Former minister Michael Ferguson could be made to pay back $300,000 of public money he received to fund a defamation case.
The 2020 legal action against Kane Dallow stemmed from videos posted on Dallow’s website and YouTube channel, which contained allegations about Ferguson predating his parliamentary career.
Dallow was subsequently jailed for nine months after refusing to comply with court orders to remove the content and stop publishing similar material.
Labor MP Ella Haddad will introduce a parliamentary motion expressing concern about “the precedent set by the decision to fund Mr Ferguson’s private defamation action”.
The motion calls on the “Minority Liberal Government to reverse its decision to allocate public resources to Mr Ferguson’s private defamation action”.
Haddad is also urging the House to acknowledge the circumstances and Supreme Court ruling regarding the misuse of Northern Midlands ratepayers’ money to fund personal defamation proceedings.
Northern Midlands Mayor Mary Knowles and General Manager Des Jennings were ordered to repay the $135,000 they had unlawfully spent on legal action over allegedly defamatory social media posts.
“They should have understood that payment out of council funds for private purposes of councillors and council staff is illegal and arguably corrupt conduct,” Acting Justice Shane Marshall said in his findings.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff previously defended cabinet’s approval of public funds for the Ferguson case, arguing he was “targeted in his capacity as a minister of the Crown”.
“It was appropriate that these costs were covered,” Rockliff said.
