Private text messages from West Australian Premier Mark McGowan about billionaire Clive Palmer will be publicly shared for their defamation trial.
The State Government on Wednesday lost its bid to keep the communication between Mr McGowan and WA Attorney-General John Quigley confidential.
The mining magnate and the premier are suing each other for defamation in the Federal Court, with their trial set to begin on January 31.
During an interlocutory hearing on Wednesday, it was revealed the two politicians had discussed Mr Palmer’s application to enter WA in May 2020 — one day before the Queenslander announced his G2G pass had been rejected.
Mr Palmer’s lawyers sought access to the text messages, as well as other documents, after the state government refused to share them.
Counsel for the state Alan Sefton argued the messages between Mr McGowan and Mr Quigley should not be disclosed under legal privilege, but Justice Michael Lee said their texts were mainly about political strategy.
“It’s not exactly the sort of communication, which one would ordinarily characterise as the provision of legal advice,” he said.
The premier and Mr Quigley subsequently discussed Mr Palmer’s arbitration over a stalled mining project.
“I just don’t think I can reach a level of satisfaction that that communication was made for the dominant purpose of obtaining or providing legal advice,” Justice Lee said.
Emails between Mr McGowan and other people were also ordered to be released.
Mr Palmer claims he was “brought into hatred, ridicule and contempt” when Mr McGowan referred to him as “the enemy of the state”.
But Mr McGowan claims his reputation was damaged when Mr Palmer suggested he had abused parliament and lied to the public.
The premier has been ordered to give evidence in NSW in-person, despite WA’s hard border.
