Barrister who tried to represent Christian Porter against ABC could face disciplinary complaint

The barrister who was ordered to stop acting for Mr Porter may face a disciplinary complaint over her involvement in the case.

Former Attorney-General Christian Porter. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Adam Yip

The barrister who was ordered to stop acting for Christian Porter in his defamation action against the ABC could face a possible disciplinary complaint over her involvement in the case.

Lawyers for Jo Dyer — who was friends with the woman who accused the former Attorney-General of historical rape — foreshadowed a possible complaint to legal regulators in the Federal Court on Thursday.

Ms Dyer launched successful legal action against defamation barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC last month to stop her acting for Mr Porter in his case against the ABC.

This was on the grounds that Ms Dyer had given Ms Chrysanthou confidential information relevant to the case, while she was acting for Ms Dyer on another matter.

Federal Court judge Tom Thawley ruled that Ms Chrysanthou should be restrained from acting for Mr Porter because there was a danger of her misusing Ms Dyer’s confidential information.

Much of the case was conducted behind closed doors to protect the confidentiality of Ms Dyer’s information.

Jo Dyer. Picture: Supplied

Ms Dyer, director of the Adelaide Writers Week, is now seeking to have court documents relevant to her legal action against Ms Chrysanthou suppressed permanently.

Mr Porter, now Industry Minister, is arguing against the breadth of the orders she is seeking.

Nationwide News, publisher of The Australian, has intervened in the case to argue that any information that is not privileged or confidential should be released because of the strong public interest in the case.

On Thursday, Ms Dyer’s barrister, Michael Hodge QC, said he was seeking a “carve out” from the suppression that would allow any confidential documents relevant to the case to be used for the purpose of a professional disciplinary investigation or disciplinary proceedings.

“We’ve put that exception in because having reflected upon it there may well be the possibility that there would be such a proceeding or investigation arising in this case,” he said.

“That’s why we’ve added this carve out — so that nobody who is making a complaint or subject to an investigation would be in effect impeded from dealing with a disciplinary body based on the confidential orders.”

He said this would allow a person to seek advice about whether a complaint should be made, or to seek advice if they were subject to a complaint, and anyone undertaking an investigation could receive relevant documents.

Mr Porter agreed to withdraw his defamation action against the ABC and reporter Louise Milligan after entering into a confidential settlement agreement.

The ABC paid Mr Porter $100,000 towards his costs but did not pay him any damages and did not apologise for an article that disclosed that an unnamed Cabinet minister was facing an allegation that he raped a 16-year-old when he was 17.

The article, published in February, remains online but a clarifying note has been added.

Mr Porter’s legal action against the ABC has not yet been discontinued because the court has yet to decide whether the public broadcaster’s full defence should be released to the public. Media outlets, including Nationwide News, have intervened in the case to argue it should be made public, but Mr Porter had sought to have parts of it struck out on the ground they were scandalous or vexatious. The ABC had agreed those parts of the defence should be removed from the court file.

Ms Dyer was a friend of the woman, known as Kate, who alleged she had been raped by Mr Porter in 1988. Kate committed suicide in June last year.

Ms Chrysanthou had attended a one-hour meeting with Ms Dyer in November, ahead of Ms Dyer sending The Australian a legal letter about an article that had appeared in this newspaper that same month.