MP's defamation evidence 'illogical and self-serving'

A Liberal senator accused of defaming the head of a large Aboriginal land council was an evasive witness who made baseless allegations and gave "illogical and self-serving" answers, a court has been told.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has been sued by Central Land Council chief executive Lesley Turner over an allegedly defamatory media release from July 2024 that claimed there had been a failed no-confidence motion against him.

The release also accused Mr Turner of unprofessional conduct by failing to help poverty-stricken Aboriginal people who were living in tin sheds.

Council chair Matthew Palmer had earlier issued a release including the same allegedly defamatory claim, which was picked up by Senator Nampijinpa Price and reported by the News Corp-owned NT News and the ABC.

In her closing submission at the Federal Court defamation trial in Darwin on Tuesday, Mr Turner's barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC said the senator had "sought to tarnish my client's reputation, and she has done so" by repeatedly defaming him.

"She was told that her publication was wrong nearly immediately by the Central Land Council on the morning of July 11, but she just didn't care," Ms Chrysanthou said.

"She promoted and promulgated her defamation on Facebook to print journalists, with quotes through her staff, in broadcast interviews … and her defamation was repeated and circulated."

There was a theme of the senator's evidence "that she would make baseless allegations wholly uninformed by factual material", she said.

"As a witness, the senator was often evasive and volunteered answers that made baseless allegations, not just against my client, but also the Central Land Council. Her answers were often illogical and self-serving."

At a men-only council meeting on July 18, 2024, Mr Palmer had discussed getting rid of Mr Turner.

While he claimed publicly there had been a motion to remove the chief executive, the council denied this through media reports.

The imputations of the alleged defamatory statements were "an attack on (Mr Turner's) integrity", Ms Chrysanthou said.

Because there were no specifics of the alleged unprofessional conduct, "readers are left to wonder … what terrible thing my client did to warrant this finding ... that he should be gone," she said.

Senator Nampijinpa Price's barrister Peter Gray SC said the number of people who actually saw the release was not known, but was "likely to be small".

He also said there had been an "air of unreality" about Mr Turner's evidence because he'd given "highly emotive" testimony about the impact of the senator's media release, but "avoided entirely or notably downplayed as insignificant" the obvious impacts of the Palmer release, two NT News articles and four ABC broadcasts.

"Plainly, Mr Turner was aware of all those publications, but in his affidavit we submit he effectively asked the court to proceed on the fictitious or imaginary footing that they ... were not relevant," he said.

The senator had "relied on the skill and experience of her staff" in preparing and checking a media release.

"She deliberately didn't name Mr Turner, and she and her staff, over several days, checked and successively amended the text of the media release," Mr Gray said.

There was "significant and genuine" public interest in the matter, so it was legitimate for her to publish quickly as long as she took "reasonable care to get it right", Mr Gray said.

Justice Michael Wheelahan has reserved his decision.