Christian Porter facing $500,000 in legal costs after failed appeal

Former attorney-general Christian Porter has lost an appeal in the Federal Court over the court’s decision to remove his lawyer from his defamation case.

Former attorney-general Christian Porter has lost an appeal in the Federal Court over the decision to remove his lawyer Sue Chrysanthou SC from his defamation case against the ABC.

The decision means that Mr Porter is still facing legal costs of over $500,000 from the discontinued case although further moves to reduce that amount continue.

He sued the ABC in 2021 after the national broadcaster published an article stating an unnamed cabinet minister was facing a historical rape allegation.

Mr Porter claimed he was identified as the minister in the article and strenuously denied the allegation. The woman at the centre of the allegation died by suicide in 2020 without giving a formal statement to police.

While the original legal costs order was for just over $400,000, the loss of the appeal is likely to add another $180,000 in legal costs to the bill.

Mr Porter quit politics last year after a storm of controversy over his use of a blind trust to pay his legal bills.

If successful, the legal appeal could have also resulted in the public release of redacted text messages sent to ABC journalist Annabel Crabb, who described Mr Porter as “a strange dude” in texts with Jo Dyer that were publicly released by the Federal Court.

Ms Dyer and Ms Crabb both knew the woman called ‘Kate’ who accused Mr Porter of raping her as a teenager.

In the messages, Ms Crabb told Ms Dyer shortly after Kate‘s death that she was “completely poleaxed … even though I hadn’t seen her for so long and didn’t know her all that well to begin with”.

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Former Attorney-General Christian Porter has lost an appeal in the Federal Court over the court‘s decision to remove his lawyer Sue Chrysanthou SC from his defamation case against the ABC.

“It’s really coalescing with the stories of those [former High Court Justice Dyson] Heydon women just fading away out of the law … leaves me with such a boiling sense of rage and grief,” Ms Crabb said.

“I’m glad she at least managed to talk to a lot of people, some never get that. What a strange dude CP is. And how amazingly arrogant to think you can mistreat people and get away with it forever.”

CP was a reference to Christian Porter.

Last year, Mr Porter’s lawyer Rebekah Giles said the legal action could require the release of the unredacted text messages between Ms Dyer and Ms Crabb.

“This includes an appeal to the decision of His Honour to substantially redact text messages between Ms Dyer and ABC journalist, Ms Crabb,’’ Ms Giles said in a media statement.

“As the appeal is now in the hands of the Full Federal Court, it would be inappropriate to make further comment on it.”

During the original defamation legal tussle, a trial within the trial emerged which saw his barrister, Sue Chrysanthou SC, blocked from acting in his high-profile defamation case against the national broadcaster over a conflict of interest.

Author and media personality Annabel Crabb was dragged into the Christian Porter saga. Picture: John Appleyard.

Ms Dyer‘s lawyers argued Ms Chrysanthou was privy to confidential information about Mr Porter and his accuser because the barrister gave her free legal advice to Ms Dyer and friends of the accuser over an article in The Australian.

After settling his defamation case against the ABC, Mr Porter then launched an appeal to the full bench of the federal court over that decision to remove Ms Chrysanthou.

Justice Tom Thawley previously made orders in the case including requiring Mr Porter’s legal representatives to destroy any documents containing the confidential information.

A series of text messages between Ms Dyer and Ms Crabb were attached to the court order.

Marque Lawyers acting for Ms Dyer told news.com.au that it was a complicated saga but the two word explanation of today‘s events was “we won.”

“We are unsurprised and delighted,” lawyer Michael Bradley said.

Ms Dyer said in a statement that “this was a simple case about the duty of confidentiality a lawyer owes to a client.”

“Christian Porter was not a party to it until he actively joined himself to it,’’ she said. “It remains unclear why he did this, and on what “principle” he then chose to appeal Thawley J’s original decision.

“It has been two years since Kate’s tragic death. With this litigation and Mr Porter’s political career now over, it is our fervent wish that Kate can be remembered for the brilliant, passionate, curious and creative daughter, sister, partner and friend that she was.

“She is missed and mourned every day.”