The Opposition Injunction Quashed by Court

July 15, 2016
But new legal threat looms.

Good news! The Supreme Court of New South Wales have dismissed former Papua New Guinean politician Dame Carol Kidu’s attempted injunction preventing the screening of the documentary The Opposition.

Kidu’s case rested on her claim that she did not know that the film, by Hollie Fifer, Media Stockade and Beacon Films, was a professional production, and rather thought that she was appearing in a student project for a family friend. Kidu was supported in her endeavour to prevent the film from including her by the Paga Hill Development Company, who are shown in a less than favourable light in the film.

Filmed in Papua New Guinea, The Opposition follows Joe Moses, a leader of a settlement in Port Moresby, who fights a court battle to prevent his people being evicted to make way for a  five-star hotel and marina being developed by the Paga Hill Development Company (PNG) Limited.

The judgment reads:

When one views the extreme weaknesses of the Plaintiff’s (Dame Carol Kidu’s) claim that she did not know on and from 7 March 2012 that Ms Fifer was hoping to make a documentary for public exhibition rather than a student assignment (whatever it’s topic) the impression gained is that the Plaintiff is prepared, for her own benefit and that of PHDC to say anything to stop the footage taken of her by Ms Fifer being broadcast.

Kidu’s temporary injunction saw a redacted version of the film appear at Hot Docs International Film Festival, with narration by Sarah Snook over the censored material.

However, the filmmakers  now face a new legal challenge, with Paga Hill Development Company (PHDC), CEO and Director Gudmundur Fridriksson, PHDC director Stanley Liria and former PHDC director George Hallit are demanding a cessation of all screenings due to claims of defamatory imputations.

More as it develops.

 

 

 

 

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