Sarah Hanson-Young’s legal team wants five senators to be able to testify via video link given the election campaign

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A number of senators will take a break from the election campaign to give evidence at the Greens politician Sarah Hanson-Young’s upcoming defamation trial against David Leyonhjelm in Sydney.

But Hanson-Young’s legal team wants five of the senators to be able to testify via video link given the timing and the brief nature of their expected evidence.

The New South Wales federal court on Wednesday heard Kristina Keneally was among Hanson-Young’s planned witnesses, while Leyonhjelm intended to lead evidence from Stirling Griff and Derryn Hinch. He was previously granted leave to issue the two senators subpoenas to attend to give evidence.

The Greens senator is suing Leyonhjelm, a former Liberal Democrat senator, over media interviews he gave between 28 June and 2 July in 2018, and a media statement posted on Medium.com.

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In the material, he elaborated on his comment to Hanson-Young on the floor of parliament to “stop shagging men” amid a debate on legislation seeking to prevent violence against women.

She says she was defamed by his portrayal of her as a hypocrite and misandrist, in that he alleges she said words in parliament that were “tantamount” to claiming all men are rapists but “nevertheless had sexual relations with them”.

In the court, Hanson-Young’s barrister, Sue Chrysanthou, foreshadowed an application to have 10 of their anticipated witnesses give evidence via video link at the 29 April trial.

She said the evidence of the reputation witnesses and five senators was expected to be brief, and a number of them were campaigning in their electorates.

But Leyonhjelm’s lawyer, Kurt Stoyle, said they would oppose the application, and justice Richard White told Chrysanthou “you might have some persuading to do”.

The federal election will be held on 18 May.