ABC to pay $780,000 in costs for Porter defamation case

The government and the ABC have been at loggerheads since late last year over its reporting, with Mr Morrison lashing the broadcaster on Friday over what he said was a “deeply offensive” suggestion he supported the QAnon conspiracy theory.

QAnon is an American far-right conspiracy theory that a cabal of Satan-worshipping paedophiles encompassing political, media and entertainment elites worked to undermine Donald Trump’s presidency.

In 2019, The Guardian reported that an Australian follower who went by the Twitter handle “Burnedspy34”, Tim Stewart, was married to a close friend of Mr Morrison’s wife, Jenny. Mr Stewart maintained he never spoke about politics with Mr Morrison.

Four Corners planned to air a story by its star reporter, Louise Milligan, on the influence of QAnon on Australian politics on Monday night but Mr Anderson told a Senate estimates hearing he raised concerns after viewing a rough cut of the episode on Thursday morning.

“It is not unreasonable for me as editor-in-chief when a story is referred to me for me to question certain things, as I have done previously,” he said.

”I’m either looking to satisfy myself we’ve done all that we can to corroborate whatever is in the story, or I’m looking for other elements to it. It only strengthens us and what we do, to make sure what we publish is of the highest editorial standard.“

Mr Anderson confirmed the Prime Minister’s office had been approached for comment on the program. He also said Mr Morrison’s office had spoken to ABC News director Gaven Morris about the questions Four Corners had put to Mr Morrison but he did not know what was discussed.

“No one has contacted me to say this program should not be aired,” he said, adding it may still be broadcast.

Mr Anderson earlier said the ABC spent $680,000 on lawyers defending a defamation case brought by Mr Porter, and another $100,000 to Mr Porter’s lawyer, Rebekah Giles, to cover the cost of mediation and related costs.

Mr Porter launched legal action after an online report by Ms Milligan that Mr Morrison had received details of a historical rape allegation against a cabinet minister by friends of the alleged victim. Mr Porter was not named but later outed himself to declare his innocence.

Following mediation, he dropped his defamation case last week after the ABC added a note to the report saying it regretted that some readers had misinterpreted the article as a statement of guilt.

Mr Anderson told the hearing the ABC had not paid Mr Porter any damages and stood by its original story.

“The ABC has not issued an apology. The ABC stands by its journalism. The article in question is still online, it remains unchanged and available for everyone to see it,” he said.

ABC general counsel Connie Carnabuci told the hearing the agreement between the ABC and Mr Porter was non-conditional and had taken effect.

The only unresolved issue was Justice Jayne Jagot’s decision on Mr Porter’s application to remove 27 pages of the ABC’s 37-page defence from the court file, which so far has been suppressed.

Media outlets News Corporation and Nine, publisher of The Australian Financial Review, are contesting the application so the defence can be made public.

Mr Anderson said Mr Porter presented an offer to settle the case without prejudice on March 23, before the ABC had filed its defence on May 4. A second without prejudice offer was made on May 9, and on May 21 the ABC offered to mediate, which began a week later and was resolved within three days.

Mr Anderson would not be drawn on what was in Mr Porter’s earlier offers “but we didn’t accept those”.

Mr Anderson denied he was feuding with Four Corners’ management, led by executive producer Sally Neighbour.

“I stand by the journalism of Four Corners, I always have, still do and I will continue to work with Four Corners on the excellent work they do,” he said.

Ms Neighbour tweeted on Monday morning that “no-one here is at war with anyone and morale is excellent”.

“We fully accept it is the MD’s role to decide whether/when to publish, and we value ABC management’s unwavering support for our journalism. We are continuing to work on the QAnon story,” she said.

Liberal senators James Paterson and Sarah Henderson grilled Mr Anderson over tweets by Ms Milligan and Ms Neighbour immediately following the announcement of the settlement with Mr Porter.

Ms Neighbour was forced to delete a tweet saying “no money” was paid to Mr Porter, which Mr Anderson said he was concerned about because it was factually incorrect.

Mr Anderson said he phoned Mr Morris to ask Ms Neighbour to correct the tweet.

Asked by Senator Paterson whether ABC staff can tweet things that were wrong and not suffer any consequences, Mr Anderson said he did not think Ms Neighbour’s tweet was malicious and she had made a simple mistake.

“Nothing has been brought to my attention at the moment that I believe to be a breach of the code of conduct,” he said.

Senator Paterson responded that some people may view the tweet as malicious. “It’s pretty clear Ms Neighbour was trying to celebrate the ABC’s resolution of this issue. It seemed like a very excited tweet.”