Defamation

A Nyamal man mistakenly identified by the Seven Network as the suspect in the abduction of four-year-old Cleo Smith in Western Australia is suing the broadcaster for defamation.

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.

The court has given the green light to an amended defamation defence by Clive Palmer which accuses Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan of “disgraceful and dishonourable conduct” and abusing his position by hastily and secretly enacting legislation that barred the billionaire mining magnate from suing the state for $30 billion.

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.

YouTube comedian Jordan Shanks has apologised to former NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro for hurt caused by videos posted in 2020 and 2021 but won’t be paying any damages as part of a settlement of a high profile defamation case.

Embattled Sydney accountant Vanda Gould has lost his defamation case against the Commissioner of Taxation, with a court finding Chris Jordan’s defamatory comments constituted a “robust”, but proportional, counter-attack to Gould’s public disparagement of the Australian Tax Office.

Christian Porter and silk Sue Chrysanthou are fighting a $550,000 legal bill of Jo Dyer, a friend of the woman who accused Porter of rape, after she succeeded in having the barrister removed from the former attorney-general’s defamation lawsuit against the ABC.

A plastic surgeon followed by more than 5 million TikTok users has lost an urgent bid to block the ABC from airing an episode of Four Corners about him next Monday.

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.

The federal government has shot down a Labor push for the privileges committee to examine former Attorney-General Christian Porter after he refused to reveal information about an anonymous donor that covered a portion of his costs in defamation proceedings against the ABC.