Former MP Andrew Laming receives apology, defamation payout from Nine

Andrew Laming secures one of the highest defamation payouts to a current or former politician after Nine’s false accusation he took an ‘upskirting’ photo.

Former federal MP Andrew Laming’s payout is understood to be among the highest for defamation to a current or former Australian politician. Picture: Sky News

Former federal MP Andrew Laming has been awarded a significant damages payout after he was defamed by the Nine network, which last year falsely accused the Queenslander of taking an “upskirting” photo of a woman at her Brisbane workplace.

Dr Laming’s payout – the exact details of which have not been publicly disclosed – is understood to be among the highest defamation payouts to a current or former Australian politician.

Nine’s total liability in the case, including Dr Laming’s legal costs, is understood to have exceeded $1m.

The defamation case centred around a report on Nine’s 6pm news bulletin on March 27, 2021, which claimed Dr Laming had taken an inappropriate “upskirting” photo of a female worker while she was stacking a bar fridge.

The woman was wearing shorts, not a skirt, at the time.

Dr Laming, who was interviewed by police in relation to the incident but was never charged, strenuously dnied any wrongdoing.

In the weeks after the news report, Dr Laming asked Nine to remove the relevant stories from its digital platforms, offer a public apology, and pay the ex-MP’s legal costs to that point, which amounted to just a few thousand dollars.

But Nine refused to comply, prompting Dr Laming to launch defamation proceedings against Nine in August last year.

On Wednesday, Nine’s formal apology to Dr Laming was submitted to the court. It read, in part: “9News has now seen material which indicates that the photograph Dr Laming took was not lewd in nature.

“9News unreservedly withdraws those allegations about Dr Laming and apologises to him and his family for the hurt and harm caused by the report.”

In February this year, with the defamation proceedings underway but not yet resolved, Nine won a prestigious Walkley Award in the television/video news reporting category for its coverage of the “upskirting” claims.

The Australian asked the Walkley Foundation if the award given to Nine journalists Peter Fegan and Rebeka Powell would be rescinded, given that Nine had withdrawn its allegations about Dr Laming’s conduct in relation to the relevant photograph.

“The Walkley Foundation is considering the matter and makes no further comment at this time,” a spokesman said.

After the matter was finalised in the Federal Court on Wednesday morning, Dr Laming released a statement.

“Nine’s apology to me has just been read on to the record in the Federal Court,” he said.

“The broadcaster has finally acknowledged that allegations they broadcast last year were not true.

“Two weeks ago, Nine dropped all of its defences to my claim. Today it acknowledged seeing material convincing it to unreservedly withdraw the serious allegations it made; and to publicly apologise to me and my family. It is highly commendable that they, like many senior political and media figures previously, have agreed to right wrongs and apologise when presented with the facts.

“As I stated over a year ago, the stream of bizarre allegations came from political critics. “None of it was true. The hurt and humiliation was borne by my family, my friends and work colleagues. At the time, there was no media interest in any facts that might threaten that narrative.

“I leave today with confidence in our defamation laws and our courts. Australians can remain proud of our free press that requires the media to report matters of public interest in a fair and balanced way. And when mistakes are made, as they were in my case, correct the record and apologise.”

Several other media and political identities, including Lisa Wilkinson and Kristina Keneally, have issued apologies to Dr Laming in the past year, after publishing the false claim that he had taken an “upskirting” photo.

Dr Laming last year sued the ABC’s Louise Milligan, who posted “Laming upskirts” on her personal Twitter account. That case resulted in Dr Laming being awarded $78,000 in damages, which was paid for by the taxpayer-funded broadcaster.

With legal costs added, the Milligan tweet cost the ABC about $200,000.