his mate were among the women photographed coming and going from the home.
“Journalists have been hounding Lehrmann day and night, gloating that he has nowhere to live,” she said.
“They succeeded in destroying the temporary sanctuary he was offered by a friend, who was driven crazy by photographers trying to get photographs of Lehrmann with the man’s attractive cousins, and journalists falsely claiming Lehrmann was involved in wild parties at the venue.
“Don’t believe anything you read about Lehrmann’s current wild social life. He’s been forced by our appalling media to live like a hermit.
“If anyone has the right to speak publicly about the presumption of innocence it is Bruce Lehrmann – the ultimate victim of trial by media.”
Ms Arndt has sparked controversy for years over her views on consent and rape.
In the 1990s she presented a Four Corners episode on ABC TV about sexual consent titled “Yes, No, Maybe”.
In recent years she made headlines when she spoke in support of comments made by a Queensland detective who spoke to the media regarding the domestic violence murders of Hannah Clarke and her children.
The detective drew widespread concern after remarking that investigators had an open mind about the domestic violence killings and the motivations and mentioned a “husband being driven too far”.
“But note the misplaced outrage. How dare police deviate from the feminist script of seeking excuses … and explanations when women stab their partners to death, or drive their children into dams but immediately judging a man in these circumstances as simply representing the evil violence that is in all men,” Ms Arndt wrote.
Her remarks, in which she also insisted she did not condone the killings, prompted calls to cancel Ms Arndt’s Order of Australia award.
“This is completely crackers. Your logic is perverse,” Liberal MP Tim Smith said.
“A young family has been murdered by their father and ex-partner, a crime that is completely indefensible. Please shut up, you are sounding like someone who has completely lost the plot.
“Upon further reflection I think these comments are so grotesque that this woman must not be awarded an AM, which was announced on Australia Day. I hate saying that, but she must not be recognised in any way as an outstanding Australian.”
Ms Arndt defended her comments and said she had been the subject of misinformation. She retained her Order of Australia Medal.
“I supported a policeman who did his job,” she said.
“I felt we should support a public official who obviously made a statement in the course of an inquiry. He was a man doing his job. I think we should support someone in his position rather than attacking him for ideological reasons.”
Ms Arndt also previously wrote a piece suggesting that many women who dress provocatively bristle if the “wrong man shows he enjoys the display”.