Treasurer Joe Hockey was targeted by Fairfax Media in a story headlined "Treasurer for sale" in an act of malice, Mr Hockey's barrister has told a court.
And the story, which investigated a political fundraising organisation in Mr Hockey's electorate, clearly alleged the treasurer was corrupt, barrister Bruce McClintock said.
Mr Hockey is suing Fairfax Media over the May 2014 story that investigated the North Sydney Forum - a Liberal Party fundraising organisation in his North Sydney electorate.
The story, published in Fairfax's Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers, detailed how the NSF offers attendance at lunches and VIP events with the Treasurer to people who pay membership fees of up to $22,000.
The Treasurer says he was devastated by the article, which made his elderly father cry.
Mr McClintock told the Federal Court in Sydney on Monday that it would have been "absolutely extraordinary" if SMH editor-in-chief Darren Goodsir had not considered whether people would interpret the "Treasurer for sale" headline as an imputation of corruption.
The article, which said Mr Hockey was "offering privileged access to a select group" of people in return for "tens of thousands of dollars in donations to the Liberal Party", and an accompanying analysis piece that began "No one is saying Joe Hockey is corrupt", conveyed an imputation of corruption.
"Any reasonable person, every reasonable person, would see that as an allegation of corruption," Mr McClintock said during summing up of the case.
Mr McClintock said Fairfax could have brought matters to public light "without getting across the imputations of corruption".
Mr Hockey claims Fairfax published the story as an act of revenge after being forced to apologise for an earlier story about the NSF.
An irate text message sent by Mr Goodsir after he was woken by Mr Hockey's press secretary in the middle of the night about the story showed that the "Treasurer for sale" article was "conceived in malice", Mr McClintock said.
Earlier, Fairfax lawyer Matthew Collins attacked Mr Hockey's evidence last week as "unsatisfactory in a number of respects" as he summed up the defence.
"He had the demeanour of a politician rather than a witness who does his best to assist the court," Dr Collins said.
Mr Hockey has said he was not closely involved with the NSF and described statements on the forum's website, including that it was "vitally important" to his success and was helping build a financial base for the federal election, as "massively overplayed", misleading and "of grave concern".
Dr Collins told the court that despite his concerns, Mr Hockey had not sought to correct the website and those statements were still there.
Fairfax has denied its story implied Mr Hockey was corrupt and is defending it on the grounds of reasonableness and absence of malice.
Dr Collins said the fundraising activity was not illegal and the story was asking whether it was "desirable for Australian democracy".
Final submissions are expected to finish on Tuesday.
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