Satire ‘no defence’ for jibe

A BRISBANE barrister has spent hours seeking to demolish Cairns councillor Rob Pyne’s assertion that Facebook posts depicting former LGAQ chief Greg Hallam as the Star Wars character Jabba The Hutt were mere satire.

The former boss of the Local Government Association of Queensland, Mr Hallam is suing Cr Pyne and Tablelands resident Lyn O’Connor over a series of posts in 2017, and has successfully reopened the case over a blog authored by Cr Pyne following the first arduous 30 days of evidence.

Mr Hallam’s barrister Michael Amerena is refuting defences put forward by Cr Pyne and Ms O’Connor in the trial before District Court Judge Dean Morzone KC, that is expected to conclude on Wednesday afternoon.

Mr Hallam initially filed for $2.5m in damages in 2018.

Cr Pyne maintained the meme depicting Mr Hallam as Jabba the Hutt was satire but Mr Amerena asserted it went beyond that.

“The ordinary, reasonable reader will know Jabba the Hutt is understood in popular culture to be a corrupt villain,” Mr Amerena said.

“Jabba the Hutt carries the CEO of LGAQ on his T-shirt in the image … it is not a case where the plaintiff hasn’t been named.”

He said the imputation could be that Mr Hallam was a powerful crime boss who was corrupt.

“It is fair to say some satire is dark and cruel,” Mr Amerena said.

But he told the court satire was “benign and not meant to be taken seriously” and could be defended as fair comment or an honest opinion, but the Jabba the Hutt meme could not be characterised as a benign and absurd joke.

“Satire is not some sort of sweeping defence or principle of interpretation in the way it is set out in Mr Pyne’s submissions,” he said.

“The fact is was meant to be taken as a joke is no defence.”