A Federal Court judge has thrown out former Labor leader Mark Latham's written defence to a defamation claim brought against him by journalist and former Greens candidate Osman Faruqi, describing the document as "extraordinary" and labelling parts of it "frivolous and vexatious".
Faruqi, an ABC journalist and former political editor of pop culture website Junkee, is suing Latham for defamation over comments made by the former Labor heavyweight on his Outsiders YouTube program.
He alleges Latham defamed him in an Outsiders episode on August 2 last year, titled "The Rise of Anti-White Racism and Terrorist Plots in Australia", by suggesting he "knowingly assists terrorist fanatics who want to kill innocent people in Australia", "condones the murder of innocent people by Islamic terrorists", and "encourages and facilitates terrorism".
In the Federal Court on Thursday, Justice Michael Wigney struck out the entirety of Latham's 76-page defence, filed by Brisbane-based law firm Londy lawyers, but granted him leave to file a fresh defence by September 28.
