Lisa Wilkinson goes another round with Ten over Lehrmann trial

May 22, 2026 — 3:00am

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.

Remove items from your saved list to add more.

In this week’s On Background, Lisa Wilkinson goes another round against her former employers at Ten, Bruce McWilliam casts a big shadow at his old stomping ground, and Jacinta Allan makes a personal speech to a Murdoch bash.

Wilkinson vs Ten. Will it ever end?

Lisa Wilkinson, remember her? Despite the fact that the former Cleo editor and breakfast TV doyenne hasn’t been on television consistently for a few years, she is still, believe it or not, locked in dispute with Network 10 over legal fees.

Those are the fees Wilkinson incurred defending Bruce Lehrmann’s disastrous defamation proceedings after her Logie-winning interview with Brittany Higgins on Ten’s The Project in 2021. It was during that interview that Higgins publicly accused Lehrmann of rape in 2019 (while not actually naming him at the time).

Lehrmann – who has always denied raping Higgins – infamously lost his case against Wilkinson and Ten, with Justice Michael Lee saying Lehrmann was foolish to “go back for his hat” after his criminal trial on the same allegations was aborted due to juror misconduct.

Amid that trial, Wilkinson was off-air at Ten and briefed her own lawyers to make sure her interests were represented. She accused Ten of failing to support her after she read a speech at the Logies paying tribute to Higgins, which Ten had approved, that caused Lehrmann’s criminal trial to be delayed.

Ten was ordered to pay Wilkinson $1.15 million for her legal costs more than 15 months ago. But, On Background has learned, the station is yet to pay out the full costs, which has led to further protracted litigation. Just days ago, the parties finally settled on payment of the first tranche of legal fees, relating to the cross-claim Wilkinson lodged against Ten in 2023 over the payment of $700,000 in legal costs in the defamation case.

It isn’t the only reason Wilkinson is back in the news. Part of her recent book tour has included a reunion on her former show, Today on Channel........

© WA Today