Liberal and National Party MPs attack free speech and political communication with 4 defamation cases in the Federal Court
Three Liberal Party MP’s, Peter Dutton, Andrew Laming and Christian Porter, and one National Party MP, NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro, currently have defamation cases in the Federal Court of Australia which I suspect is a record for the number of politicians suing social media users and journalists at any one given time.
The 4 court cases by themselves are an attack on free speech and political communication and while Porter has in theory settled his defamation case, and he has tried to claim a win, it is still afoot. And if the other three were to win their cases it would have a huge negative effect on free speech and political communication in this country. How much coordination has happened between the 4 is unknown but there would likely of been at least some discussion between a couple of them if not all of them.
Christian Porter sued the ABC and journalist Louise Milligan for defamation and while Porter has settled the defamation case elements of the case have not been finalised. (Click here and here to read more) Porter has been using the lawyer Rebekah Giles who runs the law firm Company Giles and he used the barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC before she was restrained by the court from representing Porter anymore.
Federal MP Andrew Laming, who is also suing journalist Louise Milligan, is also using lawyer Rebekah Giles and it is hard to believe he would not have consulted Christian Porter before hiring Rebekah Giles. Which barrister Mr Laming is using at this point is unknown.
“lawyers acting on behalf of Laming lodged documents in the federal court alleging Milligan had “gravely injured” the embattled MP’s “character and reputation” in a series of tweets on 28 March relating to a photo he took of a woman bending over at a Brisbane landscaping business in 2019.”
The claim, seen by the Guardian, alleges that Milligan “intended” for the “sensational, accusatory and spiteful” tweets to “irrevocably damage” Laming’s “personal and professional reputation”. (Click here to read more)
Federal MP Peter Dutton is suing Twitter user Shane Bazzi for one Tweet and is using the law firm Baker & Mckenzie. Which barrister Mr Dutton is using at this point is unknown.
Peter Dutton has followed through with his threat to sue social media users for defamation by starting proceedings against Twitter user Shane Bazzi for calling Dutton a “rapist apologist”. But there is a video and a Twitter message below of Peter Dutton saying, “QLD Premier Palaszczuk should be shamed into joining a federal push for a public sex offender register” and asking “why Premier Palaszczuk is siding with and protecting paedophiles and sex offenders is just beyond anyone’s comprehension and it is for her to explain”. (Click here to read more)
NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro is suing YouTube comedian FriendlyJordies (Jordan Shanks-Markovina) and Google who own YouTube. Barilaro is using the law firm Mark O’Brien Legal, who also represent Ben Roberts-Smith, and Christian Porter’s former barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC who was in her usual fine form in the Federal Court on Friday. FriendlyJordies have raised over $1million for their legal defence for the defamation matter as well as criminal charges against employee Kristo Langker who has been charged with stalking Barilaro which based on video evidence is a false charge.
At Friday’s pre-trial hearing in the Barilaro v FriendlyJordies matter his barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC argued:
“John Barilaro boasting about pork barrelling government grants may be “the wrong thing to do”, but it does not show the New South Wales deputy premier is a corrupt conman, his lawyers have argued in court.” (Click here to read more)
https://kangaroocourtofaustralia.com/2021/07/25/liberal-and-national-party-mps-attack-free-speech-and-political-communication-with-4-defamation-cases-in-the-federal-court/