Wallace v Alan Jones & Anor [2001] NSWSC 1085

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : Wallace v Alan Jones & Anor [2001] NSWSC 1085 CURRENT JURISDICTION: Common Law FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 20778 OF 2001 HEARING DATE(S) : 16 November 2001 JUDGMENT DATE : 30 November 2001

DEBORAH WALLACE (Plaintiff)

v PARTIES : ALAN JONES (First Defendant)

RADIO 2UE SYDNEY PTY LTD (Second Defendant) JUDGMENT OF : Levine J

S Littlemore Q.C. (Plaintiff) COUNSEL : T Blackburn (Defendants) Walter Madden Jenkins (Plaintiff) SOLICITORS : Corrs Chambers Westgarth (Defendant) CATCHWORDS : Radio broadcasts - imputations - capacity - form - difference in substance - "corrupt" - "dishonestly" - "sincere" Drummoyne Municipal Council v Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1991) 21 NSWLR 135 Krahe v TCN Channel Nine Pty Limited (1986) 4 NSWLR 536 CASES CITED : Ma Ching Kwan v John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd (Court of Appeal, unreported, 30 July 1998) McCormick v John Fairfax & Sons Pty Limited (1989) 16 NSWLR 485 Morris v Newcastle Newspapers Pty Limited (1985) 1 NSWLR 260 DECISION : See paragraph 40

DLJ: 1 [2001] NSWSC 1085 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES common law division Defamation list 20778 of 2001

JUSTICE DAVID LEVINE Friday 30 November 2001 DEBORAH WALLACE (Plaintiff) v ALAN JONES (First Defendant) RADIO 2UE SYDNEY PTY LTD (Second Defendant) Judgment (Radio broadcasts – imputations – capacity – form – difference in substance – "corrupt" – "dishonestly" – "sincere") 1 By a Statement of Claim filed on 14 September 2001 the plaintiff sues the defendants in respect of five broadcasts (the tapes of which I have heard). 2 The first broadcast was at about 7.10am on 2 April 2001; a transcript of it is the First Schedule to the pleading. The subject matter of the broadcast, in general terms, is drug crime at Cabramatta and a change of a computer entry at Cabramatta Police Station. Mr Jones is interviewing a Mr Ross Treyvaud. Some pertinent passages are as follows: "Jones: …..the exact words of it. A copy here of the note written into the system by Bradley Element, a young constable, on February 19, saying the deputy principal of Cabramatta High told police that at 3:00pm five students had warned of a number of males waiting outside the school gates to bash them. So if someone is denying this has happened, surely they are telling lies? Treyvaud: Yes there seems to be something sinister going on here Alan. Jones: Well. Let me take that point of sinister. The day after I raised this on my program, the entry on the police computer system was quote/unquote updated by the 2IC out there, Detective Inspector Deborah Wallace. And my information is the purpose of updating the narrative on the police computer system, and putting in her interpretation, was that her version of events would supercede the original documentation. And I am asking you as the crime fighter out there, what chance have you got of succeeding at Cabramatta if police and others, even their superiors, are prepared to lie about facts? Treyvaud: Well unfortunately, that is often the case out here Alan. And I don't say that lightly. We have seen it time and time again. That the truth that we have tried to get to the public has been twisted, has been outright denied by senior police. Not the juniors working the street. Not the guys that attend to the crimes. But these people in the offices, the superintendents, the inspectors, the assistant commissioners have lied about the situation here constantly. Have left the public exposed to a level of crime this country hasn't seen before. Jones: My information is, talking about lying, that the Police Association are going to make a submission to this Upper House inquiry on the 23rd of April on this whole issue and they are likely to say, my information is, that certain people in high places have done just that. Have been telling lies about the situation in Cabramatta". 3 The plaintiff contends that this first matter complained of carries the following defamatory imputations of her: " 4(a) That she, a Detective Inspector, lied about the facts of an incident at the Cabramatta High School on 19th February 2001, robbing crime fighters of any chance to succeed against drug crime at Cabramatta;