Treasurer Joe Hockey is suing Fairfax Media for defamation and initiated proceedings today in the Federal Court of Australia. To me it is clear political suicide but that is up to Joe Hockey. It relates to front-page articles headlined “Treasurer For Sale” on May the 5th in the The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Canberra Times and their online services.
The first part of the May 5th article in the SMH starts off:
“Treasurer for sale: Joe Hockey offers privileged access”
“Treasurer Joe Hockey is offering privileged access to a select group including business people and industry lobbyists in return for tens of thousands of dollars in donations to the Liberal Party via a secretive fund-raising body whose activities are not fully disclosed to election funding authorities.”
“The Independent Commission Against Corruption is probing Liberal fund-raising bodies such as the Millennium Forum and questioning their influence on political favours in NSW.”
“Mr Hockey offers access to one of the country’s highest political offices in return for annual payments.”
“The donors are members of the North Sydney Forum, a campaign fundraising body run by Mr Hockey’s North Sydney Federal Electoral Conference (FEC). In return for annual fees of up to $22,000, members are rewarded with “VIP” meetings with Mr Hockey, often in private boardrooms.” (Click here to read more)
Didn’t the Liberals learn anything from the Craig Thomson defamation proceedings. If Fairfax Media do not settle and I suspect they will not, then a lot of media attention is going to be on Hockey and his financial dealings for a long time and most likely right up to the next election. A lot of people see the dealings as being dodgy even if they are not illegal. I can’t and most people cannot afford a lazy $22,000 to get a meeting with Hockey or most politicians for that matter.
Joe Hockey should have just forgot about it and moved on.
Maybe Hockey has had a rush of blood watching how well Australia’s number one perjurer Kerry Stokes is doing in his lawsuit against me. If that is the case then it is a major mistake because in a few weeks or so it will become obvious that perjury boy Stokes is not doing well at all.
I checked the Federal Court website and Hockey is using the law firm Johnson Winter and Slattery Lawyers and most likely Top Gun defamation lawyer Mark O’Brien who is a partner at the firm although it could be another lawyer there. I wonder if either party will use the compulsive liar and Pop Gun defamation barrister Sandy Dawson.
It is interesting that Joe Hockey has chosen the Federal Court instead of the NSW Supreme Court. It is possible that Fairfax Media will challenge on jurisdiction grounds as defamation is not something that the Federal Court normally deals with and whether or not they have jurisdiction has never been fully tested to my knowledge. I think the choice might have something to do with Joe Hockey trying to avoid a jury trial, which is fairly standard in the Supreme Court unlike the Federal Court which has never had a jury trial.
I hope it does go to trail as it will give this site plenty of material. It is set down for a directions hearing at 9.30am the 12th June in court room 21B before Justice Peter Jacobson. Is Jacobson honest? No he’s a grub and I know because I’ve had dealings with him but more on that next time.
This site is independent and reliant on donations to keep publishing. If you would like to support the continuance and growth of this site it would be greatly appreciated if you make a donation. Click on the below button to donate via PayPal or go to the donations page for other donation options (Click here to go to the Donations page)
If you would like to buy a t-shirt or coffee mug visit my online shop (Click here to visit the shop)
And make sure you follow this site by email which is at the top right of this page and about once a week you be notified when there is a new post on this site.
Thank you for your support.