Domican's defamation trial set for March

Sydney identity Tom Domican said nothing in a 1984 interview about Labor Party branch stacking which could be taken as admitting to intimidation or thuggery, says a judge hearing his defamation lawsuit.

The fact witnesses allegedly changed their evidence after Mr Domican met with them was incapable of supporting an alleged inference of violent threats or intimidation, Justice Michael Wigney said.

"Needless to say, there is no suggestion that Mr Domican was investigated, let alone charged or convicted of any offence or offences arising from those alleged incidents," he said in a judgment on Wednesday.

Mr Domican has taken Federal Court action against former nightclub boss John Ibrahim and publisher Pan Macmillan Australia over his book Last King of the Cross.

He says the memoir carries defamatory meanings including portraying him as a violent criminal who took part in gang wars, as being willing to kill people other than the Ibrahims and as a criminal who engaged in supplying heroin.

In a preliminary hearing in March, Mr Domican's lawyers applied to have parts of the truth defence struck out including particulars about a 1984 BBC Panorama program about the Labor Party during which he was asked about branch stacking.

Mr Domican's barrister said the only "admission" he made was of having had a cup of tea and a "happy chat" with witnesses.

In Wednesday's judgment, Justice Wigney struck out various paragraphs from the defences but granted the respondents leave to file amended defences by September 27.

They had submitted the book carried alternative meanings, including that Mr Domican was a violent criminal or a criminal.

But the judge said this was substantially different from being "a violent criminal who took part in gang wars" - the meaning Mr Domican attributed to the publication.

"A person can be said to be a criminal if they have committed any sort of offence within a very broad range of offences - anything from shoplifting to cattle rustling or fraud."

He set the case down for trial to begin on March 2, if mediation was unsuccessful, and listed a case management hearing for February 3.