Elon Musk asks one of Australia’s top lawyers to represent him in battle against eSafety Commissioner

Elon Musk has tapped one of Australia’s top lawyers to represent his social media platform X in its fight to keep footage of a stabbing at a Sydney church online.

X is locked in a legal battle with Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, who has demanded videos of the stabbing at The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley be removed from its platform.

The tech billionaire has since approached Sydney Silk Bret Walker, SC, to represent X, formerly Twitter, in court against Australian regulators.

Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was delivering a sermon on April 15 – which was also shared on the church’s livestream – when a 16-year-old boy walked up to the altar and allegedly stabbed him repeatedly.

Images immediately circulated showing the teenager approaching the bishop and allegedly stabbing him six times.

The social media giant was ordered by the federal court to block all users from viewing images related to the alleged terrorist attack.

Lawyers for X challenged the request to delete videos of the attack during a case management hearing on Wednesday.

Melbourne lawyer Marcus Hoyne claimed that

Mr Hoyne said the case was ‘beyond his paycheck’ and explained that X had approached Mr Walker to represent the platform instead.

Mr Walker is the son of an Anglican minister from Sydney’s west and was captain and dux of the King’s School in Parramatta, where broadcaster Alan Jones taught him English.

He was admitted as a barrister in 1979, appointed senior counsel in 1993 and is a former president of the NSW Bar Association. His second wife is fellow barrister Sarah Pritchard SC.

Mr Walker is known as one of Australia’s top lawyers for motorcyclists, politicians and sports stars in headline-making legal battles.

The cases carry potentially major consequences, befitting his estimated fee of $25,000 per day.

As a litigator, Walker is known for his meticulous preparation and as a brilliant strategist rather than for his theatrics or flashy antics in the courtroom.

Mr Walker has been described as the ‘go-to guy for people with money and for big companies’.

His more notable and high-profile appearances include Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation appeal, former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s appeal against the ICAC and Cardinal George Pell’s appeal against child sexual abuse allegations.

He also represented former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at the Royal Commission into the Home Insulation Program and rescued Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce when claims of dual citizenship threatened his political career.

Mr Walker helped the Finks outlaw motorcycle gang challenge the validity of South Australian anti-motorcycle laws and tried to prevent the founder of the Tasmanian branch of the rebels from being deported.

He also acted for tobacco companies in their failed battle against plain cigarette packaging and in 2020 oversaw a special commission of inquiry after at least 900 people on the Ruby Princess cruise ship were infected with Covid-19.

Mr Walker produced a report on the poor performance of the Australian swimming team after it won just one gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics – the country’s lowest total in two decades.

He also won an acquittal for rugby league player Greg Bird in the NSW District Court after a magistrate jailed the former home state regular for allegedly glassing his then girlfriend Katie Milligan.

It is understood Mr Walker is keen to hear the case but will make a decision before the May 10 hearing.

At Wednesday’s case management hearing, Mr Hoyne said substantial material would be submitted by his client challenging the orders and the “exorbitant jurisdiction” claimed by the online security watchdog.

Blocking clips of Bishop Emmanuel’s alleged stabbing from Australian web users, through a process called geo-blocking, was enough, X has argued.

Granting the order would impact international users “in circumstances where it has no impact on Australia”, Mr Hoyne said.

Lawyer Christopher Tran represented the eSafety commissioner in court on Wednesday and said there was evidence that X had failed to comply with an interim order issued by the court on Monday.

“Your Honor’s order has not been complied with,” he told Judge Geoffrey Kennett.

The judge extended the takedown order, which would require snippets of the alleged attack to be hidden behind a legal notice to all global users.

The order will be in effect until a hearing on May 10, when X will be able to challenge the bans.

“We do not consent to any order,” Mr Hoyne said.

If he doesn’t comply with a court’s order to remove posts, X could be fined nearly $800,000 a day and executives could be prosecuted for contempt of court.