Highly defamatory references to Fair Work Australia vice-president Michael Lawler have been made in affidavits in the Health Services Union (HSU) Federal Court case, a judge has been told.
David Rofe, QC, said he had been engaged by Mr Lawler, who is not a party in the proceedings applying for the troubled union to be placed into administration.
“Nevertheless, his name is mentioned in a number of affidavits and my instructions as of this morning were that some of the references to him are highly defamatory allegations,” he said on Wednesday.
If tested under cross-examination, they would be proven to be “utterly false and fabricated”‘, Mr Rofe said.
“This litigation has occupied considerable space in the newspapers all over Australia and it is very harmful for malicious defamatory matters to be allowed to be in the public domain.”
But Justice Geoffrey Flick said Mr Rofe was proceeding prematurely as decisions had not yet been made about the affidavits and cross-examination.
The hearing is continuing.
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