Former political staffer Bruce Lehrmann is fighting to safeguard personal diaries that were seized during a raid on his home by the anti-corruption watchdog.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission raided his home in June 2024 amid an investigation into claims he misappropriated secret documents related to French submarines.
Lehrmann denies the allegation and claims investigators seized only two handwritten personal diaries during the raid.
The former political staffer told the federal court the diaries contained confidential information that should not be disclosed due to a claim of legal professional privilege.
“Those diaries … may become an issue. It’s my concern that they’re held by [NACC Commissioner Paul Brereton],” Lehrmann said on Wednesday.
“My submission would be that they should be held by an independent party and quarantined.”
But commission lawyer Bora Kaplan said his client had not received a claim of legal professional privilege from Lehrmann.
Justice Brigitte Markovic said she was not sure she had the power to make the orders sought by Lehrmann, and suggested he communicate with the commission about the diaries.
“If it’s necessary to raise the matter in court, that can be done in due course,” she said.
Lehrmann is suing Brereton and federal Labor government minister Don Farrell over the legal costs he incurred during the investigation into what he described as “frivolous, James Bond-like allegations”.
He claims he was repeatedly told he was entitled to funding for legal representation to defend himself during the investigation, but he still has not received any money.
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Justice Brigitte Markovic noted it has been a year without a decision from the Nacc on whether funding would be provided.
She ordered mediation between Lehrmann and Farrell be held before 1 December in hopes of speeding the process along.
Lehrmann welcomed the move, which he believes could be successful in resolving his dispute with the minister.
“This is the second time I’ve proposed mediation with [Farrell]. On both occasions, I’ve been refused,” he said.
“If funding had been granted, we may not even be here, and if we can seek a resolution through mediation, then there’ll be no need to pursue action as against [Farrell].”
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The call for mediation was opposed by the minister’s lawyer, who rejected his contention that there was an unreasonable delay in processing the request for funding.
Lehrmann reminded Justice Markovic that she did not need their consent to order mediation, prompting her to reply: “I’m well aware of my powers, Mr Lehrmann.”
The judge ordered the mediation be resolved by 1 December and set the matter down for a one-day hearing in February.
Lehrmann agreed to the timetable, noting that if mediation was successful he would be in “no rush necessarily” to ventilate his claims against Brereton.
The former political staffer, who is “impecunious and in serious financial peril”, hopes to receive the requested funding so he can be represented by lawyers at the hearing.
The former political staffer is accused of gathering the confidential information in March 2019, only days after he was alleged to have raped his colleague Brittany Higgins in Parliament House.
He has denied the claims, which remain untested in a criminal court after a 2022 trial in the ACT was abandoned due to juror misconduct.
The federal court’s Justice Michael Lee found in 2024 the allegations he raped Higgins were proven on the balance of probabilities and dismissed his defamation suit against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson.
Lehrmann has appealed against the defamation loss but a decision is yet to be handed down.
