NBR publishers defamed Steven Joyce, High Court rules

Tuesday, 17 December 2019

Former National minister Steven Joyce has successfully sued for defamation after NBR published a column critical of his time in government.

NBR publishers Fourth Estate Holdings Ltd and Todd Scott defamed former National Minister Steven Joyce, a High Court judge has ruled.

Justice Pheroze Jagose released his decision on Tuesday, finding both Fourth Estate and Scott were liable to Joyce in defamation. The judge awarded Joyce solicitor and client costs.

Right-wing commentator Matthew Hooton later apologised for the column.

Justice Jagose released his decision following a defamation trial centred on a column written by right-wing commentator Matthew Hooton, and subsequent tweets about it from Scott.

The article, written in March last year, was critical of Joyce's time in government.

* Matthew Hooton apologises to Steven Joyce over critical column as part of settlement**

Hooton later issued an apology as part of a legal settlement with Joyce. But NBR and its publisher Fourth Estate Holdings Ltd continued to defend against defamation claims from Joyce.

Following the column's publication, Scott published a number of tweets about it, saying its sources were 'solid' and he intended to subpoena five people 'from the shadow cabinet' that would back up Hooton's statements.

'The meaning of those two tweets is the article is, or at least its defamatory imputations are, true, as based on 'solid' sources,' said Justice Jagose in his decision.

'The article's imputations are of Mr Joyce's preparedness to engage in unethical and improper conduct in pursuit of his (rather than his party's) political objectives, which is untrue and therefore defamatory.

'The tweets' imputation is the article's imputations were true, which they were not, and are therefore defamatory.'

Joyce gave evidence at the trial, saying the allegations against him in the column included blackmail, using former National minister Amy Adams as a 'proxy', and favouring telco Chorus in his political dealings.

'I have never blackmailed anyone whether to achieve my political objectives or otherwise,' he told the court. 'I consider that Mr Hooton's statements about blackmail have absolutely no basis in fact.'

NBR stopped running Hooton's columns after the piece, but Scott said this decision had been made before it was written. Hooton now writes for the NZ Herald.

The online version of Hooton's column was replaced with his apology, which remains on the site.