Liberal MP Dave Sharma has broken his silence about his defamation battle with former Labor candidate Melissa Parke, saying her ongoing bid to sue him over a solitary tweet criticising her anti-Israel views was a form of “lawfare” that threatens free speech in Australia.
Mr Sharma has been backed by other politicians including former Labor MP Michael Danby and Liberal senator James Paterson in warning that the case brought by Ms Parke has major ramifications for public discussion and media coverage in Australia.
“This was a topic of widespread public interest at the time, including to a large number of my own constituents in the seat of Wentworth,” Mr Sharma told The Australian. “This was entirely appropriate and part of normal political discourse and debate, and I would find it troubling if the law was used to prevent such discourse and debate, which lies at the heart of our democracy.”
In the same lawsuit, Ms Parke is also suing the executive director of the Australia-Israel Jewish Affairs Council, Colin Rubenstein, over an article he wrote denouncing the speech that ended her political candidacy and sparked Mr Sharma’s tweet.
Ms Parke, a human rights lawyer and former member for Fremantle, countered that she was mounting the defamation action in defence of free speech. “By accusing me of anti-Semitism simply for criticising the Israeli government, Mr Sharma and Mr Rubenstein seek to shut down my right to speak freely about documented Israeli human rights abuses against Palestinians,” Ms Parke told The Australian. “I have brought the defamation cases against Dave Sharma and Colin Rubenstein in order to defend freedom of speech in Australia.”
Read the article by David Penberthy in The Australian.