Christian Porter drops ‘rape allegations’ defamation case against ABC

Both the ABC and Christian Porter have claimed victory after the former Attorney-General dropped his defamation case against the broadcaster.

Christian Porter has dropped his defamation lawsuit against the ABC but both the former Attorney-General and the public broadcaster have claimed victory and fired more allegations minutes after striking a deal.

Mr Porter sued the ABC after it published an article titled “Scott Morrison, senators and the AFP told of historical rape allegation against Cabinet Minister” in February this year.

The politician alleged the article identified him — without using his name — and falesly defamed him by implying he “brutally raped” a 16-year-old-girl in 1988.

He denied all wrongdoing.

The woman, known only as Kate, took her life in 2020 after declining to be interviewed by NSW detectives.

Solicitor Rebekah Giles and Christian Porter address the media at the Queens Square Supreme Court in Sydney today. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Adam Yip

On Monday the case came to an abrupt end with the politician and top ABC brass sitting down to a deal in Sydney.

Mr Porter, flanked by his solicitor Rebekah Giles, told the media the ABC had been forced into a “humiliating backdown” on accusations against him.

“The ABC have said explicitly that they regret the outcome of the article and the reporting contained in it,” he said. “The ABC have been forced to acknowledge they could not prove to the criminal standard, or even the civil standard, the accusations contained in their article.”

The ABC said the broadcaster stood by their investigative journalism and journalist Louise Milligan.

The broadcaster added a note to the story that triggered the lawsuit but did not include the word “sorry”, did not apologise explicitly to Mr Porter and will not remove the story.

Christian Porter outside court. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Adam Yip

“The ABC did not intend to suggest that Mr Porter had committed the criminal offences alleged,” the note reads.

Mr Porter said: “There‘s no turning the clock back once someone writes a sensationalist article like this with allegations that would lead ordinary readers to jump to a conclusion of guilt.”

But Mr Porter’s comments elicited a further statement from the ABC.

“The ABC has never and still does not accept that the article suggested guilt on the part of Mr Porter. The article was not ‘sensationalist’. It was an accurate and factual report on a letter that had been sent to the Prime Minister and two other senior politicians.”

Both the ABC and Mr Porter had vowed to vindicate themselves in court.

The mediation was announced during a separate legal challenge launched by Kate’s friend Jo Dyer.

Mr Porter said the ABC were forced to come to the bargaining table after the court heard Ms Milligan allegedly advised Ms Dyer to delete messages.“That shook them,” he said.

The ABC, in their second statement, disputed that saying communications about mediation began before Ms Dyer’s legal challenge.

Ms Dyer ultimately won the challenge and Mr Porter‘s prized barrister Sue Chrysanthou was forced out of the defamation trial.

Mr Porter resisted multiple calls for an independent inquiry saying the ABC had conceded the allegations could not be proved to any court‘s standard. Ms Milligan took to twitter to say she was “absolutely committed” to the 27 pages of redacted information that was being disputed in the case being in the public domain.

Mr Porter‘s solicitor Rebekah Giles, in a statement, said the settlement included an order that those unredacted pages be removed permanently from the court file.

Journalist Louise Milligan. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

Ms Giles said Ms Milligan expressly agreed to that condition. “It is astonishing that Ms Milligan and other employees of the ABC have now seen fit to publish statements inconsistent with the settlement that they themselves personally agreed to,” she said.

The ABC, in their second statement, refuted Mr Porter’s comments about Ms Neighbour and any suggestion Ms Milligan “coached” Ms Dyer to delete messages.