Bruce is off the talk bill
Bruce Lehrmann has pulled out of a speaking appearance at a $110-a-head legal conference in the wake of his defamation lawsuit loss during which a Federal Court judge found he had raped Brittany Higgins.
Lehrmann was to appear on the “Restoring the Presumption of Innocence” panel in Sydney in June organised by author and columnist Bettina Arndt.
But in a post on the Mothers of Sons Facebook page on Tuesday, less than 24 hours after Justice Michael Lee delivered his judgment, it was announced that Lehrmann had pulled out. On Monday, Justice Lee dismissed Lehrmann’s lawsuit against Network 10 and Lisa Wilkinson after finding – to the civil standard of the balance of probabilities – that he had raped Ms Higgins inside Parliament House in March 2019.
“In light of recent events, Bruce Lehrmann has decided not to appear at the Restoring the Presumption of Innocence conference,” the post said.
“He is being subject to extremely aggressive pursuit by the media and is concerned that his participation may threaten the audience, jeopardise this important event and distract from its main purpose.
“ASF and Mothers and Sons have accepted his decision, and will find an alternative presenter while ensuring that the Lehrmann case still receives appropriate attention at the conference as a powerful example of trial by media undermining the vital legal principle of the presumption of innocence.”
Tickets for June’s 1 event cost between $110 and $132 with the conference to be held at a yetto-be-named location at Rushcutters Bay. Its promot-ers have described it as a “historic event” that “will challenge the believeall-women ideology which has meant men and women are treated very differently in our criminal law system”.
“For decades our justice system has been tilted to favour ‘victims’, with the result men and women are treated very differently – by police, the Family Court, judges and juries in the criminal law system,” Ms Arndt said on the event’s website. “The presumption of innocence has been tossed aside – totally discarded by our biased media and undermined by regular legislative tampering with basic principles of justice,” Arndt writes.