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Taxpayers have been saddled with a $780,000 bill over Industry Minister Christian Porter’s defamation action against the ABC, including a $100,000 payment to Mr Porter’s lawyers covering costs.
ABC managing director David Anderson said the impost could have been much greater if Mr Porter had not withdrawn his lawsuit following mediation, with the cost of a three-week trial estimated at up to $1.5 million if it had gone ahead.
Appearing before a Senate budget estimates committee on Monday, Mr Anderson also revealed Mr Porter had made two earlier offers to settle the case which were rejected by the ABC.
ABC general counsel Connie Carnabuci and managing director David Anderson during a Senate hearing at Parliament House in Canberra on Monday.
ABC paid Christian Porter s lawyer $100,000 in mediation costs, parliament told
Confidential sum revealed at a Senate Estimates hearing on Monday morning
Comes amid a public relations war after he dropped his defamation case
Porter was suing over an article detailing a rape allegation which he denied
The ABC refused to take the article down but appnded an editor s note