Former federal Liberal frontbencher Sophie Mirabella felt she would never be able to clear her name after a country Victorian newspaper accused her of pushing a political opponent, a court has heard.
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The 49-year-old is suing weekly newspaper The Benalla Ensign and its editor Libby Price over an allegedly defamatory April 2016 article about an encounter with Indi member Cathy McGowan.
Ms Mirabella on Friday said she felt sick and powerless when she read the article on April 20, 2016, which said she had pushed the incumbent MP out of the way of a photograph for her own political benefit.
"It was so upsetting because I knew unless the newspaper corrected this, I had no way to clear my name," she told the Victorian County Court sitting at Wangaratta.
Ms Mirabella, who lost the federal seat of Indi to Ms McGowan in 2013, said she knew the article would "go viral" and "blacken" her name, not just with her local community but also within political circles.
"No major political party is going to have someone who goes around pushing people," she said.
Ms Mirabella cried as she described how the article affected her during the campaign for the 2016 federal election.
"I've put up with a lot of stuff that hasn't been true being published ... but this, this was the last straw," she told the court.
"To be called someone who pushes, assaults other women, it was disgusting."
Ms Mirabella admits she stopped Ms McGowan from having her photo taken with Liberal federal minister Ken Wyatt at the opening of a new wing at an aged care facility at Benalla.
But there was never physical contact, and Ms Price never contacted her to verify what happened.
"She did not even bother to call me and say, 'hey Sophie, what's your version of events?'," Ms Mirabella said.
After the article was published, Ms Mirabella didn't feel comfortable contacting Ms Price directly because she didn't know if she could trust the former ABC journalist.
"There was no way I was going to put myself up for another stitch-up," Ms Mirabella said.
The story quickly gained traction in the media, and Ms Mirabella said Ms McGowan never confirmed or denied if she had been pushed, which "kept the waters muddy".
Ms Mirabella believes Ms Price made it worse by subsequently giving a media interview to say she "stood by the story".
"I was hesitant to report it but felt it was in the public interest for people to know this sort of unacceptable behaviour had occurred," Ms Price is quoted as saying in an article that Ms Mirabella read to the court.
This made the Liberal candidate feel wronged and without a voice, prompting a "burning need to clear my name and correct the record because it was just so unjust".
Ms Price and the newspaper are defending the article, with their barrister telling the jury its content was substantially true because "pushed" was used as a figure of speech.
Mr Wyatt and Ms McGowan are scheduled to give evidence on Monday, when the trial before judge Michael Macnamara resumes.
Australian Associated Press
