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A former McGowan administration media advisor has launched a defamation case against the Prime Minister, Treasurer Ben Wyatt and seven other employees.
Stephen Kaless, former senior media advisor to Wyatt, stepped down after accused of indecently assaulting a coworker at a drunken Christmas party in 2019.
In August, Mr. Kaless was found not guilty of placing his hand on the woman’s dress and underwear and touching her bare bum.
Mr. Kaless filed the lawsuit with the Washington Supreme Court yesterday, accusing the group, including the colleague who filed the complaint, of « conspiring » against him.
The letter alleges that Prime Minister Mark McGowan made a « grossly and falsely defamatory » media statement about him in December last year.
Mr. Kaless alleges that Mr. Wyatt and the seven other employees « conspired and wrongly banded together with the sole or predominant intention of » injuring « him, resulting in » loss and harm « . .
Previously, according to his LinkedIn profile, he was Chief of Staff of the Channel 7 Perth Newsroom for four years.
A spokesman for the Washington Prime Minister’s Office said he was aware of the action, but with the matter on trial it was inappropriate to comment.
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Mark McGowan, Prime Minister of Western Australia, Government, Ben Wyatt, Prime Minister
World News – AU – Dismissed ex-aide to WA Treasurer sues for defamation after acquitting of indecent assault
Ref: https://www.abc.net.au
