The ABC has come out swinging in its defence to former attorney-general Christian Porter’s lawsuit over an allegedly defamatory article concerning historical rape allegations, saying there were reasonable grounds for suspecting Porter brutally raped a girl when they were teenagers and that it had a duty to publish the article.
Facing a defamation suit by former attorney-general Christian Porter over an article centring on historical rape allegations, the ABC has said it will argue the substantial truth of many of the alleged defamatory imputations and will call at least 15 witnesses to make good on its defence.
Former attorney-general Christian Porter is seeking to block the public from seeing portions of the ABC’s defence to claims that it defamed him with an article detailing historical rape allegations.
The “hypocrisy” of ABC journalist Louise Milligan in criticising the host of Media Watch for not seeking comment before a broadcast last month has aggravated the damage caused by her defamatory article, the former Attorney-General and accused rapist has told a court.
Former Solicitor-General Justin Gleeson SC, who recently called for an inquiry into Attorney-General Christian Porter’s fitness for office in the face of rape allegations, will represent the ABC against Porter’s defamation claims.
Facebook will press on with its argument that it can’t be sued in Australia by the country’s privacy commissioner for alleged disclosure of users’ personal data, after a judge found there was enough evidence the social media giant conducted business in the country by installing and operating cookies on the devices of Australia users.
Facebook’s argument that it can’t be sued by the privacy commissioner in Australia has fallen flat, with a judge rejecting the social media giant’s application to dismiss enforcement action brought in March over the disclosure of users’ personal data.
US-based Facebook has argued that it does not carry on business in Australia despite users in Australia accessing its website, calling for the dismissal of action brought by the Australian Information Commissioner over alleged privacy breaches.
A theatre producer facing a lawsuit by his former collaborators for stealing the script for his off-Broadway puppet show parody of the 80s TV sitcom Golden Girls has lost his own legal action against them, which alleged they defamed him and engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct by talking to a New York Times reporter about their lawsuit.
Actor Geoffrey Rush has come up short in his bid for an injunction blocking The Daily Telegraph from repeating allegations in the successful defamation case he brought against the publisher, with a judge citing the public interest in free speech and the lack of foundation for the actor’s concerns.