AUDIO TAPE: Lisa Wilkinson mangles Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s name, jokes about ‘black cleaners’ in secret Brittany Higgins meeting

Lisa Wilkinson mangles Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s name, jokes about ‘black cleaners’ in secret Brittany Higgins meeting. 

The former Liberal Party staffer alleges she was raped by Bruce Lehrmann in Parliament House after a night out in 2019 when they were colleagues working for then-Defence Minister Linda Reynolds. Mr Lehrmann has always denied the claims.

During the lunch, both Wilkinson and Mr Sharaz spoke about politicians who could potentially add weight to Ms Higgins' accusations and the perceived culture of misogyny within the Liberal Party.

'[The Liberal Party] has preselected over twenty new and wonderfully diverse and strong female candidates like, and what's her name, Nam… Nampinjumba? [sic]. She's an Indigenous woman,' Wilkinson could be heard saying in an audio clip obtained by Sky News. 

Mr Sharaz laughed and said: 'She clearly got in. Clearly it was a safe seat.' 'That's the thing, it was - as soon as I looked at it I thought, "Oh, you're joking,"' Wilkinson said.

Mr Sharaz added: 'They've been preselected in unwinnable seats.'

Wilkinson's producer Mr Llewellyn then chimed in with a joke about the Coalition preselecting Ms Price.

'See, we know brown people,' he said.

Mr Sharaz joined in on the quip, saying, 'It's like, "I'm not racist, I have a black friend." It's that argument.' 

'I don't have his number, though,' Mr Llewellyn said.

The ex-Project host then added: 'And our cleaner's black.' 

Lisa Wilkinson has been caught joking about the name of Australia’s shadow Indigenous affairs minister Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.

Audio from a five-hour meeting between Ms Wilkinson, her producer Angus Llewellyn, Brittany Higgins and her partner David Sharaz has revealed how the former host of The Project struggled to pronounced Senator Price’s indigenous name.  

The group can then be heard making jokes about a Liberal Party statement announcing the senator’s preselection.

Lisa Willkinson: "(the Liberal Party) has preselected over twenty new and wonderfully diverse and strong female candidates like, and what's her name, Nam… Nampinjumba? (sic). She’s an indigenous woman."

David Sharaz: "She clearly got in. Clearly it was a safe seat."

Lisa Wilkinson: "That’s the thing, it was – as soon as I looked at it I thought, Oh, you’re joking."

David Sharaz: "They’ve been preselected in unwinnable seats."

Lisa Wilkinson: "Yeah."

Angus Llewellyn: "See, we know brown people."

AUDIO here