Tracey Spicer’s sexual misconduct file imminent

Tracey Spicer’s long-promised revelations about sexual misconduct in Australia’s media industry could be published this week following legal issues.

Former newsreader Tracey Spicer. Picture: Adam Yip

Tracey Spicer’s long-promised revelations about sexual misconduct in Australia’s media industry could be published this week following legal issues.

It is understood Spicer has gathered 485 complaints about 65 separate alleged offenders. Accusations range from verbal harassment to criminal indecent assault.

The outspoken journalist, who this year detailed her own experience of working in the “boys’ club” of commercial television in a tell-all memoir, had yet to put a single ­allegation against a living person on the record as of last week. On Friday, she confirmed the project had been ­delayed by “legal issues” although she is said to be close to publication. She has teamed up with Fairfax Media.

Spicer’s investigation is said to include men currently employed in senior roles in Australia’s television, radio and print media, some of whom have been the subject of human resources complaints, and the industry is abuzz with talk of who might be implicated. “These are serial predators who’ve been enabled by their workplaces,” Spicer said. The nation’s strict defamation laws have proved a stumbling block for the journalist, who last month vowed to “name and shame” sexual predators in the wake of the cascade of accusations that swept Hollywood following the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

The fallout in the US continues — with CBS firing veteran broadcast journalist Charlie Rose on Wednesday after reports of ­“extremely disturbing and intolerable” alleged harassment on set — but in Australia the dominoes are yet to fall.

Defamation barrister Matthew Collins QC said Australia had the toughest defamation laws of the English-speaking world, making a Weinstein-style deluge of accusations a risky proposition.

Former Hey Dad! child actress Sarah Monahan joined the fray on Saturday, warning that “household names” — including Logie Award winners and television hosts — would soon be named as sexual offenders. Monahan is a survivor of childhood abuse at the hands of the actor who played her father on Hey Dad!, Robert ­Hughes. She told TheDaily Telegraph: “The casting couch is real ... The floodgates are definitely about to open here in Australia.”

It is unclear how many allegations will see the light of day, thanks to Australia’s plaintiff-favouring legal climate.

What stood in the way of open-slather public accusations, Mr Collins said, was the fact that Australia had no constitutional ­enshrinement of a right to free speech — unlike similar countries. With no charter or bill of rights, he said, Australia’s legal regime ­resembled English defamation law in the 19th century.

Nor does this country have a public figure defence enabling journalists to report freely on allegations raised against celebrities or politicians, as exists in the US. If allegations were made against media figures in Australia, Mr Collins said, the only way publishers could be protected would be if they could prove the accusations were true — a “difficult” proposition that would require alleged victims to be willing to testify in court. “You’d want to be very, very sure that they were victims who were prepared to, if it came to it, get in the witness box and say what happened to them — and be sure that they’re credible,” ­Mr Collins said.

By contrast, he said, in the US the onus of proof was reversed for public figures who believe they have been defamed.

“If someone like Weinstein were to sue, he’d have to prove (the allegation) was false,” Mr Collins said. Australia’s media industry has been hit with a number of hefty defamation payouts in recent months. Rebel Wilson’s record-breaking $4.56 million win against Bauer Media in September heralds a new era of caution. Bauer is appealing the amount.

Fairfax Media is awaiting the NSW Supreme Court’s damages award in the case of cricket superstar Chris Gayle, whom a jury last month found it had defamed with a 2016 article. In that case, Ms Russell left the courtroom after a cross-examination in which personal details of her life were raised.