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Shane Bazzi Says He’s “Relieved” After Peter Dutton Defamation Lawsuit Is Finally Resolved

"This has been a long and tough campaign against a powerful adversary."

by Lavender Baj  27 September 2022

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Peter Dutton’s defamation lawsuit against refugee activist Shane Bazzi has come to an end after an ongoing battle between the two parties.

The case resolved after an agreement was reached over who would pay the legal costs, and a notice of discontinuation filed in the High Court on Friday.

Dutton won the initial lawsuit over a tweet labelling the MP a “rape apologist” last year, with the judge ordering Bazzi to pay $35,000 in damages. However, Bazzi won an appeal earlier this year that resulted in the proceedings being dismissed. Junkee does not suggest that Peter Dutton is a rape apologist.

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The High Court was set to decide whether Dutton would have to pay Bazzi’s legal fees, considering they were crowdfunded.

Bazzi’s lawyers — O’Brien Criminal & Civil Solicitors — confirmed that the case was over after an agreement had been struck. “This has been a long and tough campaign against a powerful adversary,” the law firm said in a statement.

“We accept that there should be some boundaries to things you can say about people, even politicians, but we never for a moment believed that Mr Bazzi had crossed that line and, in the end, neither did the court.”

In a statement released on Monday, a spokesperson for Dutton also confirmed that “the parties have agreed to settle the proceedings, including a resolution around the payment of legal fees”.

“As part of the settlement, Mr Dutton has not, and will not, be paying any amount to Mr Bazzi or his lawyers,” they said. “This has demonstrated that it is completely unacceptable to call someone a rape apologist, or descriptions of a similar grotesque nature. The same rules should apply online as they do in the real world.”

Bazzi took to Twitter after the news broke to remind people that he was not found to have defamed Dutton. In a statement released on Monday, he expressed that he was “very relieved this matter has now been finalised” after it caused him “immense distress”.