Freelance journalist Wendy Dent claimed that when she was working as an entertainer in 1995, Don Burke asked her to audition topless as a mermaid in his gardening show. 

Later in an interview with Tracy Grimshaw on A Current Affair, Don Burke claims that he did not ask Ms. Dent to audition topless.

Ms. Dent then sued for defamation alleging that his remarks in that interview damaged her reputation in that it suggested she lied and made a false accusation to join a "witch hunt" against Burke. 

However, the Court ruled in favor of Burke.

A claim is defamatory if it lowers the reputation of the plaintiff in the mind of the ordinary reasonable person. However, the ‘Bane and Antidote’ rule lays down that a claim will not be defamatory if there are denials included in the same publication that are strong enough to prevent the ordinary person believing the claim in the first place.

In this case, the bane - Burke’s defamatory remarks - was juxtaposed with the interviewer Grimshaw’s air of resignation and skepticism. She obviously did not give Burke’s remarks any credibility. The judges think this is also clear to the viewers. This is the antidote to Burke’s bane, the denials that are included in the publication that are strong enough to prevent the ordinary person believing the claim in the first place . To add to that is the credibility of Ms. Dent’s allegations. 

To put it simply, Burke’s remarks are not actually damaging to Ms. Dent’s person or reputation because no ordinary person would believe them in the first place. 

Technically, Burke won. However, the court also believes that he did what he did to Ms. Dent.