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Defamation

This Month

John Pesutto and Moira Deeming.

Deeming sought preselection guarantee to drop Pesutto debt

The Victorian MP wrote to senior Liberals making a series of demands to halt her bankruptcy proceedings against the former leader.

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.

Judge dismisses actor’s $614m lawsuit against Blake Lively

Justin Baldoni had accused Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, of trying to destroy his reputation by accusing him of sexual harassment.

May

Ben Roberts-Smith outside the Federal Court earlier in May.

Why Ben Roberts-Smith’s appeal failed

The soldier attempted to rely on Afghanistan mission reports that he helped write, but they contradicted his own evidence at trial.

Hancock Prospecting executive chairwoman Gina Rinehart.

Rinehart refuses to rule out financial support for Roberts-Smith

Australia’s richest person has danced around questions about whether she provided financial backing for Ben Roberts-Smith to appeal his failed defamation case.

Ben Roberts-Smith outside the Federal Court earlier in May.

Disgraced soldier Ben Roberts-Smith loses defamation appeal

The Full Federal Court said evidence against Roberts-Smith was “sufficiently cogent to support the findings that the appellant murdered four Afghan men”.

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Nick McKenzie and Ben Roberts-Smith outside the Federal Court in Sydney on Friday.

Witness in Roberts-Smith case threatened to sue Nine

The former mistress of Ben Roberts-Smith threatened to sue Nine and investigative reporter Nick McKenzie, who denies he received privileged information relating to the disgraced soldier’s defamation action.

Nick McKenzie outside the Federal Court in Sydney on Thursday.

Secret recording admitted as evidence in Roberts-Smith appeal fight

Journalist Nick McKenzie says he used fair, responsible and honest means to obtain material for his investigation into Ben Roberts-Smith.

April

Former Tabcorp chief alleges boardroom full of sexist, sexual remarks

Adam Rytenskild claims the bookmaking giant hypocritically sacked him for a crude remark about a regulator, a comment he denies he said.

March

Ben Roberts-Smith was backed by billionaire Kerry Stokes.

Ben Roberts-Smith gets another (positive) chapter written

Former AFR correspondent and new Nightly writer Aaron Patrick is behind the latest move to rebuild BRS’ reputation.

December 2024

Craig Wright, an Australian who used to claim he was bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto, was given a suspended jail sentence.

Aussie bitcoin maverick avoids jail time. If he keeps his head down

A UK court gave Craig Wright, who has claimed he invented bitcoin, a one-year jail term for contempt. But his sentence was suspended for two years.

Moira Deeming (left) with her barrister Sue Chrysanthou, SC, outside the Federal Court in Melbourne during her defamation trial against John Pesutto.

Vic Libs must return to economic liberalism and social conservatism

The Moira Deeming disaster reflects the party’s domination by socially progressive moderates believing the path to winning is to out-Labor Labor.

Craig Wright at one of his previous court cases in London.

This Australian bitcoin maverick faces jail. But he’s gone AWOL

A UK court ruled Craig Wright was not cryptocurrency inventor Satoshi Nakamoto and told him to stop suing people. He now faces a contempt charge.

November 2024

Former PwC partners Wayne Plummer and Richard Gregg.

PwC Australia settles with three former partners for millions

The firm has entered into settlements worth millions with two partners forced to leave amid the tax leaks scandal and another former partner.

October 2024

Zali Burrows and Bruce Lehrmann.

Bruce Lehrmann ‘probably Australia’s most hated man’: his lawyer

A judge ruled the former Liberal staffer raped Brittany Higgins in 2019. Now on Centrelink, OnlyFans is his only prospect for work, his lawyer says.

September 2024

Brittany Higgins is defending a defamation action launched by Senator Linda Reynolds.

Peta Credlin had hand in Higgins’ statement, trial told

Sky News political commentator Peta Credlin helped Brittany Higgins draft a statement outlining the former staffer’s plan to reform how parliament handled sexual harassment, a trial has been told.

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Liberal senator Linda Reynolds has sued former staffer Brittany Higgins for defamation.

Reynolds picked wrong target in Higgins defamation suit

Brittany Higgins’ barrister said she spoke out about her alleged rape in parliament to ensure nobody experienced a similar ordeal, not to traumatise her former boss.

August 2024

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Minister for Women Marise Payne during the first meeting of cabinet’s women’s taskforce in April.

Morrison feared ‘fatal outcome’ for Reynolds in Higgins saga

Scott Morrison told a court he saw Senator Linda Reynolds stressed during debate over Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations, and worried it would kill her.

Former US house speaker Nancy Pelosi has called Paul Keating’s Taiwan comments “stupid”.

Keating takes swipe at Pelosi after she calls him ‘stupid’

Paul Keating says Nancy Pelosi doesn’t share Australia’s interests; Scott Morrison tells court he feared Linda Reynolds could have died. How the day unfolded.

Former PwC Australia acting chief executive Kristin Stubbins.

With friends like PwC, who needs enemies?

Kristin Stubbins does not seem assured her former employer necessarily has her best interests at heart.

Former minister Linda Reynolds arrives at the Supreme Court in Perth for the defamation trial, with husband Robert Reid, left, and lawyer Martin Bennett.

Reynolds’ claims ‘retraumatising’ Higgins, court told

Lawyers for Brittany Higgins have hit back at claims she cast Senator Linda Reynolds as a villain in an imaginary fairytale, calling them “harassing”.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/defamation-1lz3