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Christian Porter drops defamation case against ABC

All parties agree not to pursue matter any further as ABC stands by reporter Louise Milligan.

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Attorney-General Christian Porter has dropped defamation action against the ABC and Four Corners reporter Louise Milligan.

Following mediation last week, all parties have agreed to not pursue the matter any further. No damages will be paid.

Christian Porter maintained he was easily identifiable in an online story about an alleged historic rape by an unnamed serving cabinet minister. He later publicly identified himself as the minister in question but  strenuously denied the allegations.

ABC’s article remains online but and is being updated with an Editor’s Note:

On 26 February 2021, the ABC published an article by Louise Milligan. That article was about a letter to the Prime Minister containing allegations against a senior cabinet minister. Although he was not named, the article was about the Attorney-General Christian Porter.

The ABC did not intend to suggest that Mr Porter had committed the criminal offences alleged. The ABC did not contend that the serious accusations could be substantiated to the applicable legal standard – criminal or civil. However, both parties accept that some readers misinterpreted the article as an accusation of guilt against Mr Porter. That reading, which was not intended by the ABC, is regretted.

In a statement ABC said it stands by its investigative and public interest journalism, and reporter Louise Milligan, “one of Australia’s foremost and most awarded investigative journalists, and all our journalists in their independent and brave reporting on matters about which Australians have a right to be informed.”

Update: Outside the Federal Court Christian Porter said the outcome as “a humiliating backdown by the ABC,” describing it as “sensationalist”, “one-sided” and written in such a way that people would “assume guilt”.

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