Cairns local government presents a spectacle of contrasting treatment for establishment figures and their critics. You can see this playing out at the courthouse or almost daily in local media reports.
Anti-corruption campaigners Lyn O鈥機onnor and Cairns councillor and Socialist Alliance member Rob Pyne face a defamation suit funded by the corporatised Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ).
In Pyne鈥檚 case, this could force him from office by bankrupting him. The suit by LGAQ head Greg Hallam claims damages from Facebook posts related to widespread corruption in Queensland.
Hallam has previously sent many notification letters regarding legal action to his critics. Now that a matter has reached court, he鈥檚 lawyered-up, while O鈥機onnor and Pyne are defending themselves.
Hallam claims about 40 Facebook posts by the two defendants, starting in June 2017, defamed him. Five are from Pyne. The most prominent of these is a meme he shared that depicts the Star Wars villain Jabba the Hutt wearing a LGAQ T-shirt.
O鈥機onnor authored the remainder, including one that drew an analogy between a 鈥淟GAQ boys鈥 club鈥, protecting council chief executive officers from being pursued for corruption by shifting them from one council to another, and the Catholic Church, protecting priests engaging in child sex offences by moving them on to new parishes.
The suit alleges that these Facebook posts impacted on Hallam鈥檚 mental health, causing a 20 kilogram weight gain, insomnia and anxiety, conditions that required medication.聽However, the court also heard聽that聽Hallam has long-standing health conditions and that there were numerous events in 2017 and 2018 that might have had an impact on him.
The court also聽heard how Hallam puts himself into disputes. On Facebook he called anti-corruption campaigner Gary Duffy 鈥淒affy Duck鈥 and in聽another Facebook post Hallam called a critic a 鈥減athetic, lying rodent鈥.
Pyne told 麻豆传媒 that the LGAQ had, decades ago, provided grassroots support to smaller local councils, but it now operate as a self-funding corporation. In court, Hallam celebrated its current role, saying, 鈥渨e are a body who looks after its members鈥 and noting its successful businesses providing services to councils.
Analysis of news reports over the years suggests Hallam has also frequently used his position as head of this body to offer support to sitting mayors and councillors involved in political controversies.
For example, Hallam was asked about his statements in a 2013 Courier Mail report in relation to a mayor 鈥減lanting a donation鈥 on a political rival. He had said: 鈥淐ourts have long held that when it comes to politics, most things are fair game 鈥 No one wins, but our view of it is there鈥檚 no criminal offence and there鈥檚 no breach of the Local Government Act.鈥
Notably, Pyne is accused of neither of these things.
Hallam, however, hadn鈥檛 accepted Pyne speaking out against corruption. O鈥機onnor asked Hallam about his actions when Pyne used parliamentary privilege. Hallam said he had met the premier and deputy premier 鈥渢o explain our desire for the parliament to censure鈥 Pyne and another MP for 鈥渟eeking to damage council and councillors鈥.
The August 24 Cairns Post reported that Hallam, according to the notes taken by his psychiatrist in November 2017, 鈥渟poke about Pyne and his 鈥榳hole bunch of nutty followers 鈥 on a crusade about council鈥 and called them 鈥渋diots鈥. But there was and probably still is reason for substantial concern about corruption in local government in Queensland.
Hallam told the court he 鈥渇elt powerless, like I had no control of the agenda鈥.
Yet the psychiatrist鈥檚 November 2017 notes show Hallam said 鈥淚鈥檓 a target because I put up my hand to say Pyne鈥檚 a grub鈥. Hallam, according to the August 28 Cairns Post, claims Pyne was 鈥済randstanding鈥 and engaged in 鈥渁 political strategy鈥 to gain attention.
A recent High Court ruling upheld former Northern Territory youth detainee Dylan Voller鈥檚 claims of defamation in posts on the Facebook pages of establishment media outlets. This shows defamation laws offer some protection against being unfairly run down in public. But this protection is distributed unequally.
Defamation laws favour those who have the funds to threaten and launch suits.
Pyne has submitted to the court that 鈥渋t鈥檚 a pattern of behaviour that anyone that disagrees with the LGAQ is open to litigation鈥. Hallam鈥檚 suit, started in 2018, is proceeding under defamation laws that have made it notoriously difficult to mount a defence (the final impact of recent reforms is unclear). For example, the level formally set to find a suit 鈥渢rivial鈥 has been that no harm 鈥渁t all鈥 occurred.
Before the trial began, the August 13 Cairns Post said that, 鈥渁ccording to court documents, defence of the defamation allegation will centre聽on Facebook algorithms, sharing rules with Facebook groups, Google searches, online 鈥榞rapevining鈥 and tagging within Facebook posts鈥.
In essence, Pyne in particular is arguing that the Facebook posts didn鈥檛 get around very much, so no real harm was done. Pyne has also had Hallam confirm that he never reported the Jabba the Hutt post to Facebook, nor had he sent a concerns notice to Pyne.
On the other hand, Hallam had earlier told the court, according to the August 27 Cairns Post, that in his opinion Pyne鈥檚 involvement 鈥渃hanges everything. It goes from being someone out there in the community having a crack to a member of parliament, someone with standing 鈥 directly attacking me鈥.
This will be a consideration as the defamation trial works towards a conclusion in the coming months; it has been delayed because O鈥機onnor became ill during the trial.