28/09/2023, 14:44 Barilaro v Google LLC [2022] FCA 650 49 Mr Shanks omitted any reference to the ABC post’s statements that Mr Barilaro had told the budget estimates that ROC Partners had disclosed its interest to the board of Jobs for NSW when it considered the proposal and that its decision was that of an expert at arm’s length from the Government. Despite this, Mr Shanks told viewers that the approval was “blatant corruption”. 50 Significantly, all the screenshots of media reports to which I have referred were of articles that were accessible by a Google search and the full documents were in evidence. Since Mr Shanks’ reporting of those matters made no reference to Mr Barilaro’s published responses or any part of his side responding to the accusations, no defence of qualified privilege under s 30 of the Defamation Act or under the implied freedom in accordance with what Brennan CJ, Dawson, Toohey, Gaudron, McHugh, Gummow and Kirby JJ held in Lange v Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1997) 189 CLR 520 at 571: see Barilaro (No 2) 393 ALR 417 at 430 [37]. That is because of the conduct of a publisher, such as Google, in publishing the bruz video could not be reasonable in the circumstances since it omitted any reference to Mr Barilaro’s known responses and it made no enquiry of him as to his response. 51 Later, in par 95, in discussing the apparently disproportionate allocation of grants to Coalition Government members’ seats including his own, Mr Shanks says of Mr Barilaro: Not to draw attention to his Italian heritage, because I know he hates that, but that’s a spicy meatball, in fact, he looks a bit like a meatball doesn’t he”. (emphasis added) 52 Mr Shanks adds in a parodied Italian accent “Five star pork mince, stooge”. 53 Then, in discussing Mr Barilaro’s decision to promote the Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Bill 2018 (NSW), Mr Shanks says of Mr Barilaro at par 103: Scientists and National Parks proposed a cull. Giovanni, the greasy little scrotum, refused. (emphasis added) 54 Mr Shanks later engages in further mockery of Mr Barilaro’s and Ms Berejiklian’s heritages (at par 111). 55 Next, the bruz video discusses the Dungowan Estate. Mr Shanks sought to question Mr Barilaro’s ability to afford the property by alluding only to what he could earn in his public office. Mr Shanks, falsely, suggested that Mr Barilaro’s ownership was evidence of some corrupt conduct linked to his Italian heritage (at pars 115–131). She also stayed there with their daughter. 56 Mr Shanks then tells viewers that Mr Barilaro intervened in the legislative process to regulate holiday accommodation suppliers such as Airbnb and Stayz. A screenshot of part of an article in The Sydney Morning Herald of 24 November 2016 appears for about four seconds with the headline “Deputy Premier John Barilaro under fire over undeclared Airbnb business”. The screenshot recorded that Mr and Mrs Barilaro had “been hiring out a palatial $2 million holiday home” on those platforms “for thousands of dollars a night”. The screenshot also stated (but Mr Shanks did not) that Mr Barilaro had declared his ownership of the Dungowan Estate to Parliament for the previous two years. The screenshot stated that Mr Barilaro only had declared the business use by an amendment to his register of interests on the preceding Wednesday, after Fairfax Media (the newspaper’s publisher) had raised an issue about it. 57 Mr Shanks accuses Mr Barilaro of having an undisclosed conflict of interest in the drafting of laws regulating Airbnb. In part of the article in The Sydney Morning Herald, that Mr Shanks neither displayed nor read out, the reader was told that a government report published the previous month had looked at regulating the online accommodation platforms. The article reported that Mr Barilaro had not been involved in that inquiry and that if the Government were to consider a response he would raise any likely conflict in Cabinet. The article stated that Parliamentary rules required members to disclose any additional income, including from a partnership, such as the business Mr and Mrs Barilaro ran. The business had registered the Dungowan Estate website on 20 June 2014 with an Australian Business Number. The article reported that Mr Barilaro’s https://www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2022/2022fca0650 16/101