It was not unfair or unreasonable to rely on a single source before allegedly defaming the head of a large Aboriginal land council over a vote of dismissal, an outspoken Liberal senator says.
Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price is being sued by Central Land Council chief executive Lesley Turner over a media release in July 2024 that claimed there had been a failed no-confidence motion against him.
Council chair Matthew Palmer earlier issued a release including the same allegedly defamatory claim, which was picked up by Senator Nampijinpa Price and reported by the News Corp-owned NT News and the ABC.
The senator took the stand on Friday in Darwin's federal court, defending her decisions to rely only on what Mr Palmer had said before issuing her public statement.
She accepted she had acted on the "mere say so" of the council chair but denied she had been unfair or unreasonable.
"It was an abuse of your power in the position of senator to make such a serious public allegation about my client without first checking whether it was true or false?" Mr Turner's barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC asked.
"It wasn't an abuse of power, no," Senator Nampijinpa Price replied.
She said she had plenty of reasons to believe Mr Turner had ignored the voices of the Indigenous community, many of whom were living in poverty.
"Did it occur to you that the chairperson was the problem, not my client?" Ms Chrysanthou asked.
"No because the chairperson wanted the change," the senator said, growing emotional.
"He as well as myself have buried our people and seen the destruction."
Mr Palmer told Senator Nampijinpa Price he had majority support from council delegates but the vote to dismiss the CEO failed.
The senator denied a suggestion from Ms Chrysanthou that this was "ridiculous" and a majority vote would have passed.
There could have been a cover-up, she said.
"Do you agree that that's not a rational first thought?" the barrister said.
"Not when there's such distrust for the land council," Senator Nampijinpa Price replied.
Just over a week after the senator's release, Mr Turner sent her a concerns notice asking for an apology, the retraction of her statements and a payment of $30,000 in damages plus his legal fees, an affidavit filed with the court reveals.
The senator's barrister, Peter Gray SC, took Mr Turner to a settlement with the NT News, which paid him $5500 in damages and $4500 in legal costs.
The two articles on the matter were taken down and an apology was issued.
Mr Turner had initially sought $60,000 in damages.
Mr Gray pointed out the media firm had not explicitly admitted wrongdoing.
"Did you actually think that was a genuine apology? They weren't retracting one single thing that they'd said, were they?" he said.
"It was an apology," Mr Turner replied.
Further details were also released on Friday about a man, Keith Gregory, who derailed the trial on Tuesday by sitting in the Darwin court and causing a "security concern".
"I felt given our history that he had located himself deliberately to be close to me to intimidate me," Senator Nampijinpa Price wrote in an affidavit.
Mr Gregory approached her years earlier to discuss an app, but it never got off the ground and the senator cut contact in 2021 after becoming concerned about his mental stability, she said.
After repeated visits and calls to her electoral office throughout 2024, Australian Federal Police attended his home, she said.
In a letter to the court, Mr Gregory apologised for disrupting the trial, saying he did not mean to make the senator feel unsafe or threatened.
Justice Michael Wheelahan made orders preventing Mr Gregory - who has not been charged - from entering the courtroom.
The trial continues on Monday.
