Weatherill and staff to sue Libs and media
Premier Jay Weatherill and members of his staff are preparing defamation suits against Opposition MPs and journalists over reporting of the Debelle inquiry into a sexual abuse case at a school.
Political commentator Clem Macintyre says the move shows the level of concern in the State Government about the ongoing issue.
“The fact that Weatherill has chosen to go through the courts … indicates a degree of concern and sensitivity over the nature of the allegations and the possible political damage that they could do to the Labor Government,” the University of Adelaide politics professor told InDaily this morning.
“It’s to me suggesting that Weatherill is very confident about the decision-making of his staff and is keen to establish their integrity in a formal way and to limit any suggestions of impropriety.”
Macintyre said the legal actions were unlikely to stop the Opposition’s attacks on the government’s handling of the issues raised by the inquiry.
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The Premier told ABC local radio this morning Opposition MPs had been attacking his “personal honesty and integrity”.
“When somebody attacks my personal honesty and integrity they can expect an assertive response,” the Premier told the ABC’s morning program.
“There are a number of members of the Opposition that also will be facing litigation for their role in spreading mistruths about me and my staff.”
Later on the program, Opposition Leader Steven Marshall said none of his staff or ministers had received legal letters, and he didn’t expect them to.
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“We’ve got no clarity whatsoever what the Premier’s specifically talking about. I have not received a letter, nobody in the Liberal Party has received a letter and it seems that they’re going to return to the bad old days of the Labor Party taking … legal actions against all and sundry.
“We raised those questions in a legitimate respectful way via the Parliament and we’re going to continue to pursue it because that’s what our role is in Opposition.”
The legal action will not be taxpayer-funded and will be a private matter, Weatherill said. He declined to nominate exactly who the targets of his action were.
He said one particular journalist had “crossed the line” in dealings with and coverage of ministerial staffers.
“I’m not talking about the questions that are asked about these matters, I’m talking about when they don’t get the answer they want, a campaign of really quite appalling behaviour that is utterly unacceptable and I will defend my staff. I am not going to have my staff treated in that fashion.”
The Debelle inquiry reported on a sexual abuse case at a state school and the circumstances surrounding the Education Department’s decision not to tell parents of students at the school about the case.
The Australian reported this morning Family First will move to begin a parliamentary inquiry into matters arising from the Debelle report.
The Debelle inquiry found that Weatherill’s chief of staff Simon Blewett and an adviser, Jadynne Harvey, were informed in 2010 about the incident at the school but did not inform the then-Education Minister Jay Weatherill.
The pair copped criticism in the report for their failure to inform Weatherill. The Premier has so far resisted Opposition calls to sack the two advisers.
It was revealed last week another adviser, Kate Baldock, was included in a departmental email chain in February 2012 relating to the abuse case at the school.
Then Education Minister Grace Portolesi, who Baldock was advising at the time, has said that she wasn’t informed about the abuse case until March 2012.
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