Former senator David Leyonhjelm will have to pay Sarah Hanson-Young $120,000 in damages after the full Federal Court on Wednesday slammed defamatory comments he made about her in 2018 as “obviously sexist”, “puerile”, “pungent” and “boys’-own locker-room gossip” .

The Greens senator praised the decision, which dismissed an appeal by Mr Leyonhjelm of an earlier defamation finding, as “a timely and crucial message that women deserve to be safe and respected” and that politicians “are not above the law”.