More than two years after a regional newspaper falsely reported Sophie Mirabella pushed her political successor, the former federal Liberal frontbencher has tearfully welcomed a defamation victory.
A six-person Victorian County Court jury on Wednesday spent an hour reaching a verdict in the 49-year-old's favour.
News reports from Wangaratta, where the five-day trial was held, said Ms Mirabella cried as she left court.
She successfully sued weekly newspaper The Benalla Ensign and its editor Libby Price over an April 2016 article that said she had "pushed" Indi member Cathy McGowan during a photo opportunity.
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Parties are due back in court on Thursday to make submissions about damages.
Ms Mirabella, who lost the seat to Ms McGowan in 2013, claimed the article had a devastating impact and it took months for the newspaper to admit the push did not occur but by then the damage was done.
The article said Ms Mirabella had pushed Ms McGowan as she tried to prevent her having a photo taken with Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt at the opening of a Benalla facility.
"Sophie felt sick to her stomach because she knew immediately that this article would go viral on the internet," barrister Georgina Schoff QC said during the trial.
