hmmm, julian burnside apologises to abbott, page-23

A clever legal person accidentally makes a public comment.

That comment could easily be interpreted as damaging.

The smart legal person makes a clarifying statement.

Interpreing the original statement as damaging becomes much more problematic.

I don't know where this sordid little bit of ephemera is going but I expect somehow that it isn't going to lead to defamation action.

I expect that's why the clever legal person wrote what some are calling an apology.