Thursday 6 October 2022 11:34 PM Brittany Higgins, Bruce Lehrmann rape trial to hear of secret recording of call ... trends now Brittany Higgins will be questioned about a secret recording she made of a conversation with a senior Liberal minister, as her high-profile rape trial continues. The former Liberal staffer is the first witness in the criminal trial of Bruce Lehrmann, who she alleges sexually assaulted her inside Parliament House after a boozy night out in March, 2019. Mr Lehrmann has appeared in the ACT's Supreme Court in Canberra on all four days of the trial so far, having pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual intercourse without consent. On Thursday, the court heard Ms Higgins secretly recorded a phone conversation with her former boss and then-employment minister Michaelia Cash in 2021, which she described as 'the weirdest call of my life'. Brittany Higgins is pictured outside court on Thursday, following day three of her rape trial against her former colleague Brittany Higgins told the court she secretly recorded a conversation with then-employment minister Michaelia Cash (pictured) in 2021 Ms Higgins initially worked for former defence minister Linda Reynolds, but took a job as a junior media advisor with Senator Cash after the 2019 election. Ms Higgins, now 27, told the court under cross-examination that the senator was pretending she didn't know about the alleged rape during the phone call - despite having spoken about it previously. 'It was ridiculous. It was the weirdest phone call I have ever had in my life,' she said. Defence lawyer Steven Whybrow put to Ms Higgins that she had sent the recording to multiple people, including journalists, to begin backgrounding for the story. But Ms Higgins said it was for her legal protection, so she could corroborate her story. 'I was trying to give [the recording] to as many people as possible to have them just so that they existed,' she said. 'It's my word against a cabinet minister's, and the power disparity between those two is ridiculous.' Former Liberal Party staffer Bruce Lehrmann leaves the ACT Supreme Court in Canberra on Thursday Brittany Higgins recorded an interview with Lisa Wilkinson (pictured) for The Project in January 2021 Ms Higgins also recorded a conversation with Senator Cash's former chief of staff Daniel Try without his knowledge and sent it to journalist Samantha Maiden, but stated it should not be published. During that conversation, Ms Higgins told the court the chief of staff referred to another sexual assault within the Liberals that was never reported. The court also heard Ms Higgins recorded the conversations after a six-hour interview with Lisa Wilkinson for The Project on January 27, 2021. She said Ms Wilkinson and Ms Maiden were 'fighting' over when her story would be released. 'Who got the exclusive drop so that come Walkley's time, who could claim what and so it became not even about me or my story,' she told the court. Ms Maiden won the Gold Walkley in 2021 - Australian journalisms highest honour, while Ms Wilkinson was awarded a Logie this year. Mr Whybrow put to her that she did the interview to hurt the Liberal party right before an election, but Ms Higgins said she simply wanted to talk about a 'cultural problem' within Parliament. Lisa Wilkinson (left) interviewed Brittany Higgins (right) on The Project in 2019 about her rape allegations 'I thought I'd do one print and one TV and then I'd go back to uni and disappear,' she explained. Ms Higgins told the court The Project host was 'quite angry' when the interview was aired on February 15 because it was a Monday, and Ms Wilkinson did not typically work on Mondays. After both stories dropped, Ms Higgins said she was inundated with media requests. The court heard she prepared a timeline of events to give to police and, while she was 'passed out on Valium' due to the stress of the media whirlwind, her partner David Sharaz made the decision to give the timeline to two journalists. However, she claims the timeline ended up in the hands of 'the whole press gallery', and that Mr Sharaz regrets his decision. Mr Whybrow also quizzed her over a series of inconsistencies in her original testimony, including what she did with the white cocktail dress she wore on the night of the alleged assault. Ms Higgins initially told the court she put it in a bag under her bed for six months before she 'symbolically washed it' and wore it once more. However, under cross-examination it was revealed the dress was only under her bed for a matter of weeks. Mr Whybrow presented Ms Higgins with a photo of her in the dress at Ms Reynolds' birthday celebration in Perth in April 2019 - less than two months after the alleged rape. Ms Higgins conceded to the court that she 'was wrong', but maintained the dress was under her bed 'for a period of time'. The trial continues. All rights reserved for this news site (dailymail) and under his responsibility