ABC lawyer who advises Four Corners in hot water for anti-Morrison and anti-Liberal tweets

The lawyer, who gave legal advice for 4 Corners’ Brittany Higgins rape-claim episode, posted scathing tweets about Scott Morrison.

An ABC lawyer who provided legal advice for an episode about Scott Morrison’s handling of an alleged rape was critical of the PM in a number of tweets.

An ABC lawyer who provided legal advice for Monday night’s Four Corners episode on the Morrison government’s handling of Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations faces an internal investigation for posting disparaging tweets against Scott Morrison and the Coalition.

Sebastien Maury, who is credited on Monday’s Four Corners episode, has called the Morrison government “fascist” and labelled the Prime Minister an “awful human being”.

In tweets as early as this month, Mr Maury compared Attorney-General Christian Porter and his denial of rape allegations to the accusations of sexual assault levelled at US Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanagh.

In November last year after an earlier Four Corners episode on Mr Porter’s personal life, Mr Maury said Mr Porter should lose his job.

Christian Porter. NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

“Aaaaand here we go. Porter. Maybe not quite rising to the status of PM then after all … Honestly. If this doesn’t finish his career, then nothing means anything,” he said.

Mr Maury attacked Mr Morrison directly over a number of years, and in September 2019 called him an “awful human being.”

“Morrison has been dreadful at all the jobs to which he’s turned his clumsy hands. Winning the election was a fluke and he’s – frankly – a bad person and an awful prime minister,” Mr Maury tweeted.

An ABC spokeswoman on Tuesday said Mr Maury had “minimal involvement” in Monday night’s Four Corners despite being credited, and the tweets had been referred for investigation.

“The matter has been referred to ABC People & Culture for internal investigation. The individual concerned had minimal involvement in the program,” she said.

Liberal senator Andrew Bragg told The Australian that the ABC lawyer’s tweet raised concerns about the ABC’s commitment to impartiality.

“If the ABC’s taxpayer funded employment allows a member of its legal team to call the government fascist, the ABC’s new code of conduct is a failure,” he said.

“The work of the public broadcaster must be impartial.”