By Violet Li
A Casey Council candidate says he is considering legal action against a local Facebook account, which he has accused of defaming him.
Correa Ward candidate Gary Rowe, a former councillor and an ex-Cranbourne Liberal MP, denied claims made by the Facebook account called City of Casey Transparency Monitor about him and another former councillor Wayne Smith.
The recently-created City of Casey Transparency Monitor has twice posted about the pair of councillors being named in the IBAC Operation Sandon anti-corruption investigation into Casey Council and property developers.
Mr Rowe alleges that the posts have made defamatory assertions – which he describes as “just rubbish, utter rubbish”.
The account’s introduction states: “I present accurate information about the 2024 Casey City Council election, so you can decide who to vote for. I’m not affiliated with the council, or with any candidates. I won’t tell you who to vote for. It’s your decision.”
The posts noted that IBAC made “no adverse comments or opinions” on Mr Rowe.
Mr Rowe said there was no statement by IBAC that said he could be compromised.
“There’s nothing for them to infer out of the IBAC report. The IBAC report totally clears me. And there’s nothing there other than that. They’re not putting the truth up there to say that we could be compromised because of the IBAC report.”
Mr Rowe also said the information on this Facebook page was not authorised.
“There’s no declaration as to who’s making these assertions. It’s totally anonymous. They cannot put anything up during a campaign that is not authorised by the person who puts it up,” he said.
Amanjit Gill, a Casey local who is behind the account, said she was not trying to be anonymous.
“I’ve shared my Facebook page on my personal profile, and I used Facebook ads to promote my page, fully aware that my real name will appear in the Ad Library for the next seven years,” she said.
Ms Gill posted on her LinkedIn two weeks ago that she created the City of Casey Transparency Monitor to share the intelligence she could gather about this year’s candidates in the Casey election.
“My post clearly says that IBAC didn’t have ‘adverse comments or opinions’ about Mr Smith and Mr Rowe.”
Ms Gill referred to a section of the Operation Sandon report called ’The use of other Casey councillors’.
The report stated that in 2014, developer John Woodman and associates cultivated a relationship with Mr Rowe on the basis that he supported rezoning industrial land.
“There is no evidence, other than an assertion by Mr Woodman, that (his associate Tom) Kenessey unduly influenced Councillor Rowe to support Amendment C219,“ the report stated.
In 2016, Mr Woodman organised a fundraising event that raised $10,000 for Councillor Rowe’s Casey Council election campaign.
“Councillor Rowe was unable to identify individual donations from the fundraising event.
“Consequently, he provided an addendum to his donation return, stating that he had received advice from the Local Government Inspectorate that he was not expected to provide details of multiple small donations at a fundraising event, even if the aggregate amount was more than $500.
“He did not, however, declare Mr Woodman’s contribution to the event, which would have exceeded the prescribed limit.“
In 2014, Mr Rowe introduced a motion at council to explore non-industrial uses of industrial land owned by a Woodman’s employer Leighton Properties. The motion was not drafted by him; it was drafted by a Woodman associate Megan Schutz.
“Although Councillor Rowe supported the rezoning, it appears that his awareness of the relationships between Mr Woodman and Mr Kenessey and Ms Schutz, and their involvement and interests in Amendment C219, was limited,“ IBAC reported.
Ms Gill said she did not need to authorise her posts because she was not running an electoral campaign, was not campaigning to achieve a specific outcome at the election, was not posting to further anyone’s interests, and was not telling people who they should vote for.
“And as far as I am aware, I don’t know any candidates personally. I’ve never been a member of a political party. I’ve never helped a candidate by distributing flyers, etc.
“Therefore, the posts I produce are not electoral campaign material. For that to be the case, there would need to be an electoral campaign.”
Ms Gill also said she didn’t put her name on her page because it was not about her.
“It’s about our community and our shared experience of navigating a council election after the events of 2020,” she said.
“The posts I write are similar to what one might find on a blog.
“Australians are allowed to discuss politics and politicians without authorising all of their statements, including during elections.
“If it turns out that political discourse pertaining to specific people or events is electoral campaign material, this would set a troubling precedent by which all political commentary, online and offline, would need to be authorised. This would mean that we are mistaken as to our collective understanding of our rights.”
Mr Rowe said he would continue to speak with his lawyer and he had also put a request to the Local Government Inspectorate.
“To be honest, I got a lot more important and better things to do than do these things,” he said.
