Former solicitor-general Justin Gleeson leads ABC team in Christian Porter case

Former solicitor-general Justin Gleeson SC will lead a team of barristers to defend the ABC and journalist Louise Milligan in its defamation battle against Christian Porter.

Former commonwealth solicitor-general Justin Gleeson SC will lead a team of barristers to defend the ABC and journalist Louise Milligan in its defamation battle against Attorney-General Christian Porter.

Mr Gleeson has already waded into public debate about whether Mr Porter was fit to continue in his role — recently calling on Scott Morrison to enlist the current Solicitor-General, Stephen Donaghue QC, to assess whether the allegations against Mr Porter justified an inquiry.

He also said the Prime Minister should have read the 31-page dossier sent to him anonymously by the friends of the woman who accused Mr Porter of raping her in 1988.

A formidable advocate, Mr Gleeson will be pitted against Mr Porter’s legal team of Bret Walker SC, Sue Chrysanthou SC and reputational risk lawyer Rebekah Giles.

Attorney-General Christian Porter. Picture: AAP

Victorian defamation barrister Renee Enbom QC, who has acted for actor Rebel Wilson and musician Daniel Johns has also been appointed to the team. Ms Embom has represented former police chief commissioners Christine Nixon and Ken Lay and Victoria Police in the recent royal commission.

Sydney barrister Clarissa Amato, who previously acted for Nine and the ABC, will also act for the ABC.

This will not be Mr Gleeson’s first battle with a commonwealth attorney-general. He quit his role as solicitor-general following a disagreement with Mr Porter’s predecessor, George Brandis, in 2016, over a legal direction that prevented ministers from seeking the solicitor-general’s advice without the attorney-general’s approval.

The ABC and journalist Louise Milligan will have until May 4 to decide whether to argue that rape allegations made against Attorney-General Christian Porter are true.

Mr Porter’s legal team has publicly challenged the public broadcaster to try to rely on a truth defence — warning that the Attorney-General is prepared to take the witness stand to deny allegations he raped a 16-year-old in 1988 when he was 17.

Federal Court judge Jayne Jagot on Wednesday ordered Mr Porter to provide better details of his case by Tuesday. The ABC has agreed to provide its defence six weeks after that.

The parties are due to appear in court for the first time on May 14.

Louise Milligan. Picture: Jason Edwards

The ABC is likely to argue its article published on February 26, which did not name Mr Porter, was defensible because it acted reasonably in reporting on a government or political matter. It will have to show it did not suppress material that cast doubt on the woman’s rape accusation and that it was reasonable not to put the allegations directly to Mr Porter before publication.

If the ABC decides to rely on a truth defence the case would effectively become a rape trial but at the civil standard of proof — however, this would be difficult because there were no direct witnesses and the woman took her own life last year.

The ABC could ask for a jury trial. Ordinarily, civil cases are decided in the Federal Court by a judge alone but the broadcaster could argue there are compelling reasons in this case for a jury — and Mr Porter would have to consider the optics of an attorney-general arguing against a jury.

Barrister Richard Potter SC gave pre-publication advice to the ABC on two Four Corners episodes related to Mr Porter and his treatment of women — but not the February 26 article the subject of the case. He does not appear to have been included in the ABC team.