@MWhitbourn profile picture
Michaela Whitbourn @MWhitbourn

Legal affairs reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald. Connoisseur of fine puns. She/her mwhitbourn@smh.com.au

Joined March 2011
  • Tweets 30,012
  • Following 3,202
  • Followers 15,992
1,103 Photos and videos
5 TV shows that explain me: Press Gang E Street Sea Change The Henderson Kids II The Bill
David Rolph @dkrolph
Apr 6
5 TV shows that explain me: The Muppet Show To the Manor Born Prisoner Brideshead Revisited Murder, She Wrote
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Michaela Whitbourn retweeted
David Rolph @dkrolph
7 Oct 2025
In one of her last judgments, Judge Gibson grants an interlocutory injunction for, inter alia, invasion of privacy. I think this is the first published judgment under the new statutory tort for serious invasion of privacy. #auslaw #privacy caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/…
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Michaela Whitbourn retweeted
David Rolph @dkrolph
4 Sep 2025
High Court throws out Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation appeal bid #auslaw #defamation smh.com.au/national/high-cou…

High Court throws out Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation appeal bid

The nation’s highest court refused the former Special Air Service corporal’s application, putting an end to years of litigation costing tens of millions of dollars.

smh.com.au
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Michaela Whitbourn retweeted
David Rolph @dkrolph
3 Sep 2025
Sydney’s Hordern family, famed for retailing and infighting, back in court over will dispute #auslaw smh.com.au/national/nsw/sydn…

Sydney’s Hordern family, famed for retailing and infighting, back in court over will dispute

A stoush over the multimillion-dollar estate of a member of the Hordern dynasty is just one of a rising number of inheritance battles.

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Michaela Whitbourn retweeted
David Rolph @dkrolph
19 Aug 2025
I spoke to The Law Report about the public interest defence to defamation in Al Muderis v Nine #auslaw #defamation abc.net.au/listen/programs/l…

Nine's victory in Al Muderis defamation case; Legal fight over 'Never Get Busted' director credit -...

The Nine Network's Federal Court victory over high-profile surgeon Munjed Al Muderis marks the first time a media organisation has defended a defamation case on public interest grounds. And two...

abc.net.au
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Michaela Whitbourn retweeted
Amy Remeikis @AmyRemeikis
20 May 2025
I am about to go in for another endo surgery because it is once again crippling - the amount of times I have had to work from bed while vomiting into something because if I took every day off that I needed, I wouldn't work two weeks of every month. And I'm lucky comparatively
BBC News (UK)
 @BBCNews
20 May 2025
'We can't stay silent over endometriosis struggle' bbc.in/4k3Rzkd
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Michaela Whitbourn retweeted
David Rolph @dkrolph
11 May 2025
Why a multimillion-dollar legal boom is running out of steam #auslaw #defamation smh.com.au/national/nsw/why-…

Why a multimillion-dollar legal boom is running out of steam

High-profile cases including the Bruce Lehrmann and Ben Roberts-Smith feuds are helping to reshape the defamation landscape.

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I read every word and cried a bit too. Thank you Rick for being a top-drawer human who puts empathy at the centre of journalism - not ego.
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Michaela Whitbourn retweeted
David Rolph @dkrolph
29 Sep 2024
The Sydney juror, the murder trial and the employer’s threats #auslaw #contempt smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-…

The Sydney juror, the murder trial and the employer’s threats

The juror, who worked in an inner west clothing shop, was involved in an eight-week murder trial.

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High Court Justice Jacqueline Gleeson is launching the second edition of defamation guru @dkrolph’s tome on defamation law (Rolph on Defamation) in Sydney tonight. “With the proliferation of internet technologies, almost all of us are publishers,” Gleeson J says.
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Justice Gleeson says Rolph explains how the Federal Court of Australia has become “something of a magnet” for defamation litigation - a very pronounced trend nationally.
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Rolph quips that defamation has been a “disturbing personal obsession of mine since the 1990s”.
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Michaela Whitbourn retweeted
Dean Levitan @dean_levitan
15 Sep 2024
I spoke to @MWhitbourn about the new privacy tort 👇🏻
David Rolph @dkrolph
14 Sep 2024
Media exemptions could defang privacy law for royals, stars’ #auslaw #privacy smh.com.au/national/nsw/megh…
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Michaela Whitbourn retweeted
David Rolph @dkrolph
14 Sep 2024
Media exemptions could defang privacy law for royals, stars’ #auslaw #privacy smh.com.au/national/nsw/megh…

Meghan, Hugh Grant and new Australian laws

Celebrities and royals helped shape UK privacy law. New laws will allow Australians to sue over serious privacy invasions, but with major differences.

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The kindness of strangers: a woman saw my dog looking rather proprietorially at her BBQ chicken as she left Woolies and promptly opened the bag and gave him a huge chunk.
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Michaela Whitbourn retweeted
David Rolph @dkrolph
14 Sep 2024
I am late to this but South Australia introduced its version of Stage 2 of the reforms to the national, uniform defamation laws in late August this year. As South Australia had flagged, not all the reforms made it to the bill. #auslaw #defamation legislation.sa.gov.au/__legi…

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Michaela Whitbourn retweeted
David Rolph @dkrolph
10 Sep 2024
In October, I will be appearing on a panel on the law of privacy, with Warby LJ, Professor Barbara McDonald and Tom Blackburn SC, chaired by Desmond Browne KC. Link here: academyoflaw.org.au/event-58… #auslaw #defamation
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Michaela Whitbourn retweeted
David Rolph @dkrolph
3 Aug 2024
How ‘squatter’s rights’ delivered a Sydney home to one man #auslaw smh.com.au/national/nsw/how-…

How ‘squatter’s rights’ delivered a Sydney home to one man

It was a modest fibro cottage in Sydney’s south that eventually sold for an immodest $1.5 million. This is the intriguing story of its former owner.

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Did you know that your success in a defamation case could depend on where you live in Australia? That’s the reality of different laws across the country. I wade through it here. smh.com.au/national/nsw/how-…

How your postcode could affect your success in a defamation case

Some big changes are coming to defamation laws which mean it may be easier to win a case in some parts of the country than others.

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#Breaking Jarryd Hayne will not face a fourth sexual assault trial: smh.com.au/national/australi…

As it happened: Julian Assange freed after US plea deal struck; Labor senator faces expulsion for...

Follow today’s national news headlines with our live blog.

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Full story: smh.com.au/national/nsw/jarr…

Jarryd Hayne will not face fourth sexual assault trial: NSW DPP

The former Parramatta Eels player was charged in 2018 over the alleged sexual assault of a 26-year-old woman in her Newcastle home.

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