Nine

Trial plans in accused war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation case against Nine have hit another roadblock because of COVID-19 restrictions, less than two weeks before the hearing is set to resume, with the media giant now suggesting a move to Western Australia.

Nine Network has been hit with a class action by Indigenous Australians who say the broadcaster’s coverage of a $30 million class action settlement being “rorted” by Palm Islanders was discriminatory and inaccurate.

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 CEO and founder of Euro Pacific Bank, Peter Schiff, has launched a defamation lawsuit against the Nine Network over a 60 Minutes episode that allegedly implied he “facilitated the theft of millions of dollars from the Australian people” by assisting customers to commit offshore tax fraud.

A judge has adjourned trial in the defamation case by accused war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith to early 2022, saying relocation was not practical after COVID-19 restrictions prevented Fairfax’s witnesses travelling to Sydney.

Former SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith is fighting to shield medical records Fairfax says should be made public to “safeguard open justice”, as trial in his defamation case against the publisher faces further delay due to COVID-19 border restrictions.

A judge has spoken of his personal challenge as an “older, white male” in deciding the objective meaning of racism in Nine Network sports reporter Erin Molan’s defamation case, and said the matter would have been worthy of a trial by jury.

Nine Network, Seven Network and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation have won a temporary injunction barring the Civil Aviation Safety Authority from declaring the area above the Melbourne CBD to be a restricted area in response to anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine protests that have disrupted the city.

Nine subsidiary Fairfax Media has agreed to pay compensation to a Papua New Guinea politician who sued the publisher for defamation for allegedly engaging in a “smear campaign”, with a judge making an order of compensation despite a “ludicrous” objection from Fairfax.