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Ten journalist Lisa Wilkinson has suffered a legal setback as she defends her defamation case over a report regarding Brittany Higgins' claim she was raped in a Parliament House office.
Justice Michael Lee rejected an application by Wilkinson's barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC that she divide up the cross-examination of Bruce Lehrmann with Network Ten's barrister Matthew Collins KC based on individual topics.
Instead, the judge said Chrysanthou could only ask Lehrmann questions relating to the interests of her client and Collins would have to take on the bulk of the interrogation.
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"It's not like some sort of suburban cricket match when you retire on 50 and give someone else a go," Lee said as the Federal Court case resumed on Monday.
A separate case brought by Wilkinson against Ten in the NSW Supreme Court over $700,000 in legal costs spent defending the defamation case was moved to the Federal Court on Friday after Justice Kelly Rees said the disputes should occur in the same court.
Lehrmann is facing his third day in the witness box and has faced a sustained attack on his credit by Collins.
The law student has sued Network Ten and Wilkinson in the Federal Court over a February 2021 report on The Project in which Higgins was interviewed about the alleged rape.
Lehrmann has denied any sexual contact or intimacy between himself and Higgins during drinks on March 22, 2019, and in the early hours of the following day when the two attended Parliament House.
Higgins alleges the sexual assault occurred while she was unconscious or semi-conscious in the office of their boss, then-defence industry minister Linda Reynolds.
On multiple occasions under questioning by his own barrister Steven Whybrow SC or Ten's barrister, Lehrmann has insisted nothing happened between himself and Higgins that night apart from him engaging in "very minimal" flirtation at a nightclub.
Lehrmann has settled separate defamation proceedings against news.com.au and the ABC over their reports about Higgins' allegations.
The criminal trial in the ACT Supreme Court over Higgins' alleged rape was derailed by juror misconduct and prosecutors did not seek a second trial because of concerns over her mental health.
A landmark report into the ACT legal system and the Higgins case was released in August, making damning findings against now ex-director of public prosecutions Shane Drumgold over his conduct during the case.
Lehrmann has separately been accused of raping another woman twice in Toowoomba in October 2021.
He has yet to enter a plea in that case, but his lawyers have indicated that he denies the charges.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
