NEW TWIST IN COUNCIL DEFAMATION CASE SAGA

By Tim Howard

The saga of Clarence Valley Council’s defamation action against a community group has taken another twist, with reports council’s general manager Laura Black will pay legal invoices arising from the action.

Council mayor Peter Johnstone did not the deny the claim, but would not comment further because it was an ongoing legal matter. Ms Black was on leave and unavailable for comment.

The secretary of Yamba Community Action Network, the target of the council’s action, Lynne Cairns, said it had been informed from a resident that there was a rumour about this.

Mrs Cairns said the group only has legal letters written by Sparke Helmore Lawyers on behalf of the council.

“The governing body of Clarence Valley Council are the elected councillors and therefore the legal action was taken in their name,” she said, Yamba CAN has denied being responsible for any defamation and questioned why council took this action.

Mrs Cairns said the group was aware some councillors claimed the council never intended to take Yamba CAN to court.

Yamba CAN has requested councillors pass a written resolution stating that they have no intention to take Yamba CAN to court regarding the letter sent by Yamba CAN on July 12 2023 which stated that councillors had received some inaccurate information with regard to the Treelands Drive Community Centre project.

Mrs Cairns said Yamba CAN had not received formal notification about this matter.

The Northern Rivers Times is making no implication the council has acted improperly in these matters.

It does not seem likely the council plans to withdraw.

Prior to the September 26 council meeting, Cr Bill Day made three attempts to lodge a notice of motion to obtain copies of all correspondence surrounding the Concerns notice and potential litigation against Yamba CAN, but each one was rebuffed.

Cr Day said the general manager had “blocked him at every turn”.

“I thought it was a fair and reasonable request,” he said. “But if you turn to the September 26 council business paper, there is no notice of motion in there.”

Cr Day said in his 12 years experience as a local government councillor, he had never been party to legal action against the community.

“It’s regrettable and could be seen as an attempt to dissuade members of the community from saying things some people don’t want to hear,” he said.

“It’s also distressing that councillors have been denied access to documents that allow them to fulfil their role on council,” he said.

Cr Day said he disagreed with the views of some councillors that the matter was not legal action.

“Yamba CAN has a concerns notice, which is a legal document that is the start of a defamation action,” he said.

“By any definition that constitutes legal action.”

The saga goes back to July when the group revealed at its first annual meeting it had received a concerns notice claiming Yamba CAN had defamed Ms Black.

Ms Black denied it was a legal letter and then Mayor Ian Tiley said he was not aware of any legal action council had undertaken.

Yamba CAN’s legal advisor told the group the concerns notice was valid and allowed the council 12 months to mount a defamation case.

Yamba CAN has consistently denied it has defamed Ms Black and would contest any claim it had