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Jodie StephensAAP Eryn Jean Norvill says other actors helped enable Geoffrey Rush's alleged sexual harassment during a Sydney Theatre Company production, against a backdrop of

"normalised" bullying and harassment throughout the industry. Norvill was questioned in the NSW Federal Court by Rush's lawyer on Wednesday about her earlier comment that the

King Lear rehearsal room was "complicit" in the Oscar winner's inappropriate behaviour toward her. She'd told the court no one "seemed to have a problem with

it" when Rush made groping gestures and sexual innuendo toward her, and it made her feel quashed in terms of her "ability to find allies". On Wednesday, when Norvill was

pressed specifically for her thoughts on industry veteran Robyn Nevin, the young actor said she and "everyone in that room" had enabled Rush. "There was a culture of bullying

and harassment in that room and in my industry, and it was accepted and normalised," Norvill said. Norvill was in the witness box for a second day as Rush, 67, sues Daily Telegraph

publisher Nationwide News and journalist Jonathon Moran for defamation. The Telegraph in 2017 published articles about an allegation Rush behaved inappropriately toward a co-star, later

revealed to be Norvill, during the production in 2015 and 2016. Rush denies the claims against him and argues the newspaper portrayed him as a pervert and sexual predator. The Telegraph is

pleading a defence of truth after Norvill - who didn't speak with the journalist before his articles - agreed in July to testify. Norvill was on Wednesday asked by Rush's barrister

Bruce McClintock SC why she didn't tell Nevin she was "complicit" in messages they exchanged after the Telegraph story broke. She said she didn't have "any

hardship" toward Nevin, and they could still be friends. "Ms Nevin has always been kind to me. Whether she enabled Geoffrey's behaviour is a different matter," Norvill

told the court. She said she and Nevin were from different generations and may have different ideas about what was appropriate in the workplace. The culture of bullying and harassment in the

rehearsal room and industry was perpetuated by fear and silence, Norvill said. When Justice Michael Wigney asked if she thought an actor of Nevin's esteem was frightened, Norvill said

she wouldn't have been. Nevin told the court last week said she hadn't seen anything during King Lear to justify Norvill's complaint and she believed it to be baseless. She

said she didn't confront or question Norvill about it after the Telegraph articles were published as the "damage was done", and denied it was because she thought the

allegations could be true. Mr McClintock also questioned Norvill on Wednesday about details she'd shared in court which weren't included in an earlier statement she'd made

about the alleged harassment. She denied she made them up in the witness box, and she didn't agree with the lawyer's suggestion Rush had never behaved inappropriately toward her.

"Your honour, I am not lying," Norvill said. Mr McClintock asked about inconsistencies between her evidence and an STC employee's account of a meeting with Norvill about the

harassment allegations during in 2016. Norvill denied she'd told company manager Annelies Crowe "a whole pack of disgusting lies". The judge-alone trial continues. GET THE

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