Cancelled writer Randa Abdel-Fattah says Peter Malinauskas “knows nothing about me” other that what he “has been told by the Murdoch press” and the “pro-Israel lobby”, as she launches defamation proceedings against the South Australian Premier.
Pro-Palestinian writer, lawyer and sociologist Abdel-Fattah was last week uninvited to the Adelaide Writers’ Festival, sparking a mass withdrawal of fellow writers in protest over free speech, with the event cancelled yesterday.
Malinauskas has played a central role in the debacle — including providing “advice” to the Adelaide Festival board over the matter as far back as September — and this week made a string of allegedly defamatory statements about Abdel-Fattah.
In a statement to social media, the cancelled writer said the Premier’s actions had left her “terrified” and she was taking defamation action to “undo some of the harm he has inflicted” and “stop punching down”.
“For the past week since I was cancelled by the Adelaide Festival Board, the South (Australian) Premier Peter Malinauskas has made many public statements about me and my character,” Abdel-Fattah said.
“We have never met and he has never attempted to contact me” – Abdel-Fattah
“We have never met and he has never attempted to contact me.
“He knows nothing about me, beyond what he has been told by the Murdoch press and the pro-Israel lobby, which he has apparently accepted without question”.
“He knows nothing about me, beyond what he has been told by the Murdoch press and the pro-Israel lobby — Abdel-Fattah
South Australia goes to the polls on March 21 and ALP Premier Malinauskas is seeking reelection.
Abdel-Fattah said Malinauskas on Tuesday “went even further”.
“He made a public statement that suggested I am an extremist terrorist sympathiser and directly linked me to the Bondi atrocity,” she said.
“This was a vicious personal assault on me, a private citizen, by the highest public official in South Australia. It was defamatory and it terrified me.
“Enough is enough. I am a human being, not a punching bag,” she said.
“This was a vicious personal assault on me, a private citizen, by the highest public official in South Australia. It was defamatory and it terrified me” – Abdel-Fattah
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The Adelaide Festival board has been replaced over the scandal. Source: The Klaxon
Abdel-Fattah said her lawyers had today issued a concerns notice under the Defamation Act on Malinauskas.
“This is his opportunity to undo some of the harm he has inflicted, and stop punching down,” she said.
At the weekend Abdel-Fattah’s lawyers wrote to then Adelaide Festival board chair Tracey Whiting — Whiting resigned Sunday evening — requesting documents detailing why Abdel-Fattah had been cancelled.
“Please ensure that your organisation and each individual member of the board retains all documents in their possession (including emails, text messages and content on disappearing messaging apps) that relate to the decision to exclude Dr Abdel-Fattah,” that letter states.
“You are each now on notice that these documents may be required for the purposes of litigation.”
The letter requests the documents be provided by the end of today.
The Adelaide Writers’ Week – which last year reported over 160.000 attendees – was cancelled yesterday. Source: The Klaxon
The Adelaide Writers’ Week is part of the Adelaide Festival, which runs over three weeks in late February and early March.
Last year over 160,000 visitors attended the Writers’ Week, according to Adelaide Festival’s annual report.
On Thursday last week the Adelaide Festival board announced Abdel-Fattah, author of the recently published Discipline, had been uninvited.
In response, over 180 writers and speakers pulled out in defence of free speech.
“Over 180 writers and speakers pulled out in defence of free speech”
Yesterday Adelaide Writers’ Festival director Louise Adler, who is on the Jewish Council of Australia’s advisory committee and is the daughter of Holocaust survivors, resigned, over the “silencing” of Abdel-Fattah.
Hours later the remaining Adelaide Festival board members announced the Writer’s Week had been cancelled.
The Adelaide Festival board collapsed and has been replaced.
Last night Adler told ABC’s 7.30 there had been a history of pro-Israel lobbyists pushing to cancel Palestinian voices, “assisted and abetted by the Murdoch press”.
“There has certainly been a history dating back to 2023 of lobbyists, pro-Israel lobbyists arguing against the inclusion of Palestinian writers in the festivals that I’ve directed,” Adler said.
This is a long story. They were assisted and abetted by the Murdoch press in a campaign to silence particular Palestinian writers who came to Writers Week in 2023 and conducted themselves with civility, respect, and empathy”.
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Anthony Klan
Editor, The Klaxon
