Lisa Wilkinson returns to the spotlight as keynote speaker at Eaton’s Hill Hotel business luncheon

Lisa Wilkinson was spotted at Brisbane Airport on her way home after delivering a keynote address at an International Women’s Day event.

The former Projekt co-host looked stylish in a black button-down dress and white sneakers as she strolled solo through the airport on Friday afternoon.

She wheeled her suitcase through the terminal, her boarding pass in hand, while chatting on her phone with a serious expression.

She stayed on her phone as she checked in and went through security for her flight home back to Sydney.

Wilkinson would have walked past copies of her biography available at the airport newsagent at a 30 percent discount.

Her biggest fans used to brave the rain in designer outfits to watch the former TV presenter gush about her career and her year-long book – in a secluded pub beneath the slot machines.

Lisa Wilkinson was spotted at Brisbane Airport as she prepared to fly home to Sydney on Friday

Wilkinson, 63, has noticeably slipped out of the spotlight since stepping down as presenter of The Project last year after a tumultuous 2022, which saw her slammed by Logie for her interview with Brittany Higgins over her acceptance speech.

She is now being sued for defamation by Bruce Lehrmann, the alleged rapist of Ms Higgins, over the same interview. He strenuously denies sexually assaulting Ms Higgins at Parliament House in 2019.

The veteran journalist has hired her own legal team to help fight the lawsuit and convince a judge that Ms Higgins’ allegations are true and that her television interview was therefore not defamatory.

Meanwhile the former television The hostess is slowly slipping back into the limelight – as the keynote speaker at a “low key” business lunch on Friday afternoon to celebrate International Women’s Day.

The setting for their triumphant return was Eatons Hill Hotel – a lesser known pub and events venue about 25 minutes north of Brisbane known for NRL brawls and rowdy crowds.

Wilkinson was in Brisbane to deliver a keynote speech at an International Women’s Day event

Her biography was 30 per cent cheaper on Brisbane Airport News Agency

Despite this, the sold-out event netted guests $140 each. Tickets included a two-course lunch, drinks and an extended networking session following Wilkinson’s two-hour speech.

A security guard stood in front of the ticket collectors outside the venue, questioning anyone who seemed even a little out of place.

A fan held a copy of Wilkinson’s 2021 memoir. It shouldn’t be like this, as she informed the organizers, she did not have a ticket for the event. She asked for an autograph instead, but was turned away.

In the room just above the performance room, where Wilkinson’s fans were excitedly chatting about what to expect during the exclusive event, middle-aged and older men in shorts and T-shirts sat next to the pokies with cold pads in hand.

An ad for lunch said Wilkinson would spend the two-hour session educating her fans about “how a young girl from Sydney’s western suburbs became such a force in Australian media and our cultural life”.

The blurb for the event was eerily similar to a speech Wilkinson gave at another International Women’s Day event last year, hosted by Marie Claire at a posh hotel in Sydney’s CBD and including Ms Higgins as a guest speaker.

At the event, Wilkinson recounted that she was a girl from Campbelltown in the western suburbs of Sydney who applied for a job as Dolly’s editorial assistant and became the magazine’s editor at 19 with no degree.

Wilkinson has enjoyed a 40-year media career and is now earning a staggering seven-figure salary. Despite her impressive resume, she claimed she “didn’t know” how it all happened.

During her 2021 interview with Ms Higgins on The Project, the former Parliament staffer claimed she was raped by “a male colleague” in Parliament buildings two years earlier.

Lisa Wilkinson looked serious as she talked on her phone while waiting for her flight home

The former Project star stayed on her phone most of the time at the airport

Mr. Lehrmann was not named during the television program nor publicly identified as the alleged rapist of Ms. Higgins until August 2021, when he was formally charged with sexual assault.

He pleaded not guilty and continues to maintain his innocence.

According to a lawsuit filed in federal court on Feb. 7, Lehrmann will accuse Channel 10 and Wilkinson of “recklessly being indifferent to truth or untruth” when the allegations were leveled against him.

Specifically, it alleges that Wilkinson “attempted to exploit Higgins’ false sexual assault claims for her own personal and professional gain.”

Lehrmann, a former political staffer, strenuously denies any sexual contact with Ms. Higgins.

Channel 10’s lawyers at Thomson Geer filed papers stating that they would represent Wilkinson; However, new papers filed less than a day later said the agreement had been terminated.

Federal court documents indicated that Wilkinson would instead be represented by Gillis Delaney Lawyers and his partner Anthony Jefferies.

She also hired top libel attorney Sue Chrysanthou. It is understood that Wilkinson will fund the legal team himself.

Lisa Wilkinson wore a buttoned black dress paired with white sneakers

Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk