Justice Michael Lee has been exposed secretly supporting disgraced former High Court of Australia judge Dyson Heydon who was found to have sexually harassed 6 women.
Justice Lee was given national exposure for his defamation judgment finding Bruce Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins and that seems to have gone to his head to a degree.
As you will see below Justice Lee rates antisemitism a major issue and only rates sexual harassment by a judge as a minor issue given his support for Dyson Heydon.
Justice Lee’s rap sheet of suspect and hypocritical behaviour is starting to grow with his latest indiscretion being reported by the SMH on Friday (14/3/25) in an article titled “Justice Michael Lee attends disgraced ex-judge Dyson Heydon’s book launch” which says:
On Tuesday, we wrote that the release of a new book by former High Court judge Dyson Heydon, found by an independent court inquiry to have sexually harassed six female associates, posed an important litmus test for how the legal community viewed such matters.
Now, the results are in. Heydon on Contract was launched quietly at an invitation-only event on Wednesday night, attended by a who’s who of Australia’s most eminent jurists.
Among them was Federal Court justice Michael Lee, who became a media celebrity and favourite of the progressive writers’ festival set after presiding over Bruce Lehrmann’s failed defamation case against Network 10.
Lee’s scathing judgment, which found, on the balance of probabilities, that Lehrmann had raped his former colleague Brittany Higgins, won plaudits from women’s advocates. And a book version of the 324-page judgment, released by Melbourne University Publishing and not authorised by the court, featured a foreword by consent activist Chanel Contos. We’re not sure how new fans of “Lord Lee” (as he’s now being called in judicial circles) feel about all this.
Also in attendance was Lee’s Federal Court colleague Ian Jackman (brother of Hollywood star Hugh Jackman), who counts Heydon as an important mentor.
Jackman and Lee declined to comment to CBD.
Other guests included NSW Court of Appeal president Julie Ward and Supreme Court justice Elisabeth Peden. (Click here to read more)
Dyson Heydon
It is also worth noting who wrote the forward for the book as reported by the SMH on the 11/3/25 which says:
One prominent legal figure who has proudly gone into bat for Heydon is the judge’s former High Court colleague Michael Kirby, something of a hero to progressives and first-year law students around the country.
In a glowing foreword, Kirby calls Heydon’s book an “important work of legal exposition”, “an intellectual masterpiece” and a “magnum opus”. (Click here to read more)
Wikipedia says in regards to Dyson Heydon’s “Sexual harassment findings and allegations”:
In June 2020, an investigation on behalf of the High Court found that Heydon had sexually harassed six female associates while he was a member of the Court.
The Chief Justice of Australia, Susan Kiefel apologised to the women on behalf of the Court, and announced new measures to protect judges’ personal staff, and to improve the handling of complaints.
The same month, the Sydney Morning Herald published the results of its own investigation in which several women alleged that they had been sexually harassed by Heydon. The newspaper also said that “Mr Heydon’s predatory behaviour was an ‘open secret’ in legal and judicial circles.”
Heydon denied the claims and apologised for any “inadvertent and unintended” offence. He did not apply to renew his practising certificate with the New South Wales Bar Association upon its expiry on 30 June 2020.
Three of the associates sought compensation from the Commonwealth and Heydon. In February 2022 the Commonwealth Attorney-General and the associates’ lawyers announced that the three had settled with the Commonwealth, with terms not to be disclosed (although some reports refer to a “six figure” amount).
On 14 October 2022, Heydon resigned from the Order of Australia (having previously been appointed as a Companion). (Click here to read more)
Dyson Heydon was also publicly accused of sexual assault by several other women including a judge. (Click here to read more)
Justice Lee’s attack on antisemitism
Justice Lee was in the media a couple of weeks ago attacking the growth of antisemitism and was reported as saying:
Federal Court Justice Michael Lee says antisemitism has grown in Australia due to cancel culture and intolerance in its universities and moral relativism in its school curriculum.
The judge best known for presiding over the Bruce Lehrmann defamation case made the comments on Thursday at an antisemitism forum in Bondi. The forum was also attended by the NSW Premier Chris Minns, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Attorney General Mark Dreyfus.
Lee, “speaking as a sentient citizen rather than as a judge”, said he believed the latest incidents of antisemitism “can be traced back to a diminution of a sense of cohesive national identity and a related ‘soft revolution’ in values”. (Click here to read more)
Well, Lee has been shown to be badly wrong because “the latest incidents of antisemitism” can be traced back to organised crime as the NSW police have revealed. ( Click here and here to read more)
But more importantly, if Lee is prepared to go public and speak “as a sentient citizen rather than as a judge” on antisemitism why doesn’t Lee do the same regarding sexual harassment of women by Dyson Heydon?
Justice Lee’s rap sheet
When Justice Lee handed down his judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel 10 and Lisa Wilkinson he was applauded for finding against Bruce Lehrmann and saying in his judgement, “Having escaped the lions’ den, Mr Lehrmann made the mistake of going back for his hat.”
But in Justice Lee’s judgment he also attacked Brittany Higgins, especially the claim of a political cover-up.
A major problem with Lee’s dismissal of the political cover-up allegation is that most of the evidence was never before him as Lee only dealt with the evidence up to when Brittany Higgins went public in 2021 and most of the evidence came to light after that.
The key beneficiaries of Lee’s findings that there was no pollical cover-up was Scott Morrison, others in the Liberal Party and News Corp who have been publishing propaganda attacking Brittany Higgins and defending Bruce Lehrmann trying to conceal the political cover-up.
What was very disturbing is that a few months after Justice Lee handed down the Lehrmann judgment Lee attended News Corp’s celebration of The Australian’s 60th birthday last Thursday (25/7/24) which was full of Liberal Party politicians who were in effect cleared and benefitted from Lee’s Lehrmann judgment.
Justice Lee knew there was a major issue with him showing up to The Australian’s 60th birthday and was extremely sheepish in 2 photos taken of him arriving at the event.
Below is Justice Michael Lee attending The Australian newspaper’s 60th birthday celebration at the Australian Museum in Sydney’s Darlinghurst on Thursday the 25th of July 2024. Justice Lee has the look of a guilty person being caught red-handed as he also does in the second picture below. ( Photo by James Brickwood for the SMH) (Click here to read more)
The Daily Mail also published a photo of Justice Michael Lee attending The Australian newspaper’s 60th birthday celebration at the Australian Museum in Sydney’s Darlinghurst on Thursday the 25th of July 2024. (Click here to read more)
As you can see with both photos above Justice Lee is very uncomfortable with having his photos taken because he knows he is potentially in a lot of trouble.
I emailed questions to Justice Lee and the federal court, which I published, regarding Justice Lee attending the News Corp event but he never responded. (Click here to see the email)
On the 8th of January this year the below shows up in an internet search:
Open justice advocate and anti-Semitism denouncer
Michael Lee has unpicked challenging legal cases, fought hard for open justice, and stood publicly against anti-Semitism; that’s why he is nominated for The Australian’s Australian of the Year. (Click here to see)
So, Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch are promoting their boy Justice Lee for doing their bidding by giving him a dodgy nomination for The Australian’s Australian of the Year award.
Just when you think it could get any worse
Justice Michael Lee and Ita Buttrose
In June 2024 the Women in Media organisation announced in an article titled “Legal and Media Giants: Justice Michael Lee and Ita Buttrose AC OBE In Conversation at Women in Media Conference” which starts off:
Women in Media is proud to announce a remarkable and exclusive event at this year’s National Conference: a candid conversation between Justice Michael Lee of the Federal Court of Australia and pre-eminent journalist, media industry powerhouse and trailblazer for women, and Women in Media Patron, Ita Buttrose AC OBE. This unique session promises to offer profound insights into the intersection of media, law, and society, with a particular focus on the themes of truth and trust. (Click here to read more)
After the Women in Media conference in August 2024 it was reported:
Justice Michael Lee, the man who oversaw the sensational defamation case brought by Bruce Lehrmann against Brittany Higgins, Network 10 and Lisa Wilkinson has declared that journalism is a search for the “objective truth” and that the media has a critical role to play in preserving the integrity of our legal system. (Click here to read more)
The lies would have been flying thick and fast with both Justice Michael Lee and Ita Buttrose on stage at the same time.
Justice Lee’s latest mention in the media is supporting sexual predator Dyson Heydon and Ita “We owe her nothing” Buttrose’s latest media appearance is perjuring herself on the witness box in Antoinette Lattouf’s unlawful termination case. (Click here and here and here to read more)
As it turns out on the 13th of March Crikey reported in an article titled, “Ex-ABC chair Ita Buttrose taken off speaker list for Women in Media event” that:
Ita Buttrose has been removed from the speaker list at Women in Media Australia’s 20th anniversary fundraiser, with concerns raised about the platform afforded to her in light of the ABC’s Antoinette Lattouf saga. (Click here to read more)
I doubt that the Women in Media group will ever have Justice Michael Lee back either, given his support for sexual predator Dyson Heydon.
Closing arguments
Justice Michael Lee is not a person of morals or ethics and nor should he be seen as such. The more Lee is in the public spotlight the more it exposes who he really is but I suppose he is now in the Murdoch / News Corp stable so he thinks he has protection and can do what he wants.
Justice Michael Lee should take a good look at Ita Buttrose who also thought she was a protected species but who has now had her reputation totally trashed by her own doing.
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Categories: Federal Court of Australia
You are so good KCA. These people need to be exposed.
Mmmm…more reports (but not via Murdoch Media) of Australia’s judiciary failures and reason for public lack of confidence in the judiciary, seems more so related to the federal judiciary right up to the High Court, the same high court that ruled aggrieved citizens could not sue federal court judges for their indiscretions, along with documented history of former NSW Senator (L) Heffernan being sanctioned for stating under parliamentary privilege of his allegations of judges connection to paedophiles and then PM Howard stating that to release Heffernans allegations would cause the public to lose confidence in the judiciary. (assume referred to NSW judiciary)
Thanks KCA. Always exposing the trash people in our midst.
The higher they rise, the further they fall.
Keep it up KCA
Thank you for your great work KCA.
Your section, ‘Justice Lee’s attack on antisemitism’ is of particular interest given the social conditions you cite Justice Lee as saying are attributable to the rise of antisemitism in Australia.
This crude argument – one that will become emblematic of Dutton’s anti-woke pitch during the coming election campaign – is well below the usual standard of Lee’s judgments which, in that sense alone, suggests something’s not quite right.
Both major parties have conflated the rightwing Zionist Government of Israel and non-political Judaism for their own purposes, with the appalling result that accusations of antisemitism are being attributed to any criticism of the actions of the Israeli Government & Bibi Netanyahu, and are finding their way into law.
It is truly dismaying to learn that Justice Lee has associated himself with such disingenuousness, let alone indulge in political partisanship – as if his role as a judge is merely performative in contrast to everyday “sentience”. It is an outrage that here at least, of all the bloody words in the English language, ‘antisemitism’ has been co-opted for political purposes.
Whither our judiciary with such capriciousness, is it destined to a similar fate as the Trump- appointed, corrupt US Supreme Court?
Albanese and Federal Labor, in failing to inform the Australian community from the get-go regarding this crucial distinction would thus seem to be captive of certain political interests comfortable with fostering the straw-man furphy that anti-semitism is flourishing and mutating in Australia. Writ large, promoting the ‘antisemitism’ trope is playing dangerous politics, and partly explains why NSW Labor was left with a big own goal in rushing hate speech legislation through Parliament on the terror threat basis of what turned out to be a criminal hoax.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/mar/15/nsw-rushed-through-laws-in-the-wake-of-antisemitic-attacks-what-happens-now-the-incidents-were-a-con-job-ntwnfb
What a stroke of genius for Labor to go play footsies with Dutton and the LNP in the lead up to a watershed Federal election at the precise historical moment as rightwing governments gain power and reset alliances across the globe.