Although Porter ended his defamation case against the ABC in May, agreeing to keep the document secret, both Nine and News Limited had sought access to the document. In her judgement Jagot agreed that although ordinarily a document would remain on the court file, it did not amount to “special treatment” to remove it. It would be removed from the court file and was “not to be opened or made available for inspection by the public other than by leave of the court”. Porter agreed to discontinue his defamation case against the ABC over a news article that reported allegations an unnamed cabinet minister had been accused of raping a woman in the 1980s. Porter has strenuously denied the allegations, but dropped the defamation case despite failing to secure an apology or retraction from the public broadcaster over the story.

Source: The Guardian July 30, 2021 00:55 UTC