A diary belonging to Bruce Lehrmann seized during a raid on his home by a corruption watchdog contains his own personal “musings and fantasies” and not secret Cabinet information, a court has heard.
The ex-political staffer wants the Federal Court of Australia to order his blue moleskin diary be returned to him after it was taken by officials from the National Anti-Corruption Commission investigating allegations he misappropriated secret documents from the office of his then-boss, former defence minister Linda Reynolds.
But the Commonwealth claims parts of the diary contain sensitive Cabinet-related information, which if disclosed could be against the public interest and should not be returned.
The diary has become an issue in Mr Lehrmann’s legal fight with Special Minister of State Don Farrell and Paul Brereton, the NACC commissioner at the time.
He is suing the pair claiming the raid on his Hobart home in June 2024 was an abuse of power and that he was denied funding for legal representation to fight allegations of corruption.
Dubbed Operation Ivanhoe, the NACC investigated Mr Lehrmann over allegations he took documents relating to French submarines from Ms Reynolds’ office for his own ends in 2019.
The NACC has since abandoned that investigation, informing Mr Lehrmann on Monday that they were no longer pursuing the probe.
But the Federal Court was told on Thursday that Mr Lehrmann’s application on being denied legal funding was ongoing, as was his subpoena seeking the return of his diary.
Barrister for the Commonwealth Bora Kaplan SC said there was a public interest immunity claim over parts of the diary as they contained Cabinet or Cabinet-related information, which if disclosed could be against the public interest.
Mr Kaplan said these portions of the diary were “quintessential Cabinet information”, and would impact its proper functioning if disclosed.
However, Mr Lehrmann’s solicitor Zali Burrows argued there was no evidence that what was in the diary was a record of what occurred in Cabinet meetings, and it could have been a “hot topic” her client made a note about.
“The only person that has seen this (diary) is Mr Lehrmann,” she told the court.
“It’s his personal diary. It’s a document that he’s created. We don’t know if these are his own musings or his own fantasies.”
Ms Burrows said it could be coincidental that this was a topic discussed in a Cabinet meeting too.
Justice Brigitte Markovic reserved her decision on the fate of the diary and granted Mr Lehrmann more time to amend his original application against the Commonwealth.
The matter will come back before the court on December 2.
The stoush is the latest legal battle for the former political staffer, who shot to national attention when he was accused of raping his colleague Brittany Higgins late at night in the Parliament House office of former Senator Reynolds in March 2019.
The 31-year-old has always denied the sexual assault claims, which have not been tested in a criminal court.
Federal court Justice Michael Lee found in 2024 the allegations he raped Ms Higgins were proven on the balance of probabilities, a finding that was upheld twice by the Full Federal Court and the High Court of Australia.