Home

Peter Dutton legal stoush ‘devastated’ refugee activist

Duncan MurrayNCA NewsWire
Not Supplied
Camera IconNot Supplied Credit: News Corp Australia

Refugee activist Shane Bazzi says he is hoping to get his life back on track following a prolonged legal stoush with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.

A hearing took place on Friday for Mr Bazzi to recoup costs incurred during the fight to defend defamation allegations raised by Mr Dutton.

The Federal Court was unable to establish exact costs incurred on Mr Bazzi’s behalf by his lawyers and how much of the fee was covered by crowd-funding, adjourning the hearing until November.

Mr Dutton sued Mr Bazzi over a tweet calling him a “rape apologist” – initially winning in the Federal Court, which ordered Mr Bazzi, who was unemployed at the time, to pay $35,000 compensation.

Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE

Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.

READ NOW

On appeal the decision was overturned and re-ruled in Mr Bazzi’s favour.

PETER DUTTON
Camera IconOpposition Leader Peter Dutton is fighting having to pay legal costs after unsuccessfully suing Shane Bazzi for defamation. NCA NewsWire / David Swift Credit: News Corp Australia

Mr Dutton argued awarding Mr Bazzi costs for the trial would be a “windfall” due to his legal fees already being entirely covered by crowd-funding.

The court was unable to determine whether a legal bill to Mr Bazzi for $233,000, or a bill that reflected exactly the crowd-funded amount of roughly $155,000, was correct.

“No matter what Dutton argues, there’ll be no windfall for me. I won’t keep a single $. This litigation has been devastating,” Mr Bazzi posted on Twitter on Friday.

Mr Bazzi had previously pledged to donate any excess amount from crowd-funding to various charities, including refugee and domestic violence support networks.

SUPREME / FEDERAL COURT
Camera IconShane Bazzi (right) says the process has been devastating and he hopes to move on with his life. NCA NewsWire / Dylan Coker Credit: News Corp Australia

In legal submissions on July 20, Mr Bazzi’s lawyers argued against the legal relevance of Mr Bazzi using crowd-funding to pay his legal fees.

“That persons may have gifted Mr Bazzi money in the crowd-funding is not a concern for the court any more than numerous other transactions that occur every day, particularly between family members, about how to fund their legal costs when sued,” they said

Mr Bazzi’s lawyers added that in raising the money he had made “express representations as to how any excess would be dealt with”.

“There can be no windfall to Mr Bazzi. Mr Bazzi is under a legal obligation to pay the shortfall still owing to his lawyers,” they said.

“The evidence … establishes that any excess will be donated in accordance with the representations on which it was raised.”

Prior to Friday’s hearing, Mr Bazzi tweeted he was hoping to put the entire traumatic process behind him.

“The stress and trauma continues. I’m looking forward to the day this is all over and I can try to rebuild my life once again,” he said.

Originally published as Peter Dutton legal stoush ‘devastated’ refugee activist

Get the latest news from thewest.com.au in your inbox.

Sign up for our emails