<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann has lost an application for an interim restraining order against a Daily Mail journalist he alleges stalked him.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Lehrmann has launched legal action in the Hobart Magistrates Court against Karleigh Smith, a senior reporter at the publication who is based in NSW.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A story with the heading "We found the despised party boy hiding at the end of the Earth" about Lehrmann living in Tasmania was published by Daily Mail Australia on July 1 with Smith's byline.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/bradley-john-murdoch-peter-falconio-killer-dead-after-cancer-battle/d00e74ef-e0aa-4b21-9862-b1b7a45fd6c8" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>Backpacker killer Bradley John Murdoch dies aged 67</span></strong></a><span></span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He has applied for a restraining order against the reporter, partly on the grounds she stalked him.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The matter has been set down for a hearing in November, with Lehrmann's application for an interim restraining order rejected by Magistrate Marica Duvnjak on Tuesday.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Lehrmann's lawyer Zali Burrows told the court Smith and a photographer followed her client in a car, including on a dirt road, "dangerously" and outside the usual course of her profession.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/bruce-lehrmann-says-he-was-stalked-by-daily-mail-journalist/0bd4ed76-6664-46e3-beb4-db41aeb549ba" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Burrows said the order was sought due to "not just stalking" but also because of impacts on Lehrmann's mental health which had been exacerbated by the incident.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Why is a journalist sitting in a car following a person closely behind? That potentially could have caused an accident," she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/sycamore-gap-tree-cut-down-vandals-sentenced-to-prison-uk/cdcdfcd1-9906-4a33-a572-315b07c14f2b" target="_blank"><strong><span>Duo who felled famed UK tree at Hadrian's Wall jailed</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Smith's lawyer Nic Edmondson opposed the interim order, noting there was a journalistic exemption under the legal definition of stalking.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"(Smith) has only visited Tasmania once in her life to report and it was on that visit she reported on Mr Lehrmann," Edmondson said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She was entitled to follow Lehrmann and take photos and report on him, he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I make a point, he's well reported in the media," Edmondson said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Burrows said an interim order preventing Smith from threatening, harassing or abusing Lehrmann would at least provide him with "some comfort".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Duvnjak was not satisfied an interim order was appropriate, pointing out Smith had not returned to Tasmania since the story.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/china-australia-update-li-qiang-calls-for-deeper-cooperation-with-australia-amid-global-donald-trump-tariff-uncertainty/419001d0-48a7-4714-9ac3-55452163f114" target="_blank"><strong><span>China's call for deeper cooperation with Australia amid global Trump tariff uncertainty</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Lehrmann has made a report about Smith through "official channels", Burrows told the court.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Burrows said Lehrmann had suffered psychological harm because Smith had seemingly deliberately engaged a NSW legal firm previously used by him.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>This raised "serious conflict concerns" as the firm, Mark O'Brien Legal, had confidential information about Lehrmann such as where he lived in Tasmania, Burrows said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Lehrmann was not present in court on Tuesday but is expected to give evidence at the slated hearing.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In a separate legal matter, Lehrmann has been accused of stealing a car in Tasmania's south in November, which he denies.</span></div></div>