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Brittany Higgins and Bruce Lehrmann will have to wait months before another trial takes place over an alleged rape inside Parliament House.

A new trial date has been set for February next year after the judge presiding over the case declared a mistrial and discharged the jury.

Jurors were still deliberating and had not reached a verdict.

After more than five days of deliberations, Chief Justice Lucy McCallum revealed one of the jurors brought information into the jury room which had not been presented as evidence in court.

Despite the juror in question claiming the information had not been used or relied upon, the chief justice said she had no choice but to abort the trial.

"This is an unexpected and unfortunate outcome," she told the court.

"I have heard an explanation and it may be that no harm has been done. But that is a risk I cannot take."

During the trial and deliberation period, Chief Justice McCallum gave jurors at least 17 warnings against conducting their own research on the case.

In her reasons for dismissing the jury, she revealed the misconduct was "inadvertently discovered" by court officers on Wednesday afternoon.

During a routine tidy of the deliberation room, one of the sheriffs accidentally bumped one of the juror's clear document folders onto the floor.

The chief justice said when the officer picked up the box, they noticed part of the title page of an academic research paper which had not been provided to the jury during the trial.

Upon further investigation it was discovered the topic of the paper was sexual assault. It included information about quantifying the number of false complaints.

"It is beyond question the conduct of a juror is such to abort the trial," Chief Justice McCallum said.

Bruce Lehrmann was being tried by the ACT Supreme Court, charged with sexual intercourse without consent.

He pleaded not guilty.

Ms Higgins addressed the media outside the court after the jury was dismissed.

"I chose to speak up," she told reporters.

"Speak up against rape, speak up against injustice, to speak up and share my experiences with others.

"I told the truth no matter how uncomfortable or unflattering to the court. Today's outcome does not change that truth."

Defence lawyer Steven Whybrow also spoke to reporters.

"We're disappointed by what's happened, but it would be inappropriate and irresponsible to say anything at this stage," he told reporters.

Lehrmann remained silent.

A new trial has been set down for February 20 and Lehrmann will remain on bail.

In her closing remarks, Chief Justice McCallum urged against reporting the case to ensure a fair trial and to provide Ms Higgins with some respite.

"The accused is just that. He is a person that stands accused," she said.

"The fairness of his trial will undoubtedly be impaired or at risk if people continue to report on this case with the frequency that has occurred.

"I would expect after reporting the outcome of today that reporting of the matter should fall silent so the accused can have a fair trial and Ms Higgins can have some respite from the intense glare of the media that has been pervasive in this trial."

In light of this, Mr Whybrow criticised Ms Higgins' statement outside court and referred her comments to the Australian Federal Police.

He said Ms Higgins and her team were inside the courtroom when the chief justice discharged the jury and spoke about people making statements that could prejudice a fair trial.

The jury previously sent notes to the court indicating it was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the rape allegation.

The chief justice encouraged them to persevere each time.

Ms Higgins alleges Lehrmann raped her in the parliamentary office of Linda Reynolds when they worked for her as defence industry minister in March 2019.

He denies any sexual interaction.

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The jury in the Bruce Lehrmann rape trial has been dismissed after it was discovered one of the jurors obtained information outside the evidence presented in court.

Meanwhile, Brittany Higgins has been referred to the police by Lehrmann's defence lawyers following her statement to media outside the court.

Chief Justice Lucy McCallum said it had been discovered a juror had undertaken some research in relation to the case which had entered the jury room.

"I have received evidence that at least one juror has had access to research material that was not provided to the jury during the trial," Chief Justice McCallum said.

She said the sheriff's office had inadvertently discovered evidence a juror had access to research material not provided to the jury.

During routine tidying, one of the sheriffs accidentally bumped one of the juror's document folders onto the floor.

The chief justice said when the officer picked up the box, he noticed part of the title page of an academic research paper.

Upon further investigation it was discovered the topic of the paper was sexual assault.

The chief justice said the juror in question gave an explanation suggesting the document had not been used or relied upon.

However, she said it was appropriate to regard that evidence with some scepticism.

The juror was dismissed along with the rest of the jury, who the chief justice thanked for their time.

"It is beyond question the conduct of a juror is such to abort the trial."

Bruce Lehrmann was being tried by the ACT Supreme Court, charged with sexual intercourse without consent.

He pleaded not guilty.

The jury was dismissed following a 12-day trial and had undertaken a little more than five days of deliberations.

A new trial has been set down for February 20 next year and Lehrmann will remain on bail.

Ms Higgins made a statement to the media after the jury was dismissed.

"I chose to speak up," she told reporters.

"Speak up against rape, speak up against injustice, to speak up and share my experiences with others.

"I told the truth no matter how uncomfortable or unflattering to the court. Today's outcome does not change that truth."

Lehrmann's lawyers criticised her statement and said they had referred her comments to police.

Defence lawyer Steven Whybrow said Ms Higgins gave what appeared to be a pre-prepared speech to the media outside court.

He said Ms Higgins and her support team were inside the courtroom when the chief justice discharged the jury and made "strong comments" about people making statements that could prejudice a fair trial.

"We have brought these comments to the attention of the court and the Australian Federal Police," Mr Whybrow said in a statement.

"It is not appropriate for Mr Lehrmann or his lawyers to make any comment as to whether the complainant's statements might amount to a contempt of court or offences against the ACT Criminal Code."

Mr Whybrow earlier addressed the media outside court.

"We're disappointed by what's happened, but it would be inappropriate and irresponsible to say anything at this stage," he told reporters.

Lehrmann remained silent.

The jury had sent notes to the court indicating it was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the rape allegation.

The chief justice encouraged them to persevere each time.

Ms Higgins alleges Lehrmann raped her in the parliamentary office of Linda Reynolds when they worked for her as defence industry minister in March 2019.

He denies any sexual interaction.

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New laws will give workers more power to request flexible working hours while introducing controversial changes to pave the way for widespread multi-employer bargaining.

Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke introduced the bill to parliament on Thursday as part of the first round of reforms to workers' rights.

Under the changes, employers will be legally required to reach an agreement with employees who request flexible work hours.

Workers would be able to take the case to the workforce watchdog if their boss refuses.

The bill would also aim to close the 14 per cent gender pay gap and ban secrecy clauses on pay.

Multi-employer bargaining would also be introduced, with the Fair Work Commission also given new powers to resolve long-running disputes.

Mr Burke said the laws would help to boost wages for workers at a time of flatlining pay cheques.

Changes will also see new limits placed on rolling term contracts so employees can't be put on long probation periods.

The workplace bill will clear the way for multi-employer bargaining, a measure facing stiff resistance from business groups over concerns it could lead to more strikes and risk jobs.

Mr Burke said the laws would remove unnecessary limitations from the bargaining system.

"We're not creating new streams of bargaining, we are varying the existing streams to make them work and to get wages moving," he said.

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief Andrew McKellar raised his concerns about the bill and how quickly it was being rushed through.

"The government has today introduced its so-called 'secure jobs, better pay' bill - the reality is, this bill could be called 'more strikes and job losses', because that's a risk that we will see if this bill is passed in its current form," Mr McKellar told reporters in Canberra.

He said the reforms would see the Fair Work Commission put at the centre of decisions usually resolved between employers and employees.

Mr McKellar also said the three-week time frame to review the bill was too short and that the business community needed more time to work through possible amendments with the government.

"If this is going to pass in any form, we need to have that process - we're seeing an insane rush to jam this legislation through," he said.

Deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley said the bargaining system wasn't broken and the proposed legislation would remove much-needed flexibility from such arrangements.

"This pattern style, industry-wide bargaining will increase strike action," Ms Ley told reporters.

"What this is, is this government taking the industrial relations system back to the 1970s and not having at its centre productivity in the workplace or a focus on increasing jobs, and security for both employees and employers," she said.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus said the laws would help to get wages moving.

"The wages crisis will not be fixed unless workers have a modern collective bargaining system that gives them the ability to win fair pay rises," she said.

"People are working hard, but they are now seeing their wages go dramatically backwards after a decade of seeing them go nowhere."

However, the union secretary expressed concern that too many employees would be shut out of the new bargaining system.

"The bill does not simplify or remove the red tape that makes the process of obtaining protected industrial action for workers unnecessarily long and difficult, in fact it adds more red tape."

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