ABC warns reporters against saying Christian Porter lost

The ABC has warned its journalists not to suggest Christian Porter ‘lost’ his high-stakes defamation case over historical rape allegations.

Former attorney-general Christian Porter outside the Supreme Court on Monday. Picture: Adam Yip

The ABC has warned its journalists not to suggest Christian Porter “lost” his high-stakes defamation case over historical rape allegations, after the former attorney-general dropped his legal pursuit of the public broadcaster and its reporter Louise Milligan.

Mr Porter, now Industry Minister, said he would recontest his seat at the next election and remain in cabinet after the ABC agreed to include a statement that noted the broadcaster “did not contend that the serious accusations could be substantiated” to either a criminal or civil standard.

Mr Porter — who launched the lawsuit in March, claiming the broadcaster had published false allegations and was motivated by malice — said it was a “humiliating backdown for the ABC, no matter what way they want to spin in”.

But the ABC said it stood by the importance of its article and denied it had expressed regret about the report.

In updated legal advice circulated on Monday and obtained by The Australian, the ABC’s lawyers wrote: “Do not suggest that CP has ‘lost’ the case, just that he has ‘decided to discontinue’.”

That is in addition to earlier guidance that warned staff not to discuss the allegations on talkback radio and said any publications referring to information that suggested the rape had in fact occurred had to include an equal amount of information suggesting it did not occur. The ABC, which said it stood by Milligan, will have to compensate Mr Porter for part of his substantial legal costs but will not pay him any damages.

The February 26 article, which alleged an unnamed cabinet minister was facing historical rape allegations dating back to a high school debating competition in 1988, will remain online.

Mr Porter outed himself as the minister five days later while vigorously denying the allegations.

The ABC has agreed to attach a note to the article that says that it “ did not intend to suggest that Mr Porter had committed the criminal offences alleged”.

“However, both parties accept that some readers misinterpreted the article as an accusation of guilt against Mr Porter,” the note reads. “That reading, which was not intended by the ABC, is regretted.”

Mr Porter, speaking outside the Federal Court in Sydney, said “the hurt and the harm” caused to his reputation by the “sensationalist, one-sided (and) unfair” reporting was beyond compensation.

ABC journalist Louise Milligan. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

“They regret the outcome of that article,” Mr Porter said. “Let me be clear about what has happened publicly in this settlement. The ABC has determined not to defend the matter, they have been forced by these proceedings to explicitly state that the accusations which were contained in the article could not be proved to either a civil or a criminal standard.”

But in a renewed dispute, the broadcaster published a second statement late on Monday which read: “The ABC has not said that it regrets the article.”

The ABC said the only costs it paid apart from its own were Mr Porter’s mediation costs and related costs. However, Mr Porter’s lawyer Rebekah Giles said this was “untrue” and that Mr Porter’s mediation costs were “negligible”.

Labor’s legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus said the conclusion of the lawsuit meant there was “no excuse to refuse to hold an independent inquiry into these allegations”.

“Only a truly independent inquiry, conducted at arm’s length from government according procedural fairness to Mr Porter and all witnesses appearing before it, will provide an opportunity for the serious allegations against Mr Porter to be tested,” Mr Dreyfus said.

Mr Porter, who Coalition figures believed may resign at the next federal election, said he was “totally committed” to his new portfolio and would not push to be returned to the role of -attorney-general, now held by Michaelia Cash.

Scott Morrison moved Mr Porter from the attorney-general portfolio after seeking advice from Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue about whether there was a conflict of interest during a high-profile legal action.

“I am totally committed to my portfolio and to the government which is totally committed to the Australian people,” he said. “I just want to get on with the job.”

Mr Porter and the ABC appear again to be at odds after Milligan and Four Corners executive producer Sally Neighbour made social media posts criticising the Industry Minister.

“So many inaccuracies just now, it’s hard to know where to start,” Neighbour wrote on Twitter after Mr Porter’s comments.

Ms Giles said it was “astonishing” that Milligan and other ABC employees had “seen fit to publish statements inconsistent with the settlement that they themselves personally agreed to”.

“It is difficult to see how it can be claimed that the ABC stands by its journalism on one hand when on the other hand they have agreed to a significant editorial note being permanently placed on the article in which they express regret over the outcome of the article,” Ms Giles said

The broadcaster had denied during the legal proceedings that the article implied Mr Porter was guilty. But it said it would prove the truth of allegations that there were reasonable grounds for suspecting him of rape.

Jo Dyer, a friend of Mr Porter’s alleged rape victim. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

The ABC also argued its reporting was covered by a qualified privilege defence because the -article was in the public interest.

However, potentially damaging revelations emerged in the Federal Court last week that Milligan had recommended to a friend of Mr Porter’s alleged rape victim that she delete messages that they had exchanged via encrypted messaging service Signal.

The evidence, from Jo Dyer, director of Adelaide Writers’ Week, could have undermined the ABC’s case that it had acted reasonably in all circumstances and came after an undertaking from ABC lawyers in November that journalists would retain all documents relevant to any future legal proceedings.

Those details emerged during a separate legal bid to oust Mr Porter’s barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC from the case. The Federal Court ruled on Thursday she should be restrained from acting for Mr Porter after it found she was given confidential information by Ms Dyer relevant to the proceedings and there was a danger of her misusing it.

The woman who was alleged to have been raped — known as Kate and a member of Mr Porter’s high school debating team — committed suicide in June last year. The allegations were detailed in a dossier sent to the Prime Minister, Labor foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong and Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young by anonymous friends of Kate.

Mr Porter’s lawyers had argued that Milligan had failed to include in her article details that cast doubt on the allegations, including the fact that Kate’s parents had fears she had fabricated or embellished the claims due to her mental illness.

They claimed in court documents that Milligan had quoted from another document that was not sent to Mr Morrison, but was believed to have been taken from an 88-page statement prepared by Kate produced during the legal proceedings.

Mr Porter’s team were expected to argue the ABC had not fairly reported the document.