Zali Steggall threatened with defamation proceedings by Advance Australia
The Tony Abbott-supporting Advance Australia group is threatening defamation proceedings against independent Warringah candidate Zali Steggall over comments regarding the doctoring of her Wikipedia page.
The Tony Abbott-supporting Advance Australia group is threatening defamation proceedings against independent Warringah candidate Zali Steggall over comments regarding the doctoring of her Wikipedia page.
The conservative lobby group has given Ms Steggall until 5pm on Thursday to retract comments the group alleges were “false and misleading”.
It relates to an interview Ms Steggall did with Channel Nine’s Today show host Georgie Gardiner where she was asked about opponents doctoring her Wikipedia page.
On the weekend of March 9 and 10 additions were made to her entry which included descriptions of her as a “men’s magazine model” and stated she had appeared nude and wearing lingerie in photoshoots.
When asked by Gardiner who she thought was responsible for the additions, Ms Steggall said: “There’s no doubt about it that it’s from an opponent’s point of view. So again, I wouldn’t want to point fingers at who it is, but we know Advance Australia are running ads where they are openly lying about my campaign platform, my position on policies.”
A spokesman for Advance Australia described her comments as “sloppy” and said Ms Steggall — who became a barrister after retiring from skiing — should know better.
“We represent 28,000 supporters from across the country and they expect us to maintain and protect the integrity of our movement,” the spokesman said.
Advance Australia has instructed the group’s legal representatives, Harpur Phillips, to send the warning letter to Ms Steggall.
“Your response to the questions ‘what’s your suspicion?’ clearly implies that Advance Australia made the changes to your Wikipedia page, and alleges that Advance Australia is dishonest in its dealings with the Australian voters,” the letter alleges.
“We are instructed that Advance Australia did not make any changes to your Wikipedia page, including the changes discussed in the interview.
“The imputation that it did make those changes is false and misleading, has no basis in truth, and is made with malice. The imputation is defamatory.”
The letter goes on to argue the group can be defamed given that it is a not-for-profit company with less than 10 full time employees.
“We require you to 1. Issue a retraction, to be published on your web site and 2. Remove the link to the article by news.com.au which appears on your web site. Please do so by 5pm on 21 March 2019.”
The letter is signed by the law firm’s principal Michelle Harpur.
Ms Steggall declined to comment when approached by the Manly Daily.
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