Senator Leyonhjelm remains defiant in Hanson-Young defamation case despite court setback
Federal senator David Leyonhjelm has labelled Sarah Hanson-Young’s defamation action against him as ‘petty’ and ‘pointless’ after his attempt to have the case permanently stayed was rejected by the Federal Court.
Justice White of the Federal Court comprehensively ruled against Leyonhjelm’s application which sought to strike out Hanson-Young’s claim and put a permanent halt to the case on the grounds the action breached Parliamentary privilege.
Leyonhjelm’s appearance on Sky News’ Outsiders forms part of Hanson-Young’s defamation case against the Senator
Leyonhjelm said in a statement after the ruling was handed down: “As petty and as pointless as this legal action is, I’m looking forward to the opportunity of exposing Senator Hanson-Young’s hypocrisy in a court of law.
“When her action ultimately fails, which it surely will, I hope she will apologise to all those members of the public she hoodwinked into donating money to fund her childish personal vendetta against me. I’m sure there are quite a few of her former supporters who are not impressed with the way she is misrepresenting the case in the media and will be wanting a refund. I will be seeking costs.”
The case follows Leyonhjelm abusing Hanson-Young in the Senate, including telling her to “stop shagging men.”
Leyonhjelm went on to repeat his statements on various media channels leading to Hanson-Young launching defamation proceedings over a Medium post and interviews on 3AW, ABC’s 7.30 and Sky News’ troubled Outsiders program.
The Outsiders segment caused widespread outrage and led to Sky News suspending a producer and issuing a public apology.
When Hanson-Young first threatened proceedings, Leyonhjelm flagged in another Medium post he would not be apologising, saying: “Senator Hanson-Young’s action is without merit. She is also wasting her time, money and endless reserves of outrage, because I will not be issuing an apology.
“Apologising in response to the outrage of a politically correct lynch mob would be insincere. Drawing attention to double standards and misandry is not wrong and does not warrant an apology.”
Mumbrella has contacted senator Hanson-Young’s office for comment.
In his statement following the latest ruling, Leyonhjelm concluded: “I will continue to call out misandry and hypocrisy wherever I see it, and fight for the protection of free speech that is so essential in an open democracy.” The case will continue in the Federal Court on 18 December.
Here’s a link to the full judgment:
http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-...../1688.html
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What Sen Leyonhjelm doesn’t seem to appreciate, is that what he believes to be true, and what the court will find, are two different things. His personal belief in himself, and his own correctness is awesome. Awesomely stupid, because from a misapprehension he drew a very long bow, and then proceeded to take it outside the protections of parliament, and repeat it, to air. Is this free speech, or is it stupidity?
I hold to a view that he is a self-publicist. He knows what he is doing has in some sense, breached societal norms, and doesn’t care because he sees upsides. Expensive upsides, I hope. His incel-like casting of this into defence of free speech and against mysandry is simply a blind: he wants the right to be a prick, 24/7.
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I think fossils like DL belong to an older time. He is out of order but cannot see it. I wonder how he would react if someone spoke to his mum like that, take him down SHY
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