Malcolm Turnbull attacks publication of 'salacious' material in Nova Peris controversy
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Version 0 of 1. Malcolm Turnbull says the publication of personal emails apparently sent between the Labor senator Nova Peris and the Trinidadian athlete Ato Boldon went too far, labelling the coverage “salacious”. “I always err on the side of press freedom, but I have to say it’s pretty distasteful collection of correspondence,” the communications minister told the ABC on Friday. “Journalists and editors have to exercise a degree of discretion. Turnbull, who referred to his own experience of working in journalism, said there was “perhaps more of the personal in that correspondence that was published than was needed to pursue the public interest question they were raising”. On Thursday Peris told the Senate emails originally published in the NT News had been leaked as part of a long-running family dispute involving child access. Her husband Daniel Batman died in a car crash in 2012. News reports of the emails questioned Peris’s role in seeking public funds through Athletics Australia and a number of indigenous organisations for Boldon to come to Australia as an ambassador for an athletics program in 2010. Peris was not a senator at the time and has denied any wrongdoing. She said she was separated from her husband, and the emails were used as part of an extortion attempt. The emails also contained outline intimate details of what was said to be the personal relationship between Peris and Boldon. Boldon has called the NT News report a “gross fabrication” and threatened to sue. “The release and publication of these emails is an attempt to extract money and embarrass me and my family. With legal options now exhausted, this other party has turned to the media,” Peris said. She accused the NT News of being “well aware these emails were part of a long running family dispute ahead of its publication”. The paper responded to the accusations late on Thursday night. “Despite giving Ms Peris more than 24 hours to respond to questions about the use of taxpayers’ money, at no stage did she raise with the NT News any allegations of blackmail prior to publication of the emails. Nor did she raise any issues regarding a dispute about an estate,” the NT News political reporter, Christopher Walsh, wrote. “The NT News had been aware for some time Ms Peris was involved in a family dispute, but chose not to publish this fact because it was not in the public interest.” The paper said Peris had failed to resolve key allegations around the misuse of taxpayer dollars during her Senate address. The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) told Guardian Australia on Thursday that an independent audit of the money used for the program Boldon was involved in found no misuse of money. “The use of sports ambassadors for programs like this is common,” a spokesman for the ASC said. “[Athletics Australia] has fully acquitted the funds provided, including independent auditor confirmation that they were spent for the purposes they were provided.” |