Opposition leader Steven Marshall is standing by comments he made claiming Nick Xenophon had “done a deal” to return the Weatherill Labor government to power in SA.
On Wednesday Mr Xenophon launched a defamation action against Mr Marshall.
“Those statements are totally false and defamatory,” Mr Xenophon said in a statement.
“Accordingly, this morning I have issued a Concerns Notice to Mr Marshall, pursuant to the Defamation Act.”
He urged Mr Marshall to take the “opportunity to put the record straight and to apologise”, but that appears unlikely.
According to The Advertiser, Mr Marshall responded by saying:
“I stand by what I’ve said previously, I believe a deal has been done.
“There’ll be no apology from Steven Marshall.
“We’ll wait to have a look at what we receive. We’ll respond accordingly. I’m not going to be responding via the media.”
UPDATE: Marshall says "there’ll be no apology" to Mr X over ‘deal’ claim @theTiser #savotes2018 #saparli https://t.co/Hx4AovD7VT
— Lauren Novak (@Lauren__Dailey) February 14, 2018
