The former aid to former Australian Federal Speaker Peter Slipper, who sued him for alleged sexual harassment, said that he will appeal the recent adverse ruling of the Federal Court which dismissed the case as an abuse of the judicial process, and ordering him to pay Slipper’s legal costs. The Standard reports that James Ashby, claiming his sexual harassment case has not been heard because the “only matter that’s been heard over the past eight months was Mr Slipper’s abuse of process case,” said that he will also bring the case to the attention of Fair Work Australia.

The Court said in its ruling that the harassment case was a politically motivated attack by Ashby and others, and that a series of text message exchanges between Ashby and his friends “read as if the participants were discussing the political ramifications of Mr Ashby revealing material that was sexually and politically embarrassing and that would compromise Mr Slipper and his position as Speaker.”