Joe Hockey declines to reveal personal cost of defamation suit against Fairfax

MR Hockey was awarded $200,000 last month after the Federal Court found Fairfax defamed him when it splashed the words “Treasurer for Sale” across a Sydney Morning Herald promotional poster and published two similarly worded tweets from The Age. The combined total bill exceeds $1 million, Fairfax reported, leaving Mr Hockey with a substantial share to pay. Fairfax will pay 15%.

The court upheld Hockey’s claim that a poster headline and tweets reading “Treasurer for sale” implied that he could be bought by political donors.

He said he took the action to “stand up to malicious people”.

“The Federal Court instead ordered Fairfax Media to pay part of my legal costs”.

Declining the injunction Justice White noted Fairfax had already removed the defamatory poster and tweets, and wrote: “I decline to issue the mandatory injunctions sought by Mr Hockey because they would serve no practical goal”.

Fairfax said yesterday the costs awarded were “a fair reflection of the outcome of the proceedings”. Rather than them footing any of the bill, he argued the treasurer should be forced to cover 60 per cent of the publisher’s legal costs. “His failure on significant elements of his claim is relevant to other aspects of the costs claims”, wrote Justice White.

However, Justice White dismissed the balance of Mr Hockey’s case in relation to the articles promoted by the posters and tweets.

But Fairfax’s barrister Sandy Dawson said this would be “manifestly unfair”, given that Mr Hockey “failed in respect of 12 out of 15 [matters] sued on”.

However, he described Mr Hockey’s claim there should be no order for costs in the Canberra Times matter as “unrealistic” given the Treasurer failed altogether in that case.

The articles outlined how the fundraising body North Sydney Forum offered access to Hockey via social events in exchange for membership fees of up to $22,000. It rejected Hockey’s claim that the articles themselves defamed him.

“It is obvious in those circumstances that Mr Hockey is not entitled to the whole of his costs”, he said.

Fairfax has not ruled out appealing against the court’s decision, saying it is giving “full consideration” to the 120-page judgment.

During the case a series of emails and text messages between SMH editor-in-chief Darren Goodsir and Age editor Andrew Holden showed Goodsir was mad with Hockey, after the Treasurer demanded an apology over a previous story.