The report, co-authored by Liberal grandees Pru Goward and Nick Minchin, has now been sent to a legal team to ensure it is watertight while the party decides what step to take next.
For something to be defamatory it has to:
a) Reduce the public’s perception of him (which is laughable, the public’s perception of him is “monster”)
b) Be untrue (doubt it)
I think he meant derogatory.
And even that’s of questionable accuracy, as it’s about being shown an inappropriate amount of respect.
He definitely meant defamatory, since he apparently tacitly threatened suing the Liberal Party. But whether it’s true or essentially a SLAPP threat is unclear.
It’s certainly possible that he believes the report contained factually incorrect non-opinion claims about him. I can’t see that being likely though. I guess the fact that they didn’t give him the opportunity for a right-of-reply in the report can’t have helped. That would have given him an opportunity to address any potential issues before it got to this point. It really seems like a monumental fuck-up on their part not to have contacted him for right-of-reply.
For something to be defamatory it has to:
a) Reduce the public’s perception of him (which is laughable, the public’s perception of him is “monster”)
b) Be untrue (doubt it)
I think he meant derogatory.
And even that’s of questionable accuracy, as it’s about being shown an inappropriate amount of respect.
He definitely meant defamatory, since he apparently tacitly threatened suing the Liberal Party. But whether it’s true or essentially a SLAPP threat is unclear.
It’s certainly possible that he believes the report contained factually incorrect non-opinion claims about him. I can’t see that being likely though. I guess the fact that they didn’t give him the opportunity for a right-of-reply in the report can’t have helped. That would have given him an opportunity to address any potential issues before it got to this point. It really seems like a monumental fuck-up on their part not to have contacted him for right-of-reply.