Defamation and the Media
Senator VAN: Mr Anderson is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation - The ABC - exempt from legal services direction?
Mr Anderson: I believe they are.
Senator VAN: Do you or does your department know of any former Labor ministers that have engaged in court proceedings while in office?
Mr Anderson: I'd have to take that on notice.
Senator VAN: Please take this on notice if you like, but is it correct that Stephen Conroy, former communications minister, sued ABC presenter Jon Faine for defamation?
Mr Anderson: I'll take that on notice.
Senator VAN: Thank you so much. Again, you will probably need to take this on notice. It isn't clear from media reporting whether that was when he was actually communications minister or afterwards. Do you know or does the department know whether it was when he was communications minister?
Mr Anderson: I don't know the answer to that but I'm happy to take that on notice.
Senator VAN: Thank you. In terms of other politicians that have run defamation cases, as I understand it former Labor minister Graham Richardson sued Fairfax for an article. Do you know anything about that?
Mr Anderson: Not off the top of my head, but we can take that on notice.
Senator VAN: Do you or your department know anything about any of the lawsuits that former Prime Minister Bob Hawke undertook?
Mr Anderson: I'll take that on notice.
Senator VAN: Former defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon sued The Age in 2010. Do you know anything about that one?
Mr Anderson: No, I'll take that on notice.
Senator VAN: The former federal Labor member for Melbourne Ports, Michael Danby, sued a number of stations for alleging that he had engaged in domestic violence. Do you know anything about that one?
Mr Anderson: No. And I should say it might be that the department doesn't actually have any records of some of these. It would depend upon whether there was any involvement of the department. But I'm happy to take it on notice.
Senator VAN: I understand completely. I will leave it there, thank you.
