Moves to restore public confidence in the government reviews process are underway after the federal Parliament passed new legislation replacing the “damaged” Administrative Appeals Tribunal, which has been criticised for failing to stop the Robodebt scheme, with a new Administrative Review Tribunal.
A homophobic tweet by former NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham unleashed an “utterly hateful torrent of abuse and vitriol”, including death threats against Independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich, which left him fearing for his safety, a court has heard.
Victorian Liberal Party leader John Pesutto has settled two defamation lawsuits by organisers of the ‘Let Women Speak Rally’ and apologised for conflating them with neo-Nazis who crashed the event, saying his comments “could have more clearly differentiated between the groups”.
Mehreen Faruqi wants to reopen a racial discrimination trial to rebut evidence by One Nation senator Pauline Hanson that she didn’t know the deputy Greens leader was Muslim when she wrote in a tweet that the senator should “piss off back to Pakistan”.
Bruce Lehrmann had no behind-the-scenes financial backer for his failed and costly defamation case against Network Ten but had entered a no win, no fee arrangement with his solicitors, a court has heard.
Counsel for independent Sydney member Alex Greenwich has raised concerns about livestreaming the trial in his defamation case against former NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham after witnessing the “astonishing” and “very disturbing” social media commentary during the Bruce Lehrmann trial.
One Nation senator Pauline Hanson has been accused of lying under oath after claiming she did not know deputy Greens leader Mehreen Faruqi was Muslim when she wrote in a a tweet that the senator should “piss off back to Pakistan”.
Pauline Hanson’s tweet that Mehreen Faruqi should “piss off back to Pakistan” was not a fair comment on a post the deputy Greens leader made after Queen Elizabeth II died that was critical of the monarchy, Faruqi argued as trial kicked off in her racial discrimination case against the One Nation leader.
A judge has questioned the relevance of an ex-Seven producer’s “sordid” evidence that the network rewarded him after using company funds to buy sex workers for the accused rapist Bruce Lehrmann, saying both sides had made strong arguments against his and Brittany Higgins’ credibility.
A former Seven producer has given fresh evidence in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation trial that he was alarmed when the accused rapist purchased cocaine and sex workers and agreed to give an interview to Spotlight as long as he was not asked about the night at the centre of the allegations.