Kellie-Jay Keen suing John Pesutto for aggravated damages
Kellie-Jay Keen is accusing John Pesutto of portraying her as a ‘callous, irresponsible, despicable racist and white supremacist’, joining Moira Deeming in seeking aggravated damages.
UK women’s rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen has filed a statement of claim against John Pesutto in the Federal Court, accusing the Victorian opposition leader of trashing her reputation and causing her “substantial hurt, distress, embarrassment and fear for her safety and financial security”.
First flagged by The Australian in July, Ms Keen’s case adds to the defamation case already being pursued by expelled Liberal MP Moira Deeming.
Fellow gender critical feminist activist Angela Jones was expected to file her own statement of claim against the Liberal leader later on Tuesday, seeing him face legal battles on three fronts.
Ms Keen accuses Mr Pesutto of portraying her as sympathising with neo-Nazis and right-wing extremists, in comments he made in seeking to expel Ms Deeming from the Liberal Party in the aftermath of a March 2023 Let Women Speak rally, which was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.
The rally was organised by Ms Keen, Ms Jones, Ms Deeming and others, to protest against what they see as the infringement of transgender self-identification laws upon the rights of women and children.
Keen’s case for aggravated damages
Ms Keen’s lawyers are seeking aggravated damages, arguing that their client has been “gravely injured in her reputation personally and professionally, and in her career, and has suffered and will continue to suffer substantial hurt, distress and embarrassment and fear for her safety and financial security.”
They state that Mr Pesutto failed to “make any attempt to fairly inquire into and/or represent the readily ascertainable and publicly available facts” in assertions he is alleged to have made regarding Ms Keen “such that his conduct can only be characterised as recklessly and wilfully indifferent to the truth, and indifferent to the harm that the publications might foreseeably cause Keen or those associated with her”.
Court documents reveal solicitors for both Ms Keen and Mr Pesutto have made multiple offers to reach an out-of-court settlement, including conducting mediation over the phone over two days in late February, but neither party has been prepared to agree to the other’s conditions.
Both Ms Keen and Ms Jones are being represented by Brisbane-based Alexander Rashidi Lawyers, barrister Bridie Nolan, and lawyer, former Liberal candidate and outspoken critic of recent changes to transgender laws, Katherine Deves, who was also a participant in the Let Women Speak rally.
Dossier ‘portrays Keen as callous, irresponsible, despicable racist and white supremacist’
The UK activist’s lawyers argue the dossier and its circulation were intended to create “an impression in the minds of readers, viewers and listeners … that Keen is a callous, irresponsible, despicable, racist and white supremacist that supports neo-Nazi ideology and right wing extremism so as to justify (Mr Pesutto’s) proposed expulsion of Mrs Deeming”.
The dossier accused Mrs Deeming of “organising, promoting and participating in a rally with speakers and other organisers who have been publicly associated with far right-wing extremist groups including neo-Nazi activists”.
It described Ms Keen as having an “association with far-right extremists”, citing a Wikipedia article that states she was interviewed by a “far-right YouTuber” and photographed alongside a Norwegian neo-Nazi in 2019.
Ms Keen’s lawyers took issue with both assertions in her August concerns notice, which states that she was not aware of French Canadian white nationalist Jean-François Gariépy’s views when she was interviewed by him, and was unaware of the of the identity of Norwegian neo-Nazi Hans Jørgen Lysglimt Johansen when he “imposed upon her to take (a) selfie with him” and posted it online.
The dossier also referred to Ms Keen’s use on the social media platform Spinster of a profile picture featuring a Barbie doll wearing a Nazi uniform, something Ms Keen’s lawyers argue “was an ‘in house’ ‘tongue-in-cheek’ retort to a group of left-wing feminists who publicly called our client ‘Nazi Barbie’ in debate on the social media platform.”
Ms Deeming’s case against Mr Pesutto has been set down for a two week trial in September, at which she is set to be represented by leading defamation solicitor Patrick George and barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC, while Matt Collins KC acts as barrister for Mr Pesutto.
Pesutto refuses to reveal donation amounts
Ahead of having to table details of donors to his legal battle in state parliament this week, Mr Pesutto confirmed on Monday that the contributors to his cause include former premiers Jeff Kennett, Ted Baillieu and Denis Napthine, his recently departed communications director Nick Johnston, former Liberal state director John Ridley, individuals Trina Siwabessy, Sau Lee Yeap and Judith Snodgrass, and companies Delatite Pastoral Company Pty Ltd, The Plant Trust, Bau Agency Pty Ltd, and Santoro Pty Ltd.
However, the opposition leader is not required by parliament to disclose the amounts donated and has chosen not to do so, prompting Premier Jacinta Allan to on Tuesday say it was “incumbent” upon Mr Pesutto to explain why he was not providing such information to Victorians.
“I’ve been around this place for a while. I’ve never, in my period of time here seen a Member of Parliament or leader of a political party face not one but three defamation actions,” Ms Allan said.
She said Mr Pesutto had reportedly been “shaking the can” seeking donations to fund his legal defences.
“That’s an extraordinary set of circumstances, and that extraordinary set of circumstances comes with some obligation to provide information to the Victorian community about just what is going on here behind closed doors to help fund these court actions,” Ms Allan said.
Mr Pesutto refused to provide additional information about the donors and companies who have contributed to his cause.
“You’re free to go and investigate them. The names are there,” he told journalists.
Asked why he would not reveal the amounts donated, Mr Pesutto said he had “gone beyond” parliamentary requirements, in disclosing the names of all donors, rather than just those who have donated more than the $600 threshold.
The former premiers who have donated to Mr Pesutto’s cause have refused to divulge the size of their contributions, amid suggestions that they may not be sufficient to even fund a day in court, as the opposition leader potentially faces more than a million dollars in legal bills.
Pesutto takes aim at media
Asked for his response to the allegations made against him in Ms Keen’s statement of claim, Mr Pesutto said he would be “vigorously contesting that proceeding and any other proceeding, but I won’t be commenting further on it.”
Asked whether he was frustrated that leadership speculation and the defamation action being taken against him were dominating the news cycle, Mr Pesutto told journalists: “The only people raising it with me are you.”
“What we saw over the last five days was reporting, it was about nothing. I’m sorry, it was about nothing,” Mr Pesutto said.
On Friday, the Herald Sun reported that multiple sources had told the paper of plans for Liberal MPs to spend the weekend making calls to one another to determine whether a leadership challenge against Mr Pesutto would proceed, with a spill motion likely to be moved at Tuesday’s partyroom meeting if any challenger appeared to have the numbers.
As The Australian reported on Monday, the long term status quo has not changed, with a large proportion of Liberal and Nationals MPs frustrated with Mr Pesutto’s performance, but an insufficient number able to unite around a rival leadership candidate.
Furthermore, potential challengers are viewed as having significant incentives bide their time, with the fallout from the defamation cases likely to embroil other senior Liberals, and Ms Deeming’s demand to have her expulsion revoked set to cause ongoing headaches for party leadership, even if Mr Pesutto is rolled.
Asked whether he was worried that disaffected MPs were speaking to journalists but not raising their concerns with him directly, Mr Pesutto said his colleagues were more concerned by the media coverage.
“It’s about the coverage, which doesn’t apply the same level of scrutiny to the government … I’ll be candid with you all, there are things that are reported about our side of politics, the centre right, which, frankly, those standards of journalism are not applied to the government.”
3AW interview caused ‘serious harm’
Ms Keen’s statement of claim also accuses Mr Pesutto of causing “serious harm” to her reputation in a radio interview with then 3AW mornings host Neil Mitchell, which was broadcast two days after the rally.
In the Mitchell interview, Mr Pesutto said Ms Deeming had “associations, Neil, with organisations, with organisers of Saturday’s protest who have known links with Nazis, Nazi sympathisers, far right extremists, white supremacists.”
Asked who he was referring to, Mr Pesutto said: “Kellie-Jay Keen.”
“And she’s had associations with, she’s got associations with Nazis?” Mitchell asked, to which Mr Pesutto responded: “Absolutely.”
Asked who the Nazis were, Mr Pesutto said: “Okay so, Jean-Francois Gariepy, she’s done videos with Richard Spencer, Mark Collett, Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. There is a long rap sheet.”
Asked whether they were videos or interviews, Mr Pesutto said: “Videos, interviews. She’s shared platforms with this person.”
The only online record of Ms Keen’s name being mentioned alongside those of Spencer, Collett and David Duke, all of whom are reviled neo-Nazis, is in an article in LGBTQI+ community publication Pink News, part of which was featured in Mr Pesutto’s dossier, which states that Gariepy has “made videos with neo-Nazi Richard Spencer” and that his guests “have included former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and known neo-Nazi Mark Collett.”
No direct link was made between Ms Keen and Spencer, Collett or Duke.
Later in the interview, Mitchell asked Mr Pesutto whether he was saying Ms Keen was a “sympathiser of Nazis”, to which the Liberal leader responded: “Yes.”
ABC interview key to case
The UK activist’s case also relates to an ABC 7.30 interview, which was conducted by host Sarah Ferguson with Mr Pesutto the evening after Ms Deeming had been suspended from the Liberal partyroom.
In February, Ms Keen’s lawyers issued a statement of claim against the ABC over the interview, accusing the program of making 11 defamatory imputations against their client, implying that she either is a neo-Nazi or sympathises with people who are.
In her introduction to the interview, Ms Ferguson described Ms Keen as “controversial UK figure, Kellie-Jay Keen, an anti-trans activist associated with the far-right”, and went on to portray her in questions to Mr Pesutto as “someone with very clear … far-right associations, many of which you detailed in the dossier that you presented to your own partyroom” and “a woman with neo-Nazi and far right associations.”
The Australian understands negotiations are ongoing between Ms Keen’s lawyers and those representing the ABC, and it is not yet clear whether the case against the ABC will be pursued in court.
The ABC interview nevertheless forms part of Ms Keen’s case against Mr Pesutto, with her lawyers making reference to the fact that he refers to the dossier, and states that he moved the motion to have Ms Deeming expelled “because I was very concerned that certain types of conduct by people associated with Moira Deeming in that the conduct of that rally was totally unacceptable.”
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