Nine can ‘hardly complain’ that Ben Roberts-Smith sued: Turnbull

Nine newspapers can “hardly complain” they were sued by disgraced former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith, says former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.

He was a panellist at a Crikey event on Tuesday night where the news outlet celebrated subscribers, readers and supporters who had helped fund its defence against a defamation action brought by News Corp co-chairman Lachlan Murdoch.

Turnbull took part in a wide-ranging onstage discussion on issues such as media reform, defamation law and freedom of speech, and said it was somewhat unusual for the plaintiff in a libel suit to be more well-resourced than the defendants. 

“In most cases in defamation, the plaintiff has much less financial resources than the defendant,” he said. “This case, Lachlan Murdoch v Crikey, is really very unusual — a multibillionaire suing a small publisher.

“Typically in defamation, it’s an individual suing a media company which has much greater resources. News Corp or Fairfax, or the ABC for that matter, are professional defendants … They get sued all the time.”

He brought up Roberts-Smith’s suit against Nine newspapers, for alleging the Victoria Cross recipient was a war criminal, as an exception to the norm: “Ben Roberts-Smith is sort of a borderline one, because of the support he had from Kerry Stokes.

“But having said that, if you accuse someone of being a murderer, and they believe they’re not a murderer, you can hardly complain if they sue you for defamation.”

Turnbull shared the stage with Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom chief executive Lesley Power and Crikey’s political editor Bernard Keane. Crikey’s editor-in-chief, Sophie Black, moderated the discussion. 

Keane, who wrote the story Murdoch sued Crikey over and who was one of the defendants, said Australia’s defamation laws generally had a chilling effect on journalism: “One of the dampening effects we perhaps don’t talk about as much, with defamation law, is that it really means that independent journalism is kind of curtailed.

“And it means that only … larger institutions can actually engage in that sort of journalism. That means less quality journalism in Australia.” 

Turnbull argued that Lachlan Murdoch was “stupid” to sue over what he called a “rhetorical flourish” by Keane. 

“Honestly, the suing was purely a cynical effort to use Australia’s defamation laws to silence somebody who was making the same criticism that thousands of others have made. It was very, very cynical and it completely blew up in his face,” Turnbull said.

Power said she would like to see a greater push for ethics in journalism and a stronger regulatory system. 

“We’re living in an era where the big mastheads, these big well-funded media organisations, there are fewer and fewer of them,” she said. “The smaller publishers are going to become more and more crucial to the public’s right to access trusted, accurate information.

“The Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom is advocating for a system of regulation where journalists as individuals can sign up to a code of ethics … so when the public sees that content they know it’s produced by an individual who has personally signed up to the ethics of responsible journalism.” 

Hanson-Young told the crowd of about 120 Crikey subscribers and supporters gathered at Sydney’s Ace Hotel that she would introduce a bill next week to establish a royal commission into the media assets controlled by the Murdoch family. 

“[The royal commission] needs to shine a light on the enormous amount of power and influence — unchecked and otherwise — but also it needs to help build that consensus that something actually has to be done,” she said.

“I think a royal commission would help make sure that there is an expectation that Parliament and politicians will respond.”

News Corp was contacted for comment.