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The Australian Federal Police (AFP) are reviewing how an image of Brittany Higgins's text messages came to be in the possession of the Seven Network, as part of its televised interview with Bruce Lehrmann.
Last week, Federal Court Justice Michael Lee ruled that on the balance of probabilities, Mr Lehrmann raped Ms Higgins at Parliament House in 2019.
He made the ruling as part of Mr Lehrmann's defamation case against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson over an interview she conducted with Ms Higgins.
A 2022 criminal trial in the ACT collapsed due to juror misconduct, leaving no criminal findings against Mr Lehrmann, and he has always maintained his innocence.
As part of his judgment, Justice Lee found Mr Lehrmann made false representations about how Seven obtained sensitive material from the criminal trial as part of its preparation for the Spotlight interview.
AFP examining whether an investigation is needed
In his address to the National Press Club today, AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw was asked about the evidence, which consisted of a photo of some of Ms Higgins's text messages in an email from Mr Lehrmann's email account on a computer screen.
The reflection of a producer from the Spotlight program can be seen in the screen.
"I've seen reports of that. We are reviewing that material and that case as we speak," Commissioner Kershaw said.
"So is it under investigation? Or are you considering whether to investigate?" journalist Jane Norman asked.
"For us, it wouldn't — without me getting technical — it is not an investigation, but reviewing the material to see if there is a threshold for an investigation." he replied.
Bruce Lehrmann passed on material to Seven: producer
During the defamation action, the court heard Mr Lehrmann had access to sensitive material obtained during his abandoned criminal trial, but it was not meant to be made public, because it was never used in open court.
As part of its reporting for the Spotlight program, the Seven Network had obtained an audio recording of a conversation involving Brittany Higgins, her partner David Sharaz, Lisa Wilkinson, and senior Network Ten producer Angus Llewellyn.
It also had a lengthy extract of text messages between Brittany Higgins and her former partner.
During hearings earlier this month, former Seven Network producer Taylor Auerbach told the court Mr Lehrmann had passed on material from the trial which should have remained confidential.
If this proved true, Mr Lehrmann would have acted in breach of what is called the Hearne v Street obligation.
Mr Lehrmann has denied providing the material, and the network has refused to reveal its source.
But Justice Lee said he was "satisfied" Mr Lehrmann made false representations to the court about at least part of this material, specifically the images of Ms Higgins's texts on the computer screen.
While conceding he was "not some sort of roving law enforcement official", Justice Lee left the door open for another court to pursue the alleged breach of the Hearne v Street obligation.
The DPP has declined to comment.