Christian Porter discontinues defamation action against ABC
Former attorney-general Christian Porter has decided to discontinue his defamation action against the ABC.
Former attorney-general Christian Porter has discontinued his defamation action against the ABC and journalist Louise Milligan.
“All parties have agreed to not pursue the matter any further. No damages will be paid,” the public broadcaster said in a statement on Monday.
“The ABC stands by the importance of the article, which reported on matters of significant public interest.”
Mr Porter’s took action against the ABC over its reporting of an alleged historical rape claim made against him, which he strenuously denies.
A trial in the Federal Court case was expected to be months away.
The action stemmed from an article by the ABC’s Louise Milligan on February 26 this year, about a letter to the Prime Minister containing allegations against a senior cabinet minister. Although he was not named, the article was about Mr Porter.
The article, which remains online, has been updated with an editor’s note.
“The ABC did not intend to suggest that Mr Porter had committed the criminal offences alleged,” it says.
“The ABC did not contend that the serious accusations could be substantiated to the applicable legal standard – criminal or civil.
“However, both parties accept that some readers misinterpreted the article as an accusation of guilt against Mr Porter. That reading, which was not intended by the ABC, is regretted.”
Speaking after the revelation on Monday, Mr Porter said he would “absolutely” be running at the next election, but would not seek to return to the role of attorney-general.
He said the result was a vindication that prevented a new standard whereby a public person’s career could be ruined based on an accusation alone.
“We would be living in an Australia where the sensationalist printing of hearsay accusations, in a totally one-sided way, even about complaints that were withdrawn, would have been the normal,” he said.
Mr Porter said the ABC had been forced to express regret at the outcome of the article, claiming the broadcaster would struggle to stand by the contents of the article.
“This is a very difficult thing to get the ABC to ever do,” he said.
The former attorney-general said the article “should never have been printed and published in the way that it was”.
“It was sensationalist, it was one-sided, it was unfair,” he said.
“It’s the sort of reporting that any Australian could be subject to unless people stand up to it.
“The question becomes for the ABC is: how do you stand by reporting that you have acknowledged in a settlement, that you were forced into, that you regret?” he said.
“That’s not a question for me, that’s a question for the ABC.”
Mr Porter claimed it was impossible to “turn the clock back on this sort of reporting”, saying he could “never gain from and action like this”.
“That’s why it’s so wrong, and not just wrong for a politician, but for any person who might be subject to this sort of reporting,” he said.
Mr Porter said he was “astonished” when the ABC sought urgent mediation on Friday.
Last week, Mr Porter suffered a setback to his case when his top defamation lawyer Sue Chrysanthou was restrained by the court from acting for him, due to a conflict of interest.
Jo Dyer, the director of Adelaide Writers Week, had sought the order.
Ms Dyer is a friend of the Adelaide woman at the centre of the alleged incident in Sydney in 1988 when the woman was aged 16 and Mr Porter 17.
Ms Dyer claimed Ms Chrysanthou had access to confidential information related to the case given to her by Ms Dyer.
Mr Porter’s accuser took her own life last year after deciding not to go ahead with her police complaint.
His case alleged an article published by the national broadcaster implied he “brutally raped a 16-year-old girl in 1988” and that this alleged incident – which he denies – “contributed to her taking her own life”.
Although he was not named in the article, he outed himself as the minister in question at a press conference five days later.
In a statement on Monday, the ABC said it stood by its investigative and public interest journalism.
“The ABC stands by Louise Milligan, one of Australia’s foremost and most awarded investigative journalists, and all our journalists in their independent and brave reporting on matters about which Australians have a right to be informed,” the broadcaster said.