Media Release
The federal leader of the Palmer United Party Clive Palmer today announced he would be suing News Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch and the Editor-in- Chief of The Australian newspaper Chris Mitchell for defamation.
Mr Palmer said a vindictive article about him by reporter Hedley Thomas in today’s edition of The Australian was completely false and had damaged his reputation.
“It’s time this foreigner Rupert Murdoch and his apparatchiks in his Australian media empire were finally brought to account for their behaviour,” he said.
“I will be filing an action for defamation in the Queensland Supreme Court. Mr Murdoch will have to return to Australia to justify these disgraceful attacks on me.
“Since I formed the Palmer United Party I have been the subject of some malicious reporting in The Australian newspaper.
“The Australian, under the direction of Mr Murdoch, is clearly campaigning for Tony Abbott in this election and they see Palmer United as a threat.”
Mr Palmer said News Corporation has waged an unprecedented propaganda campaign in support of the Coalition in the lead up to Saturday’s federal election.
“Mr Murdoch has sacked journalists and allowed his editors to turn their newspapers into propaganda sheets that Joseph Goebbels would be proud of,” he said.
Mr Palmer said Mr Murdoch should use his media influence to try and improve conditions for pensioners or tackle the tragically high rate of infant mortality in the nation’s indigenous population.
ENDS