Port Augusta City Council Addresses Long Running Court Disputes
Port Augusta City Council wishes to inform the community of a recent decision handed down by the Magistrates Court of South Australia regarding legal proceedings brought by Mr Trevor Robertson.
Since 2019, the City of Port Augusta has been involved in a number of long running court disputes with Trevor Robertson, which all stem from his refusal to pay Council rates and the subsequent sale of his properties for these unpaid rates.
Mr Robertson has been wholly unsuccessful in all the Court proceedings.
For some time, Mr Robertson and his partner Ms Kendall Jones have been publishing misleading statements on social media about this private criminal prosecution which the Court has now thrown out. This private prosecution by Mr Robertson was never authorised by the Police or the Director of Public Prosecutions, was completely lacking in merit and the social media campaign based on it was misleading.
Mr Robertson has once again been completely unsuccessful.
The Magistrates Court has permanently stayed the proceedings, meaning that every allegation against the Council, its Mayor, Elected Members and staff have been dismissed in full, and ordered that Mr Robertson is not permitted to commence any further proceedings without obtaining the permission of the Court first.
In granting a permanent stay of the proceedings, the Court noted that:
- The proceedings were an abuse of process and brought for an improper purpose;
- The proceedings attempted to re-litigate issues already settled in earlier proceedings and to purposely cause reputational damage to the Council and other named defendants;
- Many of the charges were deficient, repetitive, incoherent, or failed to disclose the offence; and
- Allowing the prosecution to proceed would bring the administration of justice into disrepute.
In its detailed 86-page judgment, which can be viewed on the Council’s website, the Court gave careful and detailed consideration to Mr Robertson’s claims and completely rejected those claims.
Whilst the defence of this matter has unnecessarily wasted the time of Council staff and Elected Members, it should be noted that the costs associated with the defence of the matter were covered by the Local Government Association Mutual Liability Scheme (which indemnifies Council for its civil liabilities), and not by rate payers.
For further information please contact Council’s Media and Communications Officer on (08) 8641 9100.
JOHN BANKS
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
PORT AUGUSTA CITY COUNCIL