Defamation

Independent online news outlet First Nations Telegraph has filed defamation proceedings against News Corp’s 24-hour news channel Sky News Australia and Alice Springs deputy mayor Jacinta Price over comments she allegedly made on the controversial TV program Outsiders.

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.

NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro will seek to strike out YouTube star Jordan Shanks’ defence to a defamation lawsuit which argues the imputation that the Nationals leader is a “corrupt conman” is substantially true.

YouTube star Jordan Shanks has filed his defence to NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro’s defamation lawsuit, claiming imputations from one of his videos that the Nationals leader was a “corrupt conman” were substantially true.

A self-described “citizen journalist” who publishes “cynical and cranky” opinions about the Australian Stock Exchange on the Twitter account Stockswami cannot claim journalist privilege to protect his source, a judge has found.

Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich has hit publisher HarperCollins with a defamation lawsuit over a book which allegedly implied the businessman had a corrupt relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Canadian trader Daniel Schlaepfer has suffered a loss in his $10 million defamation case against ASIC, with an appeals court tossing the lawsuit despite finding the regulator defamed him and his firm by accusing them of unlawful market manipulation.

Trial in the defamation case by accused war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith has been adjourned for three weeks after COVID-19 restrictions prevented witnesses from travelling to Sydney and national security concerns were raised regarding Afghani witnesses set to give evidence.

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.

Former SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has denied claims that he assaulted a woman with whom he was having an affair and took naked photos of her while she was unconscious after attending a Parliament House function in March 2018.