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ABC regrets article in ‘humiliating backdown’, Porter says
Following his decision to discontinue the defamation case against the ABC, Christian Porter has taken aim at the national broadcaster to accuse it of standing by reporting that they were “forced” into admitting could have misled the ordinary reader.
Naomi Neilson
An updated statement by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) confirmed that the former attorney-general has discontinued his defamation proceedings after the parties consented to a mediation. Although Christian Porter Porter did not walk away with damages, the ABC added that it paid the mediation costs.
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In a press conference shortly after the statement was released, Mr Porter criticised the ABC for standing by the article that he said they were “forced” into admitting would mislead the ordinary reader into assuming guilt. He said that “no matter how they want to spin it”, the outcome was a “humiliating backdown by the ABC”.
“What I wanted was the ABC to acknowledge that the language they reported in this article was sensationalist and wrong and they have said they regret the outcome of their report. They have also said that the accusations that they had up in the article could not be shown by the criminal or civil standard,” Mr Porter told media.
He said the ABC requested the mediation where they ultimately came to the decision to discontinue the hearing, but that had he not pursued the trial in the first place, “every single Australian” could have been subjected to unreasonable reporting, claiming it would not matter if they were a “politician, in business or sports person”.
Mr Porter went on to claim that the ABC “no doubt will try to spin what happens to make people happy”, but that they have backed down. He also took aim at journalist Louise Milligan for details that came out of his barrister’s hearing that claimed she had suggested to a source to delete texts from an encrypted messaging service that they were using.
“I think that you can never turn the clock back on that sort of reporting and that is why it is so wrong; not just for a politician but for any person who might be subject to the sort of reporting,” Mr Porter added.
“It was never about gain. You could never gain from an action like this. But what you can do is force the public broadcaster to acknowledge that they regret the article they published. That is not a simple thing to achieve because it is the last thing in the world that [the ABC] wanted to say.”
He said that he does not want his old job back and is “totally committed” to his new portfolio. He also confirmed that he would be running in the next election but stopped short of admitting what his future aspirations are.
“It has been very difficult. No one would want to take on the ABC in defamation, particularly not when they said to me that they would defend this down to the end,” Mr Porter said.
In a tweet amid this press conference, Ms Milligan said that Mr Porter proposed a settlement first.
Read about the ABC’s full response here.
