ABC racehorse expose: Peter V’landys’ lawyer says segment was ‘stitch up’
A lawyer for NSW Racing chief Peter V‘landys says the ABC did a “10/10 stitch up” on him when they aired his interview next to vision of racehorses in a knackery but a court has heard he hasn’t even watched the program yet.
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The ABC hit Peter V’landys with a “10/10 stitch up” when they showed videos of horses being slaughtered, his lawyers say.
But the public broadcaster says the racing chief hasn’t even watched the story he’s suing them over and wants to play “Gogglebox: courtroom edition” when it goes to trial.
A segment on the ABC’s 7:30, entitled The Final Race, aired in October 2019 alleging hundreds of Australian racehorses were being sent to slaughter in Queensland and NSW.
The Racing NSW chief fronted 7:30’s cameras where he said the practice wasn’t known to be happening in NSW.
The ABC, however, had obtained vision of NSW horses being processed in a Queensland abattoir and spliced the footage in with their interview.
Mr V’landys launched Federal Court defamation proceedings saying the program made him look as though he “callously permitted the wholesale slaughter” of horses.
“The program is basically a set-up designed to get Mr V’landys on, under false pretences, and then make him look appalling by showing, around the interview with him, this horrifying footage of horses being appallingly, badly treated,” Mr V’landys’ barrister Bruce McClintock SC said on Tuesday.
He recounted the moment Mr V’landys’ right hand man watched the footage and told the racing industry chief how it came across.
“As far as a stitch up goes it’s 10/10,” Mr McClintock said on Tuesday.
He said the court would hear about the reaction people had toward Mr V’landys on the Racing NSW website following the segment.
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“Have a good look at yourself in the mirror, you should see an a**hole,” Mr McClintock read from a court document.
“I really hope you drop dead.”
He said those were the reactions the ABC were “trying to get”.
The barrister said his client was robbed of the chance to condemn the treatment of the horses and an opportunity to explain he had no jurisdiction in Queensland.
The ABC’s barrister, Sandy Dawson SC, said one of Mr V’landy’s lawyers told the court, last month, the chief had seen “the shocking mistreatment of horses” while watching the broadcast.
But, Mr Dawson said, Mr V’landys now says he has never watched the program and will only do so in the trial next month.
“He’ll walk into your honour’s courtroom in September, sit down and watch the program for the first time ever in what could only be described as Gogglebox: courtroom edition,” he said.
The ABC will argue “we don’t think we said those things about Mr V’landys,” Mr Dawson said.
“The program simply doesn’t say those things is our case.”
The two parties spent much of Tuesday debating whether Mr V’landys legal team should be able to argue if the ABC had malice when it broadcast the segment.
Justice Michael Wigney said he will reserve his decision on whether the application by the racing chief will be allowed to be modified so close to the trial.