What brought some of Australia’s most esteemed journalists to a home in the exclusive Sydney suburb of Elizabeth Bay on Monday night for a press conference that lasted all of two minutes?
Last week, news.com.au revealed a former Seven producer who worked on last year’s Spotlight interview between Liam Bartlett and Bruce Lehrmann allegedly booked a $1,000 Thai massage for Lehrmann at a property in Elizabeth Bay in 2022, in an attempt to secure the interview.
The revelations came after Steve Jackson, who produced the interview but did not know about the payment, was appointed as the new executive director of public affairs at NSW Police, setting journalists’ phones across Sydney on fire in the process.
Lehrmann, a former Liberal staffer who is accused of (and strenuously denies) raping colleague Brittany Higgins in Parliament House in 2019, denied the Thai massage revelations, telling The Australian while he was in Sydney and met with Seven producers on the relevant night, it was an “untrue and bizarre story from a disgruntled ex-Network Seven producer”.
As the story raged on, Sky News Australia journalist Taylor Auerbach, who worked on the Spotlight story at the time with Jackson, was reported by The Sydney Morning Herald to have lost his job at Sky News last week (although news.com.au reports he left voluntarily). The SMH reported Auerbach was “widely known to be backgrounding media outlets about Jackson”, with whom he is locked in a “bitter falling out”. Auerbach left Seven to join Sky in January of this year.
“While not named in recent stories, it is widely known that Auerbach was the unnamed Spotlight producer who put almost $3,000 on a Seven corporate card for the services of two Thai masseuses,” the SMH reported last week.
The paper further said that Auerbach’s feud with Jackson coincided with the distribution of photographs of Jackson and a naked woman he had interviewed in 2019. NSW Police told the SMH that Jackson’s recent appointment was under review regarding the images.
Auerbach fronted the media yesterday near his Elizabeth Bay home in a bizarre press conference that lasted less than two minutes. Also present were bemused onlookers, including Gold Walkley-winning journalist Jenny Brockie, who was out for a walk and stopped to inquire about what was happening.
Visibly shaking and holding heavily annotated notes, Auerbach disputed Lehrmann’s denial and that he had lost his job at Seven over the incident.
“Last week various stories and rumours emerged about Mr Jackson and me, and events allegedly involving the pair of us,” Auerbach said.
“They took on a life of their own, in their own individual ways, and I can sum much of it up as gossip.”
“In at least one of the articles, it was reported that I was counselled and given a written warning by Channel Seven over my conduct, relating to a night involving Bruce Lehrmann. That reporting is inaccurate — as are reports that I lost my job over the incident.”
“Mr Lehrmann very quickly issued a denial about the story, saying, and I quote, ‘it’s an untrue and bizarre story from a disgruntled ex-Network Seven producer’.”
“I would like to make it abundantly clear that I reject Mr Lehrmann’s accusations. That’s all I can say for the time being.”
Auerbach then made a swift departure, with journalists chasing after him.
Seven’s Robert Ovadia remarked: “Taylor, you must know what it’s like to make a statement and then walk away from questions?”
Nine’s Kate McClymont was more insistent, running after Auerbach as he left Arthur McElhone Reserve in Sydney’s east.
“You can’t just say that and walk away! You haven’t explained anything! You could’ve just put out a press release saying that.”
Auerbach did not respond to questions put to him by Crikey either. News.com.au reports Auerbach was flown down to Tasmania to play golf with Lehrmann in December 2022, but Auerbach would not respond to questions as to where they reportedly played, or indeed what his handicap is.
Auerbach told The SMH on Saturday he had engaged lawyers concerning Jackson, but did not respond to Crikey when asked whether he had any comments on the reports or whether he intended to pursue legal action.
Auerbach rose to prominence in 2009 as an 18-year-old contestant on Nine’s Millionaire Hot Seat. Then a journalism student at the University of Technology Sydney, Auerbach correctly identified the colour paper on which London’s Financial Times is written (salmon pink for those playing at home) for a prize of $50,000, and an apparent job offer from Eddie McGuire (a job did not eventuate, with Auerbach beginning his career at News Corp in 2010).
Auerbach was also a contestant on the second season of Come Dine With Me Australia, where he hosted a dinner party for his fellow contestants with a 50’s rock-and-roll theme.
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