Sandip Mukerjea

A judge has called off a pre-trial hearing to determine whether the new serious harm element in Australia’s defamation laws is satisfied in a case brought by a weight lifting coach, citing an “unfortunate turn of events”.

Former attorney-general Christian Porter has joined the legal team of underworld figure Mick Gatto in his High Court bid to revive defamation claims against the ABC over an article he said accused him of threatening to kill gangland lawyer Nicola Gobbo.

Underworld figure Mick Gatto has lost a bid to appeal a decision dismissing his defamation claims against the ABC over an article he said accused him of threatening to kill gangland lawyer Nicola Gobbo.

Former Liberal power broker Marcus Bastiaan has accused Nine Entertainment of hiding behind “the cloak of journalistic professional privilege” in refusing to provide documentary evidence concerning the production of an alleged defamatory 60 Minutes report.

Former Liberal power broker Marcus Bastiaan has told a court he will seek an injunction to prevent investigative journalist Nick McKenzie from “door-knocking and harassing” witnesses in a defamation lawsuit over an explosive 60 Minutes report.

Media giant Nine has defended reporting that allegedly implied former Victorian Liberal party vice president Marcus Bastiaan engaged in illegal branch stacking, arguing the coverage was justified and that federal assistant treasurer Michael Sukkar was in on the scheme.

The Nine Network has lost its challenge to a $3.7 million defamation judgment awarded to a prominent Queensland family over a 60 Minutes report that implied they were to blame for a 2011 flood event that killed 12 people.

Underworld figure Mick Gatto has been denied a trial by jury in his defamation proceedings against the ABC, with the judge-only hearing scheduled to start next week.

A judge has refused to summarily dismiss a defamation case brought by a government worker against Twitter, Google and Yahoo over racist, homophobic, anti-Muslim and conspiratorial tweets resulting from an alleged identity theft.