The ongoing Bruce Lehrmann defamation saga has exposed the public to a litany of characters in what has been described by presiding Justice Michael Lee as a “rabbit hole”. Among them are the Seven Network producers and reporters who chased Lehrmann’s signature for a bombshell 2023 Spotlight exclusive interview.
Former Spotlight producer Taylor Auerbach made waves last week as he gave evidence that Lehrmann sought to have the costs of “benders” involving cocaine, sex workers, boozy lunches, luxury accommodation and golf trips, as well as tickets to the cricket, reimbursed by Seven in return for the exclusive.
Caught up in Auerbach’s evidence was one of his former bosses, Spotlight executive producer Mark Llewellyn. A veteran of the old school of commercial television, Llewellyn was identified by Auerbach in the evidence as the mysterious disembodied “bald head” in reflections of screens that Ten argues showed Lehrmann breached implied legal undertakings to provide Seven with sensitive evidence from his criminal trial for the interview.
Lehrmann, a former Liberal staffer, claimed the Spotlight interview was his first opportunity to tell his story after having been accused of raping colleague Brittany Higgins in Parliament House in 2019. A later criminal trial in the ACT Supreme Court was abandoned after juror misconduct, and Lehrmann, who denies all wrongdoing, filed defamation suits against a number of media organisations that covered the accusations.
His case against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson over a 2021 Project interview, in which Higgins alleged she was raped in Parliament House, is ongoing, with judgment expected to be delivered this week. Lehrmann was not named in the interview but alleges he was identifiable from the reporting.
Much by the way of profiles has been made of Auerbach, as well as his old boss, Steve Jackson, who was unceremoniously dumped from a high-powered role as executive director of public affairs for NSW Police after his involvement in the saga came to light. But who is Mark Llewellyn?
Llewellyn began his journalism career in radio in the early 1980s at the ABC, working on AM, PM and The World Today. He would join high-profile host Mike Carlton’s program in 1987, before joining Nine in 1988. He would serve on A Current Affair before joining 60 Minutes in 1995, moving to Seven in 1996. He returned to Nine in 1999, moving up the ranks and eventually being appointed head of news and current affairs.
He left Nine for Seven in 2006 after his salary was slashed almost in half from $750,000 to $400,000, sparking a court battle that drew in this humble publication. In the course of proceedings, Llewellyn submitted an affidavit, which was first published in Crikey, that claimed Nine bigwig Eddie McGuire wanted to “bone” (i.e. fire) then Today host Jessica Rowe. McGuire has always denied that he used the word “bone”, and Llewellyn has maintained his version of events. The affidavit quoted Nine executive Jeffrey Browne describing the situation as asking Llewellyn to swallow “a shit sandwich”.
Llewellyn joined Seven as executive producer of news and current affairs, before taking an extended leave of absence after he allegedly assaulted a producer in 2014. He briefly returned to Nine in 2018 before rejoining Seven in 2020.
Even when the Spotlight program, without a set time slot, was in its infancy, it was touted by director of news and public affairs Craig McPherson as an “economically tailored” program. Llewellyn told The Australian in 2020 that it would carve “fresh tracks through new snow”, but recent leaked audio has shown him allegedly complaining the program is “a bit stuffed”, having been starved of cash by Seven management.
“We are like the guy in the train station with The Big Issue,” Llewellyn complained in the audio tape, as reported by news.com.au.
Llewellyn told news.com.au in response to the report: “We [Spotlight] have to fight harder than other shows because we don’t have their big, bloated budgets.”
Llewellyn’s presence in the Auerbach evidence has largely come in the context of Auerbach’s falling out with the rest of the Spotlight team — Auerbach’s evidence last week told of how he “hated” Jackson, and was aggrieved at having been left off the team’s Walkley Awards entry for the Lehrmann story.
While Llewellyn was present on golf trips and dinners with Lehrmann, much of the picture painted by Auerbach spoke to the work put in with the ex-Liberal staffer on a day-to-day basis by himself and Jackson.
In response to the Auerbach evidence, former boss Carlton described Llewellyn as having seemingly “lost the plot”.
“I have never seen anything as brazen and squalid as this,” Carlton told The Sydney Morning Herald.
A former employee of Seven’s Sunday Night, where Llewellyn was at one time the executive producer, told the SMH of the “chaotic, dysfunctional, intense, booze-soaked” environment curated by Llewellyn. The paper reports Llewellyn even tried to buy Osama bin Laden’s former bunker to take cameras inside.
However, beyond the revelations about the culture at Network Seven, Llewellyn has been highlighted in a key way by recent events in the courts.
Seven was asked last week by Justice Lee why the network had not undertaken more extensive searches for communications between Bruce Lehrmann and the network after a subpoena from Network Ten. In response, former commercial director Bruce McWilliam told the court in an affidavit that “given Mr Llewellyn’s status as a senior producer, I had no reason to doubt his indication that no written or electronic communications with Mr Lehrmann existed”.
Seven, in an all-staff email last week, strongly denied a number of key claims in Auerbach’s evidence, and said the behaviour described did not “reflect the culture of Seven”.
“Seven did not reimburse Bruce Lehrmann for expenditure that has allegedly been used to pay for illegal drugs or prostitutes, and has never done so. Seven notes the matter remains before the courts,” the statement said.
“Contrary to claims reported in the media, Seven complied with all of its obligations in relation to producing documents in response to subpoenas issued to it. Seven has at no point asked anyone to delete or destroy evidence.”
Amid the ongoing crisis at Seven, chief executive James Warburton has pushed forward his departure from the company after nearly five years in the role. Warburton was set to leave the company at the end of the financial year, but Mediaweek reports he has pushed forward his departure to April 18.
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