Last week, a lawyer acting for the Australian's Chris Mitchell sent a letter of demand to Posetti, a University of Canberra academic, asking for an apology for what he claims are defamatory comments.
Mitchell's complaint relates to Posetti's tweeting of quotes from former Australian reporter Asa Wahlquist, who was speaking at a conference about her treatment at the newspaper.
Today, Posetti's lawyers responded to the request by letter, stating that Posetti denies Mitchell's assertion that she has defamed him. She also "does not propose to publish the apology or correction requested".
"The Twitter posts by our client about which your client complains were a fair and accurate summary of matters stated by Ms Wahlquist at the Journalism Education Association Conference on 25 November 2010," the letter says.
"Whether or not the matters stated by Ms Wahlquist were right or wrong, they were matters that nevertheless related to a matter of public interest, namely, the conduct of journalism and the editorial policy of a major national newspaper in relation to climate change, being in itself a significant question of public interest, especially in the lead up to a Federal election.
"Our client in her Twitter posts gave a fair summary of the matters stated by Ms Wahlquist and clearly held out those posts as being reports of statements attributed to Ms Wahlquist and not our client's own views."
"As a fair report of proceedings of public concern (in particular, proceedings of a public meeting held in Australia related to a matter of public interest - see section 29(4)(l) of the Defamation Act 2005 (NSW) and its equivalents in other states), our client is entitled to the defence available under section 29(1) of the Defamation Act," the letter adds.
"For similar reasons, our client is likely also entitled to a defence of common law qualified privilege."
In the original letter of demand, Mitchell had invited Posetti to visit the Australian offices to "observe its operations for herself".
Posetti's lawyers responded to say she "would be happy to do so for the continuing development of her teaching practice and research career", but only if Mitchell "is prepared to reciprocate by attending some lectures given by her to journalism students next year and engage in discussion of the issues with staff and students in a manner appropriate to a university context."
Quotes from Mitchell in response to the letter from Posetti's lawyer can be seen in a report on the Australian.
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