‘No delay’ on Christian Porter barrister complaint, says Jo Dyer

Jo Dyer hits back at suggestions she did not act in a timely manner in bringing legal action to restrain Christian Porter’s barrister.

Christian Porter and Scott Morrison during Question Time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House. Picture: Getty

A friend of the woman who ­accused Christian Porter of rape has hit back at suggestions she had not acted quickly to try to stop a high-profile Sydney barrister from acting for him in his case against the ABC.

Lawyers for Jo Dyer, director of the Adelaide Writers Week, said any suggestion she had not acted in a timely manner was “false”.

Ms Dyer launched legal action in the Federal Court on Monday to restrain barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC from acting for the former attorney-general.

This was on the ground that Ms Dyer had given Ms Chrysanthou confidential information in the course of a lawyer-client relationship relevant to Mr Porter’s defamation case against the ABC.

Mr Porter, now Industry Minister, is suing the ABC and journalist Louise Milligan over an online article published on February 26 that reported an unnamed cabinet minister was facing historical rape allegations.

Jo Dyer.

Mr Porter outed himself as the unnamed minister five days later while vigorously denying the allegations and launched the defamation action on March 15.

On Wednesday, Mr Porter said it had been “widely known for two months” that Ms Chrysanthou was acting for him, and he was concerned about the timing of Ms Dyer’s legal action ahead of a key hearing in his defamation case against the ABC starting on June 1.

Marque Lawyers managing partner Michael Bradley, representing Ms Dyer, said his client became aware Ms Chrysanthou was acting for Mr Porter on March 15 and that day ­“expressed her objection ... on the basis of an alleged conflict of ­interest”.

Ms Dyer was a friend of the woman, known as Kate, who ­alleged she had been raped by Mr Porter in 1988 when she was 16 and he was 17. She committed suicide in June last year.

Mr Bradley, who had also acted for Kate, said Ms Dyer’s lawyers had been “in continuous correspondence” with Ms Chrysanthou’s solicitors since March 15 “attempting in good faith to resolve this dispute without the need for court proceedings”.

“Those attempts having failed, Ms Dyer commenced proceedings against Ms Chrysanthou in the Federal Court on May 10,” he said in a statement. “Any suggestion Ms Dyer has not acted in a timely manner or not in good faith is false.”

Sue Chrysanthou. Picture: AAP

Ms Chrysanthou had reviewed a legal letter — sent by Mr Bradley on Ms Dyer’s behalf — to The Australian on November 26 that claimed an opinion piece written by columnist Janet Albrechtsen had defamed Ms Dyer.

University of Tasmania professor of law Gino Dal Pont, an authority on legal professional responsibility, said ethically there was no reason for barrister Ms Chrysanthou to step aside from the case unless the Federal Court restrained her from acting for the former attorney-general.

“Just because someone would like to restrain doesn’t mean their action will necessarily succeed ... Remaining counsel of record is not a breach of ethics as such,” Professor Dal Pont said.

Ms Dyer would need to convince the court that any confidential information she provided to Ms Chrysanthou was directly relevant to the case and could be used to Ms Dyer’s detriment.

“We shouldn’t make the assumption automatically that this is a case where there may be a potential misuse of confidential information,” he said. Ms Dyer would need to convince the court it was necessary to remove Ms Chrysanthou for the appearance of justice because her continuing to act for Mr Porter would “not look right to an ordinary person aware of relevant facts”.

Ms Chrysanthou is due to represent Mr Porter at a hearing on June 1 and 2 to decide whether substantial parts of the ABC’s defence should be struck out.

Ms Dyer is pushing for the Federal Court to hear her action ­urgently.