ABC

Prosecutors have withdrawn two-thirds of the charges in a criminal cartel case over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement and have dropped their case against former Citigroup CEO Stephen Roberts, according to a lawyer in the case.

Liberal MP Christian Porter has asked a court to ensure Nine and News Corp. do not use secret portions of ABC’s defence to his defamation allegations, which the media giants accessed as intervenors in the former federal Attorney-General’s case.

ABC reporter Louise Milligan has agreed to pay $79,000 to settle a defamation case by Liberal party MP Andrew Laming over what he called spiteful and accusatory tweets, but the agreement does not include an admission of liability, a court heard on Wednesday.

An ABC feature reporter who was hit with an $18,000 pay cut and who allegedly developed a medical condition from being “overworked” is suing the national broadcaster for discrimination and breaches of employment law.

Former Attorney-General Christian Porter has succeeded in scrubbing from the court record the ABC’s full defence in his now-settled defamation suit against the broadcaster, over the protests of media outlets, with a judge finding the principle of open justice was “not absolute”.

Noting that the legal costs of a dispute over whether she could represent federal minister Christian Porter in his defamation case were “substantial”, Sue Chrysanthou SC has asked to see invoices before she agrees to a lump sum bill of $550,000.

Media companies seeking access to the ABC’s unredacted defence in a now-settled defamation case brought by Christian Porter told a judge the principle of open justice required that the pleading be made public, while the former attorney-general argued there was no “superior” public interest in airing the document.

Liberal party politician Andrew Laming has hit ABC Four Corners journalist Louise Milligan with a defamation lawsuit over allegedly “sensational, accusatory and spiteful” tweets intended to “irrevocably damage” his reputation.

A judge has criticised the Australian Broadcasting Corporation for “ill advised” redactions in documents produced in a dispute between the producers of the consumer affairs television series The Checkout.

Christian Porter and silk Sue Chrysanthou have been ordered to foot the legal bill of a friend of the woman who accused Porter of rape, after she succeeded in having the barrister removed from  defamation proceedings the former attorney-general brought against the ABC.