Louise Milligan to pay Andrew Laming MP over ‘upskirt’ tweets
ABC journalist Louise Milligan will pay Liberal MP Andrew Laming over tweets suggesting he “upskirted” a woman - and the public will foot the massive bill.
Police & Courts
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The taxpayer will pick up a legal bill in excess of $120,000 after ABC journalist Louise Milligan agreed to pay MP Andrew Laming over a series of tweets falsely suggesting he criminally “upskirted” a woman.
The Liberal MP is now expected to sue Nine for beginning what he calls a “character assassination”.
Dr Laming sued Ms Milligan for defamation claiming her tweets suggested he “admitted to an offence under the criminal code... of taking a photo of a woman’s underwear under her skirt without consent”.
The politician took legal action after Queensland Police cleared him of any wrongdoing for a photograph he took of a woman stocking a fridge in 2019.
The woman had complained to police saying the photograph was inappropriate but Dr Laming called it “dignified” and it was simply a photograph of a hard working employee stacking a fridge with an “impossible” number of cans.
It was around the same time Dr Laming apologised to two women for his online behaviour.
Documents filed by Dr Laming’s defamation lawyer, Rebekah Giles, said Milligan’s tweets suggested the politician should be sacked for the misconduct and was “such a danger to women” he should immediately leave politics.
The journalist had not published any articles about Dr Laming’s case but was tweeting about his case and made mention of unrelated stories of women being mistreated as well.
The Federal Court, on Wednesday, heard Milligan had agreed to a judgment against her and she would pay Dr Laming $79,000 in damages as well as legal costs.
The politician’s legal costs are understood to be between $40,000 and $50,000 bringing the bill to about $120,000 before Ms Milligan’s own legal costs are added.
“No one should be subjected to this type of harassment and character assassination without recourse and the defamation laws are important to achieve that end,” Dr Laming said in a statement.
The ABC said it decided to pay Ms Milligan’s costs because the case constituted “particular and exceptional circumstances”.
The national broadcaster said the settlement had avoided protracted and costly legal action.
“One of (Ms Milligan’s) posts contained an honest error that had been widely reported by numerous other journalists and politicians on social and mass media,” the ABC said in its statement.
“The error concerned the circumstances in which Dr Laming took a photograph. In June Ms Milligan deleted the tweets and posted a substantial statement correcting the record.”
The ABC said it had no knowledge of lawsuits directed against other media but Dr Laming’s lawyers say they’ll now sue Nine who had originally broadcast the allegations against him.
It follows a series of apologies and retractions from multiple journalists, media figures and politicians including at News Corp.
Dr Laming’s legal team was the same as that used by Christian Porter in his legal battle against Ms Milligan and the ABC with barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC again at the helm.
Ms Milligan’s barrister, Renée Enbom QC, had asked the court to include a note saying the journalist accepted “no liability” despite agreeing to the settlement.
Ms Chrysanthou SC rejected that saying her consent to judgment was an admission of liability.
Justice Anna Katzman refused to rule on the disagreement but entered judgment in favour of the politician and noted Ms Milligan had agreed to the compromise.
News of the payment comes just days after the ABC was forced to announce tightened social media restrictions on staff.
In an all-staff email ABC managing director David Anderson warned staffers not to do anything that might compromise the ABC‘s independence, including “liking” posts and tweets that might reflect badly on the national broadcaster.
“The primary concern is when personal social media activity reflects badly on the ABC’s independence and integrity, or when a poorly judged post or series of posts or ‘likes’ compromises perceptions of the impartiality of someone in an ABC role where maintaining impartiality in the public eye is crucial,” he wrote in the email.
“So, to protect yourself and the ABC, I offer this simple piece of advice: If you are posting, liking, or sharing something on personal social media that is work related or about a matter of public controversy – ask yourself if it’s something you would also say, write, or share on an ABC platform.”
The email appeared to mark a tightening in ABC policy.
In May Mr Anderson told a Senate estimates hearing that the ABC would not discourage staff from sharing their opinions on social media after a senior in-house lawyer resigned after describing Prime Minister Scott Morrison as a “fascist” and an ”awful human being” online.
Ms Milligan identifies herself on Twitter as a reporter for 4 Corners, an author and award winner but notes it is her “personal account”.
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