Veteran soldier Ben Roberts-Smith’s benefactors, the Seven Network and billionaire Kerry Stokes, are forging ahead with their counteraction of a directive to disclose thousands of documents that evidences their involvement in Roberts-Smith’s unsuccessful defamation lawsuit.
Earlier this year, Federal Court Justice Anthony Besanko passed judgment on several allegations against Mr. Roberts-Smith that were presented via half a dozen publications by outlets such as The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and The Canberra Times. Besanko ultimately concluded that a significant portion of the allegations were valid, leading to the end of the trial.
These news outlets had reported allegations of war crimes committed by Roberts-Smith – a trial that is now believed to have incurred legal expenses well above $25 million.
Justice Besanko, in July, shot down an attempt from the Seven West Media chairman Kerry Stokes, his private company Australian Capital Equity (ACE), Seven Network commercial director Bruce McWilliam, and law firms Herbert Smith Freehills and Mark O’Brien Legal to discard the subpoenas.
This ruling was questioned by Justice Nye Perram, as Seven Network has shown its intention to reverse the judgment and prevent the document handover due to potential “commercial harm in giving them to its direct competitor”.
On Monday, Justice Perram sided with Seven and accepted the request for leave to appeal. This grants Seven the right to oppose the requirement for revealing the documents.
Justin Williams SC, who represents Seven, Mr. Stokes and Mr. McWilliam, argued in court that providing the requested documents would be an alarming invasion into the corporation’s confidential dealings.
Initially, the defamation trial was bankrolled by the Seven Network, which was Roberts-Smith’s employer prior to reaching a loan agreement with Mr. Stokes’ private company, ACE.
Subpoenas were dispatched to all involved parties including Nine Newspapers to provide communication records between the financial sponsors and the attorneys, and demonstrate their participation in the trial and whether they manipulated the proceedings.
Nine aims to evaluate documents like emails and text messages between Seven, Roberts-Smith, and his legal representatives.
Williams conceded in court that the soldier’s exclusive source of funding was one of his clients. However, he stated that none of the subpoenas addressed these issues.
Defending his clients and the respondents as rival media entities, Williams induced fears over the potential interest and value these subpoenaed documents could provide to Nine Newspapers, and the consequential commercial harm that could arise from their exposure.
Over 8650 emails were unearthed in a search of Mr McWilliam’s Seven Network emails, dating from the commencement of the case in 2018 to 2023, indicating communication between him and attorneys representing Roberts-Smith.
Nicholas Owens SC, speaking for Nine Newspapers, suggested to the court a compromise where only attorneys may access the documents.
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