Nine hit by Palm Island lawsuit
A NORTH Queensland councillor has launched legal action against a broadcasting giant over allegedly racist media reports.
Documents filed in the Federal Court show Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Council elected representative Andrea Kyle-sailor is taking action against Channel 9 reporter Alex Heinke and the television station over news reports about how $30m in compensation was spent.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised this article contains the names and images of people who have died.
Ms Kyle Sailor brought the proceeding on her own behalf and as a representative of the more than 400 people who were compensated after the death in custody of Cameron “Mulrunji” Doomadgee sparked civil unrest on the island.
The money was awarded by the Federal Court in 2016 after a case brought by Indigenous activist Lex Wotton, who was convicted of inciting the riots.
At the time, the court found Queensland Police breached the Racial Discrimination Act and acted unlawfully with excessive force when they were flown to Palm Island to quell the civil unrest.
Armed with guns and decked out in riot gear police raided homes across the island without warrants, searching for people accused of being involved.
Court documents obtained by the Bulletin outline the claim against Nine Entertainment and alleges a TV news report, promotional material and an online article published in May 2020 breached section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act and were vilifying and racist.
Stewart Levitt, of Levitt Robinson Solicitors, was the lawyer who won the $30m payout for those who were compensated and will again represent the people of Palm Island in this latest case.
Channel 9’s reports claimed there were “serious holes” in the payment process and that recipients of the “massive taxpayer-funded” cheques used the money to purchase “new sports cars with custom paint jobs, luxury boats paid for in cash”.
It made further claims money was awarded to people who were in prison in 2004, or who were dead, and reported claims one person “spent every cent of his payout in less than two weeks”.
Channel 9 said there were multiple “dodgy claimants”.
The case against the TV broadcaster claims that the media reports wrongly implied the recipients “rorted” the compensation process and that many of them were not entitled to a payout.
It further alleges the reports implied the money was spent “recklessly”, “foolishly” and “lavishly”.
“The imputations were not mere slights; they can properly be characterised … as offensive, insulting, humiliating, and intimidating,” court documents say. “None of the persons receiving compensation were in prison or dead at the time
“One person who was alive at the time has since died, so that deceased person’s compensation money was to be distributed to the person’s estate.”
The claim seeks an order preventing Nine from further publishing the allegations aired in its reporting, a full correction of multiple alleged inaccuracies in the news reports, a public apology and unspecified damages as determined by the court.
Nine Entertainment was contacted for comment.