Jimmy Sullivan in Queensland Parliament
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Unforced error
And now, to a page-one splash out of Melbourne which took aim at one of the state's most senior politicians: LIBS COURTING CONTROVERSY EXCLUSIVE Colleagues raise questions with deputy on relationship - Herald Sun, 29 July 2025 The 'deputy' in question was Liberal deputy leader and former professional tennis player, Sam Groth, and the questions revolved around how and when he began dating his wife, Brittany, with a very serious and it should be said pretty grubby, insinuation at the heart of the story: … Mr Groth and Brittany have admitted they got together when he was coaching at Templestowe Park tennis club in 2011 … At the time, he would have been 23 or 24 and she would have been 16 or 17 … - Herald Sun, 29 July 2025 Which the Hun told its readers might make Sam Groth a sex offender: Under Victorian law, it is a criminal offence to engage in a sexual relationship with someone under the age of 18 if they are under your care or supervision. - Herald Sun, 29 July 2025 In Victoria the age of consent is 16 but if Groth was teaching Brittany tennis, it becomes 18. So did the second highest ranking state Liberal take advantage of a teenage Brittany? Well, the Hun laid out all its evidence which included a previous interview where Brittany recounted first meeting Sam Groth at the tennis club and becoming hitting partners: 'I was like 'OK, nice to meet you, cool' and over time we ended up hitting with each other and connecting from there…' - Herald Sun, 29 July 2025 And a second interview from 2017 where Sam gave a similar non-descript account of the couple's early days: SAM GROTH: … I was coaching a club and Britt was playing a little bit there – yeah, we sort of met through that time. - Tennis Channel, Facebook, 30 May 2017 Yes, that was the entire case. But the real meat of this story was, we were told, the political upset the accusation had prompted inside the Liberal Party, which the Herald Sun claimed might be weaponised in next year's election: The Herald Sun understands Mr Groth has been quizzed by a number of colleagues on the issue … - Herald Sun, 29 July 2025 This was news to Sam Groth who later said he'd had no such conversations. And just how many of these 'numerous' colleagues were quoted in the Herald Sun's story? Not a one. Well, that is except for the leader of the party, who had this to say: '… Politics is a dirty business, but this attack has hit a new low in public life.' - Herald Sun, 29 July 2025 Groth's colleagues did, however, show up to give their thoughts on the record to waiting television reporters: MATTHEW GUY: I think it's a despicable story. JAMES NEWBURY: Absolutely disgraceful to attack someone's wife. Absolutely disgraceful. - Nine News 6pm (Melbourne), 29 July 2025 With Groth furious that his personal life had become the subject of public debate: SAM GROTH: My wife and kids should be off limits … - Seven News 6pm (Melbourne), 29 July 2025 Amid the storm, the Herald Sun doubled down on its exclusive. With another serve the following day reporting Sam Groth was angry with Labor for making hay with the allegations. And the day after that, reporting a legal threat but burying the fact that the threat was made against the Herald Sun itself, while quoting Herald Sun editor Sam Weir, who defended his paper's reporting: 'We stand by our reporting on a matter of public interest, covering important issues which could have a major impact on Victorian politics in the lead-up to an election.' - Sam Weir, Editor, Herald Sun, 31 July 2025 But as all these blokes argued amongst themselves, what of the woman at the centre of the story, the apparent victim, Sam Groth's now wife of seven years, Brittany Groth? So, what was her version of events? Did anyone even bother to check? She says she was never asked. And had to release her own statement: The timeline they have suggested is baseless and false … I was in a relationship with someone else until November 2011. I met Sam in September that year … We did not engage in any conduct that would even arguably fall within the provisions quoted by the Herald Sun … - Statement by Brittany Groth, 31 July 2025 And as for the Herald Sun's conduct: … to speculate salaciously about my personal life from 14 years ago, when I was a teenager, is not journalism ... Their conduct has amounted to pressure on me to disclose intimate details … including when I first had sex with my husband, to defend myself against fiction. It is despicable. - Statement by Brittany Groth, 31 July 2025 This, of course, was a denial the Herald Sun might have been interested to know before pressing publish. And a denial, as far as we can see, that they have still not bothered to print. One of the few enduring conventions of political reporting in this country is that politicians' private lives and families are off limits, unless there is demonstrably a strong public interest. So, did the Herald Sun commit a cardinal sin? For some the answer was an emphatic yes, with The Age's Chip Le Grand writing: In tennis parlance, the stories didn't land just wide of an ethical line – they lobbed seven rows back in the stands. Any woman, even one married to a politician, should be safe in thinking their teenage sexual history is off-limits. - The Age, 31 July 2025 And in an entirely predictable outcome, the Hun's foray into the Groth's private lives may end up costing it a pretty penny, with Sam and Brittany Groth now planning to sue the paper for defamation with this plain-speaking letter from Groth's legal counsel landing on the Hun's desk: It would be too kind to describe the Article as 'gutter journalism' because it did not amount to 'journalism' at all. - Concerns Notice, Giles/George, 30 July 2025 We asked the Herald Sun about its story but our emails went unanswered. The intrigue and machinations of the political classes are, of course, worthy subjects of media scrutiny but when the accusations stray into private lives and families, the burden of proof and public interest become all the heavier. The evidence of Sam Groth's apparent indiscretions appear to us speculative at best and whatever the political justification for the story might be, there really can be no excuse for failing to give the woman at the heart of the story a voice before splashing serious allegations about intimate details of her personal life on page one, leaving her to defend and debunk the story only after the damage is done.
