City councillor to sue two others for defamation
Adelaide City councillor Henry Davis says he will begin defamation action against two fellow members after they failed to apologise for comments made at a July meeting.
Davis, a lawyer, said he would launch defamation proceedings against councillors Janet Giles and Phillip Martin today after not receiving an apology for statements that he said “constitute an allegation of misogyny”.
Giles’ statement in the July meeting concerned an Instagram video that Davis published, criticising the council’s committee structure and payments to committee chairs. As a committee chair, Giles rebutted Davis’ claims about remuneration and went on to say that in her opinion Davis had shown a “pattern of behaviour”.
Giles said she believed behaviour that “seems to be disruptive, disrespectful…” could discourage other women from running for office.
You might like
The concerns notice Davis issued in July, seen by InDaily, requested that Giles and Martin apologise and retract their comments at the council meeting on July 23.
No such apology has been issued at any council meeting since July.
Davis spoke to InDaily before last night’s council meeting, saying he had advised both councillors of his intention to launch legal proceedings unless an apology was given, in what he called “a last-ditch effort”.
“I’ve given them multiple opportunities. I sent them a notice of concerns, they’ve failed to adequately respond,” he said.
“They could have apologised in previous meetings since they made the comments because I pretty much straight away issued the notice of concerns, so this is a final courtesy to save them further damage.”
Martin, who is on leave and did not attend last night’s meeting, declined to comment when contacted by InDaily.
Giles declined to comment when contacted by InDaily.
Davis said he would seek $10,000 from Giles and Martin, a figure he said reflected estimated damages such as business lost through his law firm due to the claimed reputational hit.
“Let this be a warning to all councillors serving in South Australia that you do not have parliamentary privilege and comments made in council chambers can have real life legal consequences,” he said.
Davis himself has received two concerns notices for defamation issued by Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith’s lawyers during this council term so far. He told InDaily at the time he would not apologise or issue a retraction to Lomax-Smith concerning that matter.
When asked by InDaily how Giles and Martin’s lack of apology differed from his own, or defamation concerns notices he had himself received, Davis said “what they [Giles and Martin] said wasn’t true”.
“But I still stand by my comments [regarding the Lord Mayor], and so my view is that what I said was true, whereas what Janet Giles and Phil Martin said is just ridiculous and just egregious,” he said.
