The federal court has ruled that a report by Channel Seven that contains rumours and allegations about former SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith will remain private.
The ABC has reported that yesterday, Justice Wendy Abraham dismissed Nine newspapers’ application to gain access to Channel Seven’s report.
Of course, Robert-Smith is currently suing The Age, Federal Capital Press and Fairfax Media for defamation. All publications have opted for a truth defence. Basically, it’s pretty clear why Nine is interested in Seven’s file.
According to ABC, Bruce McWilliam, Seven West Media’s commercial director asked for a report to be created on Roberts-Smith by respected journalist Ross Coulthart. Allegedly, the report was for McWilliams and his boss Kerry Stokes so they could examine the rumours and allegations surrounding Roberts-Smith and prepare if they needed to give evidence at the Brereton inquiry.
It’s worth noting that The Guardian has reported that Stokes is allegedly helping Roberts-Smith financially.
Legally, Seven has always argued that the report falls under legal professional privilege. However, Nine tried to counter this claim by arguing that the report was simply created to protect the commercial and reputational concerns of Seven West Media and Stokes.
The ABC has reported that Justice Abraham sided with Seven and said she was “satisfied” the report was created for the dominant purpose of legal advice.
Robert-Smith’s defamation trial is still currently on-hold because of COVID-19 and is set to resume next year.
