Australian actor Craig McLachlan has declined to take part in a police interview over allegations of assault and indecent assault, a court has heard.
The 53-year-old, known for roles in Home and Away, Neighbours and the Dr Blake Mysteries, is suing actor Christie Whelan Browne, Fairfax Media and the ABC for defamation in the New South Wales Supreme Court over claims that he indecently assaulted and sexually harassed cast members during a 2014 run of The Rocky Horror Show musical.
McLachlan has denied the allegations, which were published in January 2018.
The court heard on Friday morning that Victoria Police has been investigating allegations of indecent assault and assault against McLachlan from 2014.
Earlier this month, the chief commissioner of Victoria Police, Graham Ashton, had filed an application in the defamation case to prevent all parties from accessing more than 100 subpoenaed documents that related to the ongoing police investigation into McLachlan.
The application was set to be argued in court today, and the commissioner and McLachlan had filed detailed written submissions.
But it was withdrawn on Thursday evening, after McLachlan's lawyers told police he would not take part in a requested police interview.
"What time did the commissioner decide not to pursue the application, in respect of which I lost two hours sleep last night?" Justice Lucy McCallum asked barrister Trent Glover, appearing for the commissioner.
"5.03pm," Glover replied.
McLachlan’s lawyer Matthew Richardson said the commissioner should pay his client's costs for the application, and that it was unfair of the commissioner to link McLachlan declining the interview with the application being withdrawn.
The email requesting the interview, sent on November 9, contained "not a scintilla, not a hint" that it was bound up in the application, Richardson said.
Glover argued it was "appropriate and in the public interest" to bring the claim and that the police needed to be able to conduct their investigation as they saw fit.
McCallum ordered the commissioner to pay McLachlan’s costs, handing down her decision "in cryptic terms" due to the confidential nature of the material before the court.
She said part of the reason the application was abandoned was due to McLachlan declining to be interviewed, but another relevant factor was contained within the material that cannot be disclosed.
The defamation trial is scheduled to begin on February 4, 2019.