One defamation trial is enough, judge tells Moira Deeming
Expelled Liberal MP Moira Deeming has failed to convince the Federal Court her defamation case against Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto requires two separate trials.
Expelled Liberal MP Moira Deeming has failed to convince the Federal Court her defamation case against Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto requires two separate trials.
Lawyers for Ms Deeming and Mr Pesutto met for a case management hearing on Friday, triggering the start of the expensive defamation action.
The exiled MP is suing Mr Pesutto over his efforts to expel her from the partyroom, with her case relying on media releases, press conferences and interviews her former boss gave following a Let Women Speak rally in March last year.
Her case will also draw on a dossier Mr Pesutto’s office circulated to MPs and the media in a campaign to garner support to expel her.
Ms Deeming alleges that the materials gave rise to 67 imputations across five publications.
Leading defamation barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC said her client, Ms Deeming, needed a trial for the judge to rule what the imputations were and a second to determine if they were defamatory. Judge Michael Wheelahan appeared sceptical of the request, and noted the number of imputations derived from one particular media release.
“The media release comprises 18 lines and you have pleaded 23 imputations,” he said. “How many ways are there for saying the same thing?”
He acknowledge that a publication did not have to have “one single meaning”.
Instead of granting two trials, Justice Wheelahan ordered a single 10-day trial to begin on September 16. He did, however, offer Ms Chrysanthou the chance to make an application for separate trials, which would be discussed when the matter returned to court.
Mr Pesutto’s lawyer, Matt Collins KC, who has previously acted for columnist Andrew Bolt and actor Rebel Wilson, said the applicant’s request would incur additional costs.
Dr Collins told the court that Mr Pesutto viewed the Let Women Speak rally as having been hijacked by neo-Nazis but claimed Ms Deeming spoke about the “great success” of the gathering in its aftermath.
A 57-page defence filed this week revealed the state Liberal leader believes Ms Deeming is likely to have damaged her own reputation.
“Deeming has repeatedly made or acceded to public statements falsely asserting that Pesutto has said that she is a Nazi or has Nazi associations or is a Nazi sympathiser, when he has never done anything of the sort, and has thereby acted in a manner that is likely to have caused damage to her own reputation,” the documents read.
Mr Pesutto admits that the expulsion motion and dossier were defamatory. He will use an honest opinion defence.
Justice Wheelahan adjourned the matter until April 26.
More Coverage
Disability support outside the NDIS
With the government looking to take pressure off the National Disability Insurance Scheme, consultations are about to get under way about what broader disability support might look like.
Progressive climate of fear as nuclear support takes hold
Chris Bowen will weaponise government modelling warning of blackouts under the Coalition’s energy policy and demand-supply gaps of up to 49 per cent by 2035, amid growing support for Peter Dutton’s nuclear pitch in inner-city seats.