Palestinian Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah says she has issued a formal defamation concerns notice to South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas, in an escalation of the fallout following her disinvitation from this year's Adelaide Writers' Week.
In a statement posted to Instagram on Wednesday, Abdel-Fattah said Malinauskas had made repeated public comments about her character in the week following her removal from the line-up, which sparked a mass boycott and board resignations that ultimately saw the event cancelled.
"We have never met and he has never attempted to contact me," Abdel-Fattah said.
Malinauskas had been accused by the Greens and arts commentators of placing pressure on the board to rescind its invitation to Abdel-Fattah, a claim rejected by the Labor premier.
Malinauskas had said he was prevented by law from directing the board, but said he had made it clear that the state government did not support Abdel-Fattah's inclusion in the festival program when asked for his opinion.
Abdel-Fattah says premiers remarks were a 'vicious personal assault'
In her statement, Abdel-Fattah said the premier had gone "even further" when he made a public statement on Tuesday, accusing him of suggesting that she was a "terrorist sympathiser" and "directly linked to the Bondi atrocity".
"This was a vicious personal assault on me, a private citizen, by the highest public official in South Australia," she said. "It was defamatory and it terrified me".
Abdel-Fattah's lawyers have confirmed to SBS News the defamation action follows comments made by Malinauskas at a press conference on Tuesday.
During his appearance, he rejected assertions that he had sought to influence the Adelaide Festival board's decisions regarding Writers' Week.
Responding to questions about whether he'd exerted political influence, he drew a hypothetical comparison.
"Can you imagine if a far-right Zionist walked into a Sydney mosque and murdered 15 people? Can you imagine that as the premier of this state, I would actively support a far-right Zionist going to Writers' Week and speaking hateful rhetoric?," he on Tuesday.
"Of course, I wouldn't, but the reverse has happened in this instance, and I'm not going to support that either."
Malinauskas says all remarks 'founded in a desire for compassion'
At a press conference on Wednesday, Malinauskas said he was not aware that a concerns notice had been received.
"Every step of this journey, all of my remarks and indeed actions, have been founded in a desire for compassion and people treating each other civilly and people will be able to judge my remarks on themselves," he said.
"All of my remarks and all of my comments are on the public record and people will see that they're founded in a place of compassion and in the pursuit of decency towards one another."
SBS News has also contacted Malinauskas' office for comment.
Under the Defamation Act, a concerns notice is a mandatory step before court proceedings can begin. It requires the person alleged to have defamed another to be formally notified of the imputations complained of and provides a 28-day window in which they can make amends, including by apology, correction or retraction.
Abdel-Fattah's lawyer, Michael Bradley of Marque Lawyers, said the notice gives the Premier an opportunity to "right the wrong", stressing that Abdel-Fattah was open to a resolution.
He said a "genuine" apology from the Premier would differ materially from the apology issued by the Adelaide Festival Board earlier on Tuesday, which Abdel-Fattah rejected.
The board initially claimed past statements from Abdel-Fattah, who has criticised Israel on social media, meant it would not be "culturally sensitive" for her to appear at the festival so soon after the antisemitic terror attack at Bondi Beach.
The board's apology came as it cancelled Writers' Week on Tuesday, saying its decision to disinvite her was "not about identity or dissent but rather a continuing rapid shift in the national discourse around the breadth of freedom of expression in our nation following Australia's worst terror attack in history".
Abdel-Fattah said it was "disingenuous" and only addressed "how the message of my cancellation was conveyed, not the decision itself".
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