The media companies fighting a defamation lawsuit brought by decorated war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith has accused the former soldier of involvement in two more alleged murders while on duty in Afghanistan, taking the total to seven alleged killings in which he is said to be involved.
A last-minute bid by the Federal Attorney-General to protect national security information has delayed an interlocutory hearing in war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation lawsuit, potentially pushing out the trial date.
War veteran Ben Roberts-Smith has told a judge hearing defamation proceedings against several media companies over articles accusing him of war crimes that he can only be vindicated if he is allowed to give evidence in open court, as the Federal Government seeks to impose restrictions on the case due to national security concerns.
The six-week trial in four defamation cases brought by war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith has been pushed off because of restrictions on in-person hearings and the Attorney-General’s decision to invoke national security law and cloak the proceedings in secrecy.
A Sydney rabbi who told the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse that he did not know touching a child’s genitals was a crime has lost a defamation case against SBS and the Murdoch-owned Nationwide News, with the NSW Supreme Court finding that the media “accurately reported” the rabbi’s own words.
Defending a defamation case brought by the head of a group of gay ‘pups’, Network Ten has argued that a report about an Australian man who died from genital silicone injections was substantially true and in the public interest.
The head of a group of gay ‘pups’ suing for defamation over a Network Ten report investigating the death of his partner from silicone genital injections has told the Federal Court that he was “forced out” of a senior position at Google as a result of the broadcast.
The ABC and Fairfax have lost their bid to file an amended defence in defamation proceedings brought by Chinese businessman Chau Chak Wing, several months after the Full Federal Court upheld a ruling striking out out the publishers’ truth defence.
Fairfax Media has challenged a judge’s “gravely serious” suggestion that one of its journalists lied about a confidential source, during the first day of a two-day appeal hearing over a $280,000 defamation judgment awarded to Chinese-Australian businessman Chau Chak Wing.
The publishers of the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times have lost an appeal of a $300,000 defamation award to cricketer Chris Gayle, despite the appeals court finding Gayle’s barrister had gone “too far” in his submissions to the jury.