Case against former Katter candidate’s homophobic comments thrown out of High Court
Image: Image: High Court of Australia / hcourt.gov.au.
A gay rights activist’s case against a former Katter Party candidate’s homophobic comments was rejected from the High Court on appeal today.
Garry Burns was found in 2016 to have no standing to pursue the case in the New South Wales Supreme Court, because the person he sought to sue was not a New South Wales resident, according to Yahoo News.
Tess Corbett, the candidate for Wannon, publicly said in 2013 that she did not want “gays, lesbians or paedophiles working in my kindergarten”.
“Paedophiles will be next in line to be be recognised in the same way as gays and lesbians, and get rights,” she said.
Her comments were later endorsed by Queensland Senate candidate Bernard Gaynor, who was then suspended from the party.
The New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal found Corbett’s comments constituted homophobic vilification, and ordered her to apologise in writing to Burns and in The Sydney Morning Herald.
She did not seek to publish an apology, and Burns unsuccessfully sought a contempt charge against her.
Burns said he was “disappointed, distraught and gutted” at the court’s latest decision against him.
“All my hard work has come to nothing,” he said.
The High Court was today unanimous in its dismissal of Burns’ appeal, finding that the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal did not have the jurisdiction to hear the complaints against Corbett or Gaynor.
The law is a mess in NSW and it’s Parliament need to fix it.
5 years of hard slog from me to help dismantle unlawful public acts of homosexuality vilification against homosexual Australians has come to nothing.
Very disappointing outcome.
Keep fighting the good fight Garry, don’t get too down! We need people like you who are willing to take a stand against unjust laws and homophobic politicians. Your work is so important. Thank you.
“Tess Corbett, the candidate for Wannon, publicly said in 2013 that she did not want “gays, lesbians or paedophiles working in my kindergarten”.”
Umm, question arising, let’s say you legislated that, how do you “prove” and by what standard that folks are or are not gay or lesbian? Surely you’d actually have to have photographic evidence of homosexual activity before taking action? Surely you aren’t just acting on the basis of some guy being a bit camp (Chris Pyne is hetero married with four kids for example) or being a chick with short hair (countless examples of hetero ladies with crew cuts).
This sounds like a primitive excuse to peep through windows. Not even a clever one. Get a life, Tess you perv.