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A County Court judge has set aside a civil personal safety intervention order previously made against the president of ratepayer advocacy group Council Watch.
The civil personal safety intervention order against Dean Hurlston was set aside in the County Court. A County Court judge has set aside a civil personal safety intervention order made against the head of a Victorian ratepayer advocacy group.
Council Watch president Dean Hurlston was successful in his appeal against a magistrate's earlier ruling. Judge Julie Clayton said that Mr Hurlston's content may have been distressing to Ms Sehr but the content he posted was "permissible". The head of a ratepayer advocacy group and publisher of a Facebook page that scrutinises council actions, has triumphed over an inner-city Melbourne mayor following a successful appeal to overturn a civil intervention order made against him.
A judge last month ruled Council Watch president Dean Hurlston had engaged in political, not personal, commentary of Stonnington mayor Melina Sehr, and decided to scrap the two-year personal safety intervention order awarded to her. The original ruling from Magistrate Michelle Hodgson was that Mr Hurlston had stalked Ms Sehr for years under the guise of political discourse, was likely to do so again, and had been motivated by an intention to cause Ms Sehr harm due to ill will, spite and animosity.
Personal Safety Intervention Orders Act 2010 it was open for the magistrate to find that Mr Hurlston had stalked Ms Sehr, but said Mr Hurlston’s commentary was primarily focused on council matters and council performance and occurred in the conduct of a lawful news business. In considering whether Mr Hurlston had acted with malice, Judge Clayton singled out two of Mr Hurlston's social media posts relating to Ms Sehr, an image of Miss Piggy and a cartoon of a housewife that she said "could be said to be demeaning or derogatory" but reiterated these were no different to "many thousands of offensive political caricatures".
"Women in public life generally and politics in particular are often unfairly targeted in relation to their appearance," Judge Clayton wrote in her judgment. "While one might bemoan this sorry state of affairs it is not a state of affairs that the act was intended to address. " The judge said Dean Hurlston had engaged in political, not personal, commentary of Stonnington mayor Melina Sehr .
Judge Clayton concluded that although Mr Hurlston's content may have been distressing for Ms Sehr he was motivated by nothing other than the publication of news, current affairs, political discussion, and public interest matters. She noted the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrated a continuity of purpose, being the ventilation of matters of local concern, issues of council governance, and Mr Hurlston's personal views on the failings of the council.
"It is permissible for Mr Hurlston to publish, filled with ill will, animosity, spite and hostility if the actuating motive for the publication is not improper," Judge Clayton wrote.
Courts Intervention Order Judge County Court
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