Senator ordered to pay up in court battle

Country Liberal Party senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has been ordered to pay the legal fees of an Aboriginal land council chief executive for a court date in a defamation case over a media release.

Central Land Council chief executive Lesley Turner launched legal proceedings against the Northern Territory senator over the release that he said incorrectly reported a no-confidence motion.

Mr Turner said the release, published in July and reported in the local press, claimed a no-confidence motion had been moved by members of the Alice Springs council against him.

In a statement of claim, he said Ms Price had defamed him by implying he “behaved so unprofessionally that it warranted his dismissal” and was “unfit to continue to occupy the role of CEO”.

Appearing before the Federal Court in Sydney on Wednesday, high-profile defamation lawyer Sue Chrysanthou said Ms Price’s lawyers had not yet filed their defence to the proceedings.

The court was told it was expected Ms Price’s legal team would have filed their defence by Wednesday’s hearing but had failed to do so because of a family health issue with the instructing solicitor.

-Ms Price’s lawyer asked for a four week adjournment so they could obtain “sufficient instructions … to be able to put on a defence”, which the instructing solicitor had not yet obtained.

The delay prompted a lashing by Justice Michael Wheelahan QC who said Ms Price’s lawyer had not responded to “courteous request for information”, which was “unacceptable behaviour”.

He also agreed to an application by Ms Chrysanthou to have Ms Price cover Mr Turner’s legal costs for the appearance and the filing of an affidavit.

Ms Chrysanthou told the court that she estimated her fee to be $2000, minus a discount typically applied by the court, though Justice Wheelahan settled on $1500 to avoid tax issues.

Ms Price’s lawyer opposed the order, stating that his client was an individual like Mr Turner and the order would be an interlocutory one until the end of the proceedings.

The media release was reported in July by the NT News, which in August issued an apology to Mr Turner “for any hurt or embarrassment caused by the publication of the articles”.

“The NT News published two articles on 21 and 22 July concerning a press release issued by Matthew Palmer, the chair of the Central Land Council (CLC), purportedly on behalf of the CLC,” it said.

“Mr Palmer’s press release stated that the CLC’s board had moved a motion to dismiss chief executive Lesley Turner.

“Mr Turner subsequently contacted the NT News and informed us that the press release was incorrect and no motion was moved.

“The NT News apologises to Mr Turner for any hurt or embarrassment caused by the publication of the articles.”

The matter will return before the court on December 4.