Joe Hockey Awarded $200,000 Over Defamatory Headline And Tweets; ‘For Sale’ Fared Badly For Fairfax

The Australian Treasurer, Joe Hockey, has won a defamation case against Fairfax Media, one of country’s largest media companies.

The Federal Court reportedly investigated the series of reports that Fairfax media published in 2014, including an article titled "Treasurer for sale". Justice Richard White found the poster and tweets, published by Fairfax Media on 5 May 2014 defamatory, and awarded Mr. Hockey with AU$200,000 in total for the damages.

Justice White awarded Mr. Hockey with AU$120,000 for a Sydney Morning Herald's eyebrow-raising headline and another AU$80,000 for two tweets, posted by the Age. However, all the other claims made by Mr. Hockey have been dismissed.

In March this year, the court heard The Sydney Morning Herald's state political editor, Sean Nicholls’ account and the reason why he wrote the article; "Treasurer for sale". Mr. Nicholls mentioned his intention behind writing the story was solely public interest as there was "significant public debate about donations being tied to access to politicians".

Before the article was scheduled for publishing, Mr. Nicholls reportedly sent an email to Mr. Hockey requesting information regarding the latter’s involvement with Liberal Party fundraising group the North Sydney Forum (NSF).

But as Mr. Hockey informed the court earlier, he was too busy preparing for his first budget to respond to Nicholls' email. In March, the Treasurer told the court he found the report defamatory considering it suggested the members of the NSF could buy his influence, who pay a whopping amount for access to events attended by Mr. Hockey and others.

However, Mr. Hockey claimed his office hasn’t received any cash from the NSF. The court earlier heard that the newspaper’s editor-in-chief Darren Goodsir had sent an email to Nicholls in March 2014. After a series of back and forth discussion in the court, Mr. Hockey's lawyer said: "Mr. Goodsir was suggesting you crucify my client."

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