Chinese-Australian billionaire Chau Chak Wing was awarded $ 590,000 in damages after winning his defamation case in an episode of ABC Four Corners.
The businessman, philanthropist and political donor sued the network, Nine and Nick McKenzie, an investigative reporter for the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, over the joint report.
McKenzie presented the 2017 program and the investigation included an accompanying article on the ABC website.
Chau’s lawyers said the broadcast and article defamed his client in six ways, including suggesting that he is a spy who “betrayed his country, Australia, to serve the interests of a foreign power, China”.
They also said the publications suggested that Chau “donated huge sums of money to Australian political parties as bribes to influence politicians to make decisions to promote the interests of the Republic of China, the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party”.
But media organizations denied that the charges were passed on, saying they were “overcooked” as Chau’s lawyers engaged in an over-elaborate search for hidden meanings.
In federal court on Tuesday, Judge Steven Rares ruled in favor of Chau, awarded him $ 590,000 and his court costs, and prevented ABC from republishing parts of the episode.
Chau had already successfully sued Fairfax Media for defamation over a 2015 story that implied he bribed a former UN president.
The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance said the decision highlighted the urgency for all jurisdictions across Australia to adopt uniform reforms in defamation laws.
“Without commenting on the details of today’s decision, the matter highlights the difficulty that journalists operate under the negotiations on Australia’s restrictive defamation laws,” said Marcus Strom, federal chairman of the MEAA media section. “The reform has already started, but it needs to be faster, deeper.”