FORMER federal Liberal MP Sophie Mirabella’s defamation case against a North East newspaper and its editor has returned to a Melbourne court.
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Ms Mirabella, who is suing weekly newspaper The Benalla Ensign and its former editor Libby Price in the Victoria County Court, has hired top commercial and civil lawyer Georgina Schoff QC.
Ms Schoff recently represented Woman’s Day publisher Bauer Media, which was successfully sued for defamation by Hollywood movie star Rebel Wilson.
Ms Mirabella, who lost the seat to Ms McGowan in 2013, says the article is defamatory because it said “Mirabella had physically pushed Cathy McGowan out of the way of a photograph for her own political reasons”, according to a writ filed on April 19.
Ms Mirabella alleges the newspaper knew the pushing allegations would damage her reputation and election campaign, but they published the “unsubstantiated” story anyway.
Following publication, her office confirmed to other media outlets that no physical contact had occurred.
On Thursday in the County Court, Ms Schoff made an application to have a key defence argument struck out.
Judge Richard Smith reserved his decision for a date to be finalised.
Neither Ms Mirabella nor Price, represented by David Gilbertston QC, were present during Thursday’s proceedings.
The matter is expected to go to trial in April 2018.
In June, a County Court registrar ruled the trial should be heard in Wangaratta rather than Melbourne after Ms Mirabella’s barrister argued it should be in the capital.
