Macquarie Bank Limited v Nationwide News Pty Limited

[2009] ACTSC 9

MACQUARIE BANK LIMITED & ORS v NATIONWIDE NEWS PTY LIMITED & ANOR [2009] ACTSC 9 (16 February 2009)

DEFAMATION – newspaper article – imputations of illegal conduct – whether imputations defamatory.
DEFAMATION – newspaper article – defence of truth.

Morgan v Odhams Press Ltd [1971] 1 WLR 1239
John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd v ACP Publishing Pty Ltd (2005) 157 ACTR 28

Jones v Skelton [1963] SR (NSW) 644
John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd v Rivkin (2003) 77 ALJR 1657; 201 ALR 77
David Syme & Co Ltd and Another v Hore-Lacy (2000) 1 VR 667
Favell v Queensland Newspapers Pty Ltd (2005) 79 ALJR 1716;  (2005) 221 ALR 186
John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd v Obeid (2005) 64 NSWLR 485
Amalgamated Television Services v Marsden (1998) 43 NSWLR 158

Chakravarti v Advertiser Newspapers Limited (1998) 193 CLR 519
Mirror Newspapers Ltd v Harrison (1982) 149 CLR 293

The Macquarie Dictionary, (3^rd ed, 1998)

No. SC 170 of  2005

Judge:             Gray J
Supreme Court of the ACT

Date:              16 February 2009

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE       )
  )          No. SC 170 of 2005
AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY    )

BETWEEN:MACQUARIE BANK LIMITED

(ACN 008 583 542)

First Plaintiff

AND:WARWICK MORRIS

Second Plaintiff

AND:JONATHAN ROURKE

Third Plaintiff

AND:NATIONWIDE NEWS PTY LIMITED (ACN 008 438 828)

First Defendant

AND:NEWS INTERACTIVE PTY LIMITED (ACN 000 529 457)

Second Defendant

ORDER

Judge:  Gray J
Date:  16 February 2009
Place:  Canberra

THE COURT ORDERS THAT:

1. The plaintiffs’ claim against the first defendant be dismissed with costs.

1. The plaintiffs have sued the defendants in respect of the publication of certain matters which they claim are defamatory of them.  The first plaintiff, Macquarie Bank Limited, conducts business as a provider of investment banking and financial services under the name Macquarie Bank (Macquarie, also sometimes referred to as ‘MBL’).  The second plaintiff, Warwick Morris, and the third plaintiff, Jonathan Rourke, were senior executives of Macquarie Bank’s Treasury and Commodities Group.  The first defendant, Nationwide News Pty Limited (Nationwide), is the publisher of the Weekend Australian newspaper and published the matter complained of on 5 March 2005.  The Weekend Australian is published in the Australian Capital Territory and each other State and Territory of Australia.  The second defendant, News Interactive Pty Limited, is the publisher of the Weekend Australian’s content on the Internet. 

1. At the conclusion of the case for the defendants, the plaintiffs and the defendants, by consent, asked that I dismiss the case against the second defendant with no order as to costs.  I did so.

The publication

1. The article of which the plaintiffs complain is headed “The Mine Shaft” and dealt with Macquarie Bank’s involvement in the Beaconsfield Mine, a gold mine near Launceston in Tasmania.  It was published on 5 March 2005 in each Australian State and Territory on pages 33 and 43 of that edition.  The article deals with an aspect of Macquarie Bank’s involvement in Allstate Exploration (“Allstate” also sometimes referred to as “AXL”) which was…