Deeming alleges that Pesutto defamed her in four publications after the rally: a media release, interviews on ABC News Breakfast and 3AW Radio, a press conference and a dossier justifying her expulsion.
Pesutto’s legal team have relied on the legal defences of claims of honest opinion, contextual truth, public interest and qualified privilege.
But Chrysanthou argued Pesutto characterised his opinion as “fact” and did not take reasonable care before publishing, meaning he was not protected from the defences.
Referring to the media release, she said Pesutto made a “deliberate decision” to exclude from a sentence from the draft, which referred to Nazi’s “gatecrashing” Deeming’s event.
She argued that the release, sent to about 750 journalists, could lead an ordinary reader to think Deeming “organised, attended and spoke at a Nazi rally”.