Controversial ACA toilet footage flushed by Supreme Court

A Current Affair has been banned from showing footage of an interview involving former reporter Seb Costello inside a women’s toilet with an employee of an embattled finance company.

Seb Costello appearing on A Current Affair.

A Current Affair has been banned from showing footage of a doorstop interview inside a women’s toilet with an employee of an under siege finance company.

Nine agreed to bin the footage taken by former reporter Seb Costello and his camera operator to avoid a legal battle with lender Oak Capital.

The gag order was a win for Oak Capital, which continues to face a separate legal fight with the corporate watchdog ASIC over claims it denied customers the right to avoid “excessive fees and interest” on $37 million worth of loans.

Mr Costello, son of former Federal Treasurer and Nine Chairman Peter Costello, resigned in the aftermath of the interview.

Seb Costello appearing on A Current Affair.

However he has denied that his departure was linked to the Oak Capital incident.

Justice Richard Attiwill handed down the ruling on the case, which will ensure that the footage will never see the light of day.

“(Nine Network) will direct all staff of ‘A Current Affair’ not to enter the premises at The Rialto, 525 Collins Street, Melbourne for the purposes of filming the plaintiffs, until 30 July 2025,” the judgment stated.

“(Nine Network) any of their broadcast licence holding entities will not publish or cause to be published, disseminate, or provide by any means, to any person, any material that was filmed by them, their employees, officers or agents on 25 November 2024 relating to the plaintiffs (the footage).”

Peter Aquino, of Construct Homes.

Mo Ahmed of Oak Capital.

Mr Costello was trying to ask Oak Capital about its business practices for a story being researched for A Current Affair.

The former Europe correspondent had waited for Oak Capital employee Mo Ahmed, outside the company’s office at the Rialto Tower.

Mr Ahmed ran into the women’s toilets on the ground floor of the Rialto Tower when the ACA team approached with cameras rolling.

Mr Costello was standing with the owner of Construct Homes, Peter Aquino, who also has a legal fight against Oak Capital.

They waited outside the toilets for about 10 minutes, Mr Aquino has said outside court, before the camera team entered to try to continue filming an interview.

Ambush interviews have been a hallmark of A Current Affair for decades as the show doggedly pursued its stories.

Mr Costello has been at the Nine Network for 12 years before his resignation in March.

Peter Costello at Canberra Airport. Picture: The Australian

His father also left Nine last year after almost a decade as the chairman of the company.

Peter Costello had denied that he had assaulted a reporter from The Australian who approached him at Canberra Airport to asking about sexual harassment allegations at Nine.

Footage of the incident showed the reporter being knocked and falling backwards to the ground.

Oak Capital and Nine were ordered to pay their own costs.

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Originally published as Controversial ACA toilet footage flushed by Supreme Court