Herald Sun defends reporting under journalism exemption
Sam was the tennis coach at the club where Brittany trained, and there was an “imbalance of power, authority, age and maturity” in their relationship, according to the documents.
The tabloid claimed that between the end of 2024 and mid-2025, there were concerns within sections of the Victorian Liberal Party about the circumstances in which Sam and Brittany took office.
romantic relationship and whether Sam committed a crime.
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It has also been claimed that some sections of the Liberal Party have concerns about whether such issues could be weaponized against the party and whether Sam’s position as deputy leader poses a risk or liability to his chances of winning next year’s state election.
Journalists at the newspaper first received information from a “confidential source”.
He said he was talking about the possibility of Brittany being underage when people’s relationships began in Victorian state politics in late 2024.
On December 17, deputy editor Chris Tinkler obtained from an anonymous source a Facebook photo showing Sam and Brittany attending an event as a couple in formal attire in May 2012; According to the newspaper, this photo was taken when Sam and Brittany were 17 years old and attending high school.
In June of this year, another confidential source alerted Tinkler to the existence of an earlier story. messenger of the sun He detailed how the Groths met at the tennis club.
The paper claims that confidential sources in the Liberal Party, including at least one MP, were aware that Sam may have started his relationship with Brittany while Brittany was underage and were concerned this could affect their prospects at the next state election.
The defense said Tinkler also spoke to a Labor Party source who said the two MPs were aware that Brittany was underage when her romantic relationship with Sam began and that in that source’s view “what she was doing was really inappropriate”.
“Based on this information, Tinkler reasonably considered that concerns about Sam and Brittany’s relationship were being discussed within the Victorian Labor Party and could be weaponized or used by Labor against the Liberal Party,” the newspaper’s defense said.
messenger of the sun It argued its reporting was exempt from renewed privacy laws because of a broad exemption for journalists that would allow Australians who suffered a serious breach of privacy to seek compensation of up to $478,000.
According to the legislation, professional journalists who adhere to professional standards or codes of conduct are exempt from the law if the material they produce is “of a news, current affairs or documentary nature.”
messenger of the sun keeps their stories going, and journalists fit that description. But the Groths’ lawyers had previously labeled the articles “malicious gossip” that did not amount to journalism.
The case is scheduled to face an initial case management hearing in the Federal Court on October 30.
Herald Sun eeditor Sam Weir had previously defended the stories, saying: “We stand behind our coverage of important issues of public interest that can significantly impact the public.” Victorian politics “Before the election.”
