Kelly sued over tweet

However, the local member and Parliamentary Secretary for Defence says the claim is “purely politically motivated” and he will defend it in court.

Fairfax national media have reported the defamation action was triggered by Mr Kelly’s Twitter post on October 1 last year.

The tweet referred to Liberal Party pollsters Lynton Crosby and Mark Textor, who was accused of push polling in the ACT 16 years ago.

Push polling is the use of loaded questions to sway a political poll’s outcome, or conducting polls for the purpose of influencing rather than measuring opinion.

Mr Textor and Mr Crosby say Mr Kelly’s tweet was untrue and damaged their reputation.

However, Mr Kelly said the tweet was not malicious and made no specific allegations against anybody.

“It’s clear this is a politically motivated claim by Liberal party campaign managers and assistants,” Mr Kelly said.

“In my view, the tweet was harmless and can be seen in the context of a political exchange.”

In a defence lodged with the Federal Court last week, the local member and Parliamentary Secretary for Defence admitted he wrote and distributed the tweet, but did not admit “that those words were published to any person”.

Lawyers for Mr Kelly say the onus of proof will be on the pollsters, including to show the tweet was read by at least one person who knew the meaning of push polling.

Mr Textor and Mr Crosby have alleged Mr Kelly had 1250 Twitter followers at the time - Mr Kelly disputes this, saying the number was less than 200.

• With the Sydney Morning Herald