Barristers Nicholas Owens SC, Lyndelle Barnett and Chris Mitchell led the case with great skill and commitment. In a deft postscript, Owens is now a Federal Court judge. On a much sadder note, Sandy Dawson SC, who started the case for us, died from brain cancer at the end of 2022.
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Owens, Barnett and Mitchell were backed by an incredible coalition of legal minds, including Dean Levitan, who Masters once described as the “nuclear power plant” of the solicitors’ engine room, and the legendary lawyer Peter Bartlett, who has also been a wonderful bridge between the legal team and the newsroom’s editorial leaders, often calming our nerves with his wise counsel and gentle demeanour. I also pay tribute to the Nine legal team, including Larina Alick, Sam White and Kiah Officer.
Finally, the editors who backed the initial series of stories deserve our gratitude. This was high-risk journalism and the investigation could have easily cost them their jobs had things not gone our way. My predecessor, Lisa Davies, was Herald editor at the time of publication and Alex Lavelle was at the helm of The Age.
James Chessell, who is now the editor-in-chief of The Australian Financial Review and a mentor of mine, was the executive editor in charge of the mastheads and had the final say over whether to publish. He gave the stories the green light, which took real guts.
After the Federal Court win in 2023, Chris Masters paid tribute to James’ decision despite the huge legal and reputational risks. “I think it will go down in the history of the news business as one of the great calls,” Chris said. James continued to defend the Ben Roberts-Smith investigation when he was elevated to managing director of publishing at Nine, as has Tory Maguire, who now holds that role.
This has been a Herculean effort from so many people I am privileged to call colleagues, friends and supporters. This is a great week for journalism, and the truth.
It’s great to be back with you after a month of leave. My thanks to deputy editor Liam Phelan for filling you in each week while I was away, and leading the newsroom so brilliantly.
Have a terrific weekend.
