Federal MP Andrew Hastie has declared he is being represented by Nine Publishing lawyers in a defamation suit with a high-profile Perth businessman and Nine masthead WAtoday.
WA property developer Greg Poland is suing WAtoday over two articles published in 2019 about his involvement in a plan to dump toxic soil from the Perth Airport Link rail project in Perth’s Peel region and a failed WA Labor bid to nationalise a portion of the rock lobster industry.
Assistant Defence Minister and WA MP Andrew Hastie.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
The stories stemmed from a covertly recorded meeting between Mr Poland and a Peel landowner in early 2019, with Mr Poland claiming the audio was sent to Mr Hastie’s office and then onto WAtoday journalists.
In August Mr Poland added the Assistant Defence Minister and two political staffers to his action, claiming they were part of a conspiracy with WAtoday reporters to damage his reputation. Mr Hastie and the staffers deny any wrongdoing and will vigorously defend the litigation.
At the August hearings, Mr Hastie and the staffers were represented by their own lawyers but last week he declared to parliament he would be represented by Nine’s lawyers for the rest of the suit.
“In relation to a future legal proceeding to be heard in the Supreme Court of Western Australia, legal advice and representation is being provided by the Nine group of companies,” a note in his register of members’ interests document said.
Nine Publishing managing director James Chessell said it was common practice for media companies to provide legal representation, indemnities and other assistance for co-defendants when fighting defamation claims.
“In recent years Nine has supported many sources who have been joined to defamation actions including banking whistleblower Jeff Morris, Christie Whelan Browne in the Craig McLachlan case, numerous witnesses and sources in the Ben Roberts-Smith matter and now Andrew Hastie, two of his staffers and two former journalists, who no longer work for Nine, in the Greg Poland case,” he said.
“At a time when the defamation laws are not just expensive to defend but tilted in favour of plaintiffs, instructing one set of barristers and solicitors to represent all of the defendants avoids unnecessary duplication of costs, disclosure of documents and submissions, and presents a strong, united front.
Nine lawyers to represent Andrew Hastie in defamation case
Source: Philippines Alive
