13 March 2023
Writing and publishing a book about a controversial public figure is like diving into shark-infested waters, says ABC investigative journalist Louise Milligan. She told her Adelaide Writers' Week audience that if she'd written her 2017 award-winning book Cardinal: The Rise and Fall of Cardinal Pell today, she wondered if it would even be published. "There's a lot more caution in the publishing world. It's a defamation-happy climate."
Her fellow investigative journalist, Nine's Adele Ferguson, agreed: "We have such punitive defamation laws, some of the worst in the world. People should be marching in the streets."
