Extract from The Guardian
Jo Dyer claims the ex-attorney general, who has been contacted for comment, made remarks at a press conference that impugned her honesty and integrity
Last modified on Tue 1 Jun 2021 19.03 AEST
A friend of the woman who alleged she was raped by Christian Porter 30 years ago, which he denies, has threatened to sue the former attorney general for defamation over comments he made during a press conference which she claims “impugned my honesty and integrity”.
Jo Dyer – who brought the case which saw Porter’s star barrister, Sue Chrysanthou SC, restrained from acting in his now-defunct defamation bid against the ABC – released a statement on Tuesday saying she had sent a legal notice to Porter after the fiery press conference he held after dropping his case against the public broadcaster.
Porter told journalists he believed it was comments made under cross-examination in that case which had “forced” the ABC “to ask us into mediation”.
“My view is that there being incontrovertible evidence in a court that someone was coached by Louise Milligan to destroy important communications, my view is that’s what got the ABC, forced them, to ask us into mediation and has forced them to the point where they have to say that they regret the outcome of the article,” he said.
Porter’s comments appeared to refer to evidence given by Dyer during cross-examination in the Chrysanthou case. Pushed by Porter’s barrister, Chris Withers SC, over why she had deleted Signal messages between herself and Milligan – whose Four Corners story was at the centre of the defamation case – she said it was partly as a result of requests from the ABC journalist.
Dyer said it was “partly from advice” from Milligan and “more generally I guess my filing and retention processes are somewhat chaotic and those nearest to me suggested it might be better to be more cautious [given] the sensitive nature of the matters clearly being discussed in this matter”.
Dyer said she couldn’t recall when Milligan had asked her to delete the messages but said: “At the point at which we moved to Signal, Ms Milligan had obviously reinforced this was a more confidential means of communication. I think there was a hope I would delete as we went along. I can say I did not take that care with the messages and I did delete them sort of en masse some months ago.”
The ABC has said it “categorically rejects the claim” that Milligan coached Dyer. The broadcaster has also said the comments had no bearing on the deal between the parties.
“The suggestion is not only an insult to Ms Milligan but also to Ms Dyer’s intelligence and integrity,” the public broadcaster said.
On Tuesday, Dyer released a statement in which she claimed Porter had “impugned my honesty and integrity” and further claimed it was the second time the former attorney general had made “defamatory comments” about her after he previously released a statement suggesting the action to restrain Chrysanthou was “part of an improper last-minute legal strategy”.
“Yesterday
Mr Porter alleged that, after ‘coaching’ from Ms Milligan, I had
destroyed important communications that may have had a bearing on his
now discontinued action against Ms Milligan and the ABC. This is
absurd,” Dyer said.
“There was nothing improper, illegal or
sinister in my decisions to save or delete certain messages, decisions
that were taken well before Mr Porter launched his now discontinued
action against Ms Milligan and the ABC.
“This afternoon Marque
Lawyers sent a second concerns notice to Mr Porter in relation to his
continuing defamatory comments of me.”
The Guardian has not seen the concerns notice and has approached Porter’s lawyers for comment.
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