Christian Porter launches appeal over ban on Sue Chrysanthou representing him in ABC case

In making the move, Christian Porter claims that a small group, led by the ABC, have embarked on a campaign to damage him.

Christian Porter is appealing the ruling to oust his barrister, Sue Chrysanthou SC, from acting for him. Picture: Jane Dempster

Christian Porter has launched an appeal against a decision to stop his high-profile barrister from acting for him in his case against the ABC and claimed that a small group of people, led by the public broadcaster, have embarked on a campaign to damage him.

The former attorney-general is appealing the ruling to oust his barrister, Sue Chrysanthou SC, from acting for him, even though he has already agreed to settle the high-stakes defamation dispute.

If he wins the appeal, Mr Porter could succeed in lifting a suppression on sensitive messages between Jo Dyer – who was a friend of the woman who accused the former attorney-general of an historical rape – and high-profile ABC presenter Annabel Crabb.

Sue Chrysanthou. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

Mr Porter, now Industry Minister, could also potentially avoid having to pay Ms Dyer’s legal costs of bringing the legal action to have his barrister stopped from acting for him.

Federal Court judge Tom Thawley ruled in May that Ms Chrysanthou should be restrained from acting for Mr Porter because she had been given confidential information by Ms Dyer that was relevant to Mr Porter’s defamation case, and there was a danger of her misusing it.

Mr Porter is challenging Justice Thawley’s finding that confidential information was given to Ms Chrysanthou – and he has argued that even if confidential information was provided, there was no risk of her misusing it.

Justice Thawley ordered Mr Porter and Ms Chrysanthou to pay Ms Dyer’s costs. However, if Mr Porter is successful in getting the decision overturned, he could instead argue that Ms Dyer should pay their costs.

He is also challenging Justice Thawley’s decision to suppress messages exchanged between Ms Dyer and Crabb. The messages were produced by Ms Dyer and tendered in closed court, and suppressed on the grounds they would disclose Ms Dyer’s confidential information.

In his judgment, Justice Thawley said he was satisfied that some of the confidential information was “relevant both to whether the ABC’s and Ms Milligan’s conduct was reasonable and whether it could be said that it was actuated by malice”.

Mr Porter’s lawyer Rebekah Giles said as the appeal was now before the full Federal Court, it would be “inappropriate” to comment on the messages.

Mr Porter is also challenging Justice Thawley’s decision to accept late evidence from Macquarie Bank senior managing director James Hooke – a former boyfriend of the woman at the centre of the allegations against Mr Porter – that was provided to the court shortly before the hearing.

Ms Giles said in her statement that Mr Porter had not objected to the court’s release of a dossier of material sent by friends of the woman at the centre of the allegations to Scott Morrison, Labor foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong and Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young.

The woman, known as “Kate” and in court documents as “AB”, had accused Mr Porter of raping her when she was 16 and he was 17 in 1988. She killed herself in June last year and told police before her death that she no longer wished to proceed with her complaint against Mr Porter.

Ms Giles said: “Since her death, a small group of people led by the ABC have embarked on a campaign to damage Mr Porter and in the process have sought to disclose AB’s confidential and private health and personal information without permission.

“This group took it upon themselves to orchestrate the airing of these allegations when they knew that these claims clearly arose in circumstances complicated by serious mental health issues, including bouts of hypermania.

Christian Porter is challenging Justice Thawley’s finding that confidential information was given to Ms Chrysanthou. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Sharon Smith

“This conduct has not served the public interest and has a resulted in a series of injustices.”

She said it would be “clear to anyone” and particularly journalists who had followed the legal actions closely, that the documents released by the court this week had highlighted “serious contradictions and inconsistencies in the materials on which (the) ABC based its reporting”.

The documents also included Ms Dyer’s full transcript of an interview with the ABC last November.

Mr Porter launched legal action against the ABC and journalist Louise Milligan over an online article published on February 26 which said that an unnamed cabinet minister was facing rape allegations.

Mr Porter strenuously denied the allegation while outing himself as the unnamed minister days later.

However, he agreed to withdraw his defamation action against the ABC last month. The ABC paid $100,000 towards his costs but did not pay him any damages and did not apologise for the article. It agreed to add an editor’s note to the article, but the article remains online.

Ms Dyer was not a party to Mr Porter’s case against the ABC.

Justice Thawley released some of the messages exchanged between Crabb and Ms Dyer this week.

In the messages Crabb described Mr Porter as a “strange dude” and said “how amazingly arrogant to think you can mistreat people and get away with it for ever”.

Crabb praised Ms Dyer for her efforts to “get some justice” for Kate.

The messages revealed Crabb allowed Four Corners to film a crucial interview with Ms Dyer in her home.

On Wednesday, Crabb told The Australian she had had minimal involvement with the Four Corners program and was happy to allow Milligan to use her house as an interview location because she was away at the time. “Louise Milligan asked if a crew could film with Jo Dyer in my house when her location fell over at the last minute,” she said. “I did not discuss this in advance with Jo and I was not present. I did not introduce Louise to Jo, or to any other person I knew from the debating scene.”

When Crabb was questioned by the ABC’s David Speers on Insiders in March about her relationship with the woman at the centre of the allegation against Mr Porter, she said: “I’ve not had any relevant confidences or disclosures made to me (about the rape allegation).”

Asked on Wednesday if she stood by that statement, Crabb told The Australian: “Of course.”

“On the rare occasions on which I’ve written or spoken about this case – for example, on Insiders in March – I’ve always been very clear that I knew Kate a long time ago, from our school days in Adelaide … Of course, I know Jo Dyer from those days, too, and she remains a friend.

“I’m very surprised to find text messages of mine disclosed by the Federal Court, given my deep personal irrelevance to any of the issues raised in the matter of Dyer v Chrysanthou.”