Former radio announcer James Ashby has dropped his sexual harassment court action against Peter Slipper.
Ashby, who moved on from his career as a radio presenter to take up a job as Slipper’s media advisor, launched legal action two years ago during fallout from the inquiry into the Federal Speaker’s use of cabcharge vouchers for private entertainment purposes.
After several judgements, appeals and mediation, the case did not look like finishing any time soon.
Ashby (pictured below during his radio days) dropped the case today saying, through his lawyers, that the case was financially “one-sided.”
Confirmation by the Minister of State, Michael Ronaldson, that Mr Slipper will continue to have taxpayer support for an unknown “quantum” in funding makes this case financially very one-sided. This gross imbalance in funding makes it unpredictable how long this case may run, and more importantly, cost.
If I succeed against Mr Slipper, that win may result in another appeal which will only prolong closure for me, and increase costs. This type of ‘deep pocket’ litigation, where one side has unlimited money, from the taxpayers, makes it fundamentally unfair for an ordinary person seeking justice.
James Ashby radio career was not without incident, as some of our previous reports chronicled at the time.
As an aside to the main proceedings, during the court evidence radioinfo also got a mention, with Ashby’s now famous text messages discussing the best place to put radio industry jobs ads.
