Sophie Mirabella seeks $400k damages from rural newspaper

Former federal MP Sophie Mirabella is seeking nearly $400,000 in damages after a jury found she had been defamed.

Former Liberal frontbencher Sophie Mirabella at Wangaratta Magistrates Court. Picture: AAP

Former federal Liberal MP Soph­ie Mirabella is seeking nearly $400,000 in damages after a jury found she was defamed by a country newspaper.

The paper, the Benalla Ensign, was found to have defamed Ms Mirabella when it published a story that said she “very publicly pushed” her political rival Cathy McGowan out of a photo opportunity in April 2016 during the election campaign.

Ms Mirabella’s barrister, Georgina Schoff, told Victoria’s County Court yesterday her ­client deserved up to $400,000 for the harm and distress the report had caused.

“She is a person of the highest reputation ... Mrs Mirabella isn’t just a person with a reputation here, but a reputation right across the country,” she said.

“The defendants (the Ensign and editor Libby Price) really seemed to have it in for Mrs Mirabella.”

The court heard that the maximum damages a person can be awarded for non-economic losses is $389,500.

Ms Schoff said Ms Mirabella should get maximum damages because the Ensign article was republished by other media outlets. “The statement of fact had moved through the media and popular culture until it attached itself to her reputation,” she said.

The Ensign’s lawyer, David Gilbertson, said accusations made that Ms Mirabella had pushed her rival in the seat of Indi were at the “lower end” of defamations and damages “should be well under $100,000”.

“We accept that Mrs Mirabella has suffered hurt feelings and we accept it was a serious defamation, but we argue it was at the lower end,” he told the court

“It is sufficient to warrant Mrs Mirabella being awarded modest damages.”

The former Liberal frontbencher won her long-fought defamation case against the Ensign in the County Court in Wangaratta on Wednesday.

The win came nearly two years after an article said she pushed the sitting MP, Ms McGowan, out of a photo opportunity with Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt. Ms Mirabella lost her seat to Ms McGowan in 2013.

Judge Michael Macnamara adjourned his decision.