‘I never read code of ethics’: Nine reporter Nick McKenzie in hot seat

The secretly recorded phone call of reporter Nick McKenzie that has led to Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith seeking to reopen his defamation appeal will be played before the full bench of the Federal Court on Friday.

Ben Roberts-Smith leaves the Federal Court in Sydney on Thursday. Picture: Christian Gilles / NewsWire

The secretly recorded phone call that has led to Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith seeking to reopen his defamation appeal will be played before the full bench of the Federal Court on Friday.

Investigative reporter Nick McKenzie will be sitting uncomfortably in the witness box for the second day as the 85 second “targeted snippet” of conversation is played.

Mr Roberts-Smith sat in court on Thursday as his barrister, Arthur Moses, SC, laid out why the call represented a miscarriage of justice that meant the appeal in the defamation case should be reopened.

Mr Roberts-Smith sued Nine newspapers and Mr McKenzie over reports that he had committed war crimes while serving with the Australian Defence Force in Afghanistan.

The Federal Court found the reports were substantially true. Mr Roberts-Smith is appealing against that decision.

In the secret call Mr McKenzie can be heard reassuring a witness identified as Person 17, a former lover of Mr Roberts-Smith, that he has received information from inside the former soldier’s legal camp.

Specifically he tells her that Danielle Scott, best friend of Mr Roberts then estranged wife Emma, is “actively like briefing us on his legal strategy, in respect of you. We anticipated most of it, one or two things now we know which is helpful,” he is heard to say before adding: “I’ve just breached my f--king ethics.”

Mr Moses drilled into those ethics as he began quizzing the journalist on the MEAA code of conduct in relation to using fair and honest means to obtain material and Nine Entertainment’s own code of conduct for journalists.

Ben Roberts-Smith was joined by his parents Len and Sue at the Federal Court. Picture: Christian Gilles / NewsWire

Mr McKenzie confessed: “I have never seen this” and requested time in the witness box to read it for the first time.

Mr McKenzie conceded he was under “considerable psychological pressure” during the trial and was “deeply invested” in its outcome.

He said he recalled writing in his book that by the beginning of 2021 he felt he had his “balls in a vice” because he feared his career would be over if Nine lost the defamation case.

Mr Moses quoted Mr McKenzie’s own words that “you were sick to the stomach with worry about being exposed as a fraud”.

Ben Roberts-Smith leaves the Federal Court in Sydney on Thursday, surrounded by camera operators. Picture: Christian Gilles / NewsWire

Mr Moses asked the investigative reporter if his methods of gathering information had always been lawful.

“I try to act within the law,” he replied. “As a journalist there can be things that you do that conflict with the law.”

He was then reminded of an investigation where he had unlawfully obtained information from the ALP database that ended in him receiving a diversion order rather than a criminal conviction in the Victorian magistrates court.

The case was adjourned before Mr McKenzie was cross examined on the phone call. The hearing resumes on Friday.

Originally published as ‘I never read code of ethics’: Nine reporter Nick McKenzie in hot seat