Lisa Wilkinson’s daughter Billi Fitzimmons’ website mistakes Aboriginal flag on The Daily Aus

A howler of a Photoshop error has capped off a big week for Lisa Wilkinson’s family after her daughter’s news platform mixed up the German and Aboriginal flags.

Billi FitzSimons, the daughter of Wilkinson and Peter FitzSimons, has been editor of the ‘social media first’ outlet The Daily Aus since March.

And the 24-year-old faced her first big hurdle in the top job this week when the website edited the German flag to the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, rather than the Aboriginal flag.

Meanwhile – in what could only be dubbed suspicious timing – just a day later Ms FitzSimons posted a job listing looking for a fact checker who has ‘meticulous attention to detail’.

A The Daily Aus staffer photoshopped the German flag onto the iconic bridge for a story about the Aboriginal flag becoming a permanent addition to the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Lisa Wilkinson (left) and daughter Billi FitzSimons (right) have both worked as editors

The post was about the government’s decision to fork out $25million to install the Aboriginal flag on top of the Sydney landmark. 

In a statement, co-founder Sam Koslowski told Daily Mail Australia: ‘It was a simple screw-up. 

‘One of our web designers was mocking up some new designs and inadvertently put a mock design up live.

‘This was a design testing error and nothing to do with our editorial team. It was meant for internal design review only and was published in error. 

‘We have reviewed our internal design and testing processes so it doesn’t happen again.’

In the wake of the error, Ms FitzSimons took to Twitter and LinkedIn on Thursday to publish the job listing.

It sought for a detail-oriented person that could ‘critically examine sources’.

The Daily Aus describes itself as a site ‘offering young Australians a digestible and engaging way to access the news’.

‘Our objective is to provide the context to a news story making the rounds,’ the site explains.

Ms FitzSimons took to Twitter to find a fact-checker with ‘meticulous attention to detail’ in the wake of the flag post

A blunder by Ms FitzSimon’s mother Lisa was at the centre of national debate this week after The Project host’s Logies-winning speech led to the trial of Brittany Higgins’ accused rapist being delayed. Mr Lehrmann has denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.

There were calls for Wilkinson to be charged with contempt of court after she mentioned alleged rape victim Higgins in her speech for winning the Outstanding News Coverage Logie award over her one-of-one interview with the former ministerial staffer in 2021.

The trial of the accused, Bruce Lehrmann, was pushed back until October, after ACT Chief Justice Lucy McCallum expressed concern Wilkinson’s comments could prejudice jurors. 

The trial relates to an alleged rape that Ms Higgins says occurred in Parliament House in 2019, which is denied by Lehrmann.

Justice McCallum decided to delay the trial ‘regrettably and with gritted teeth’ because ‘somewhere in this debate, the distinction between an untested allegation and the fact of guilt has been lost’.

She noted public interest in the case needed to die down before Lehrmann would have access to a fair jury.

It has been a tough week for The Project star’s family after Lisa found herself in legal trouble following her Logies acceptance speech

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Network 10 announced that it hired high-profile lawyer Matthew Collins on behalf of the Network and Wilkinson just hours after Dr Collins criticised Wilkinson’s speech on rival Chanel Seven’s Sunrise morning show.

‘It’s certainly possible that the authorities will be looking at the speech she made to the Logies and assessing (whether) that speech went against the standard which applies in this branch of the law,’ Dr Collins said.

‘That standard is, did anything that she did have a tendency to interfere with the administration of justice?’

Network Ten said it ‘fully supports Lisa Wilkinson’ and confirmed Dr Collins was hired to represent it and Wilkinson.

‘Both Network 10 and Lisa Wilkinson take their legal obli­gations very seriously, including in the preparation and delivery of her speech given at the Logies event.’ 

‘In light of the continuing proceedings, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.’

Ten also fired a warning shot at news outlets reporting about the legal drama.   ‘This reporting is now causing significant harm and we ask these organisations to cease this harassment to allow Lisa the best opportunity to give her evidence in court and to enable the trial to go ahead in a fair and timely manner,’ a spokesperson for the network said.

‘We are closely monitoring all coverage of this issue and Lisa and Network 10 reserve their rights in respect of any future defamation claims.’

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Ms FitzSimons for comment.