Watching the Bruce Lehrmann defamation case in recent days and weeks, it is impossible not to think of the Ben Roberts-Smith saga that came before it and which still rolls on.

It’s not only because Lehrmann’s lawyers also act for the war criminal or because both cases bring to mind that infamous Vietnam War phrase: “we had to destroy the village in order to save it”.

Bruce Lehrmann and Ben Roberts-SmithCredit: Jamie Brown

Lehrmann may yet win his defamation trial against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson and claim vindication, but like Roberts-Smith, risks significant reputation damage in the pursuit of a court victory.

Both cases are ostensibly about the ability of news outlets to prove to a civil court standard the truth or otherwise of serious imputations arising from reporting, and yet both have morphed into something else.

The Roberts-Smith defamation case played out as a proxy war crimes trial as well as a test of whether the worst Australian military scandal in recent history was, as its critics claimed, a beat up. Ultimately, it was a struggle about how an important chapter in defence history would be written.

The Lehrmann case is likely being viewed by many Australians as a proxy rape trial, without the jury and under the lesser civil standard that involves a test of the balance of probabilities. If Lehrmann wins, some will mistakenly claim that Brittany Higgins has lost, forgetting she is just a witness to this trial. It has also spurred intense debate about how our society deals with allegations of sexual assault.

Credit: Illustration: Matt Davidson

Both cases have seen lawyers arguing that the presumption of innocence was trashed due to public scrutiny of serious allegations. In the case of........

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