Court orders ABC to pay defamation damages
The ABC and a former young Territorian of the year have been ordered to pay a total of $133,000 in damages for defaming a central Australian indigenous leader.
The Northern Territory Supreme Court found that Tennant Creek Aboriginal leader Rosalie Kunoth-Monks was defamed in a broadcast of the ABC Radio current affairs program AM.
At a sitting in Alice Springs today, the court found the program broadcast comments from the 2012 young Territorian of the year, Rebecca Healy, that defamed Ms Kunoth-Monks.
It ruled AM had broadcast allegations that Ms Kunoth-Monks had demeaned her local community by accusing it of being racist during a 2012 Australia day protest in Canberra.
During that protest, then-prime minister Julia Gillard was evacuated from a Canberra restaurant.
Ms Kunoth-Monks says the court decision helps clear her name.
"This was vindication of who I am and what I stand for," she said.