A Federal Court judge is set to deliver his long-awaited verdict in the defamation trial between Clive Palmer and Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan.
Judge Michael Lee will hand down his sentence in Melbourne on Tuesday, more than three months after he reserved his decision.
Palmer sued the Washington premier in 2020, claiming “vicious” public comments – including labeling the billionaire miner an enemy of the state – had damaged his reputation.
A Federal Court judge is set to deliver his long-awaited verdict in the defamation trial between Clive Palmer and Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan. (Getty, Alex Ellinghausen)
The Queensland businessman is seeking aggravated damages which would allow a payment above the $432,500 cap.
He has accused the Labor prime minister of being consumed by malice and seeking to “blacken his name at every opportunity”.
McGowan, who is countersuing Palmer for defamation, has made his own appeal for aggravated damages.
The Prime Minister claims a privilege qualified as a defence. It requires proof that there was a legal, social or moral duty to say those things.
Palmer defends several comments he made on the basis of qualified privilege and substantial, contextual truth.
Palmer is seeking aggravated damages. (Matt Dennien)
At the conclusion of the trial in April, Lee said it was possible neither side could make out any defenses.
He noted that each man could receive a nominal sum of damages, describing them as political fighters with established reputations.
“There are people who love them, people who hate them,” Lee said.
“It seems very unlikely to me that the publications themselves will change very established opinions about these men.”
The defamation bid is one of several legal challenges Mr Palmer has pursued against the WA Premier, including a failed High Court bid to have the state’s coronavirus-related hard border closure unconstitutional.
In 2020 it emerged that Palmer was seeking up to $30 billion in damages over a 2012 decision by the former Liberal state government not to assess its Balmoral South iron ore project.
McGowan, who is countersuing Palmer for defamation, has made his own appeal for aggravated damages. (Flavio Brancaleone)
The McGowan government subsequently rushed through extraordinary legislation to prevent Palmer from suing the state.
In his evidence, Palmer said he was scared because provisions in the legislation protected the government from criminal prosecution.
Referring to the fictional character James Bond and his “license to kill”, Palmer told the court: “I didn’t know what the limits might be.”
Any suggestion that Palmer had a genuine fear for his physical safety was “inherently unbelievable”, McGowan’s lawyers said.
In private text messages made public during the trial, McGowan described Palmer as “the worst Australian not in jail”.
His attorney general John Quigley privately called Palmer a “big fat liar”.