Front page story, Weekend Australian, 16 June 2018

Page 10, cont’d from page 1

 THE AUSTRALIAN

Gay-hate victim Garry Burns turns lawfare crusader

NICOLA BERKOVIC THE AUSTRALIAN 12:00AM June 16, 2018

When three youths dragged Garry Burns towards the cliffs at

Sydney's Bondi 30 years ago and threatened to throw him off
because he was gay, they did not know they would be unleashing
one of the nation's most ardent crusaders against homosexual
vilification.

Burns has made it his life's work to pursue anyone who makes
homophobic comments in public, primarily by complaining to the
NSW Anti-Discrimination Board, or ADB. But his one-man legal
crusade has resulted in the bankrupting —and potential jailing —
of an ex-cabbie whose family says is brain damaged, and taken up
countless court hours at significant cost to taxpayers, prompting
calls to overhaul the law.

Burns was back in court on Thursday, in a defamation matter

involving one of his key targets: former army officer and
conservative Christian blogger Bernard Gaynor, who lives in
Brisbane. Gaynor, a father of eight, says Burns's action has cost
him "well over $200,000" in legal fees and forced him to sell his
house.

It is hard to know how many complaints Burns has filed over the
years, or how many have in turn been referred by the ADB to the
NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal. Burns says he lodged his
first complaint in 2002, but does not keep a record, while the ADB
says it "cannot comment on any aspect of its statutory complaint-
handling functions".

Gaynor, however, has been keeping a tally. He says he has been the
subject of 36 ADB complaints by Burns, leading to 18 NCAT cases
and litigation in the NSW Supreme Court, NSW Court of Appeal

Weekend Australian 16-17 June 2018 2

 and High Court — requiring about 26 trips to Sydney. He has also
had three matters referred to the NSW Local Court and is expecting
another seven — although Burns says he will discontinue some of
these.

He has also now been sued by Burns for defamation over a Facebook
comment posted by a third party, which the judge on Thursday
warned was a "very difficult case" for Burns to win. But that is of
little comfort to Gaynor. "I am sucked into this black hole at the
moment," Gaynor says. "It has had a terrible impact on our lives, it
has destroyed us financially and put enormous stress on our family.
There is no escape, even when you win in the High Court."

There is no cost to file a complaint with the Anti-Discrimination

Board, and no cost to have a complaint referred to NCAT. There are
also usually no costs awarded against complainants if they lose in the
tribunal.

On the other hand, there is a potential upside for complainants, who

can be awarded up to $100,000 in compensation — a situation
Gaynor says creates a potential "gravy train".

Gaynor points to figures from 2014-15, when he says he was the

subject of about 26 Burns complaints. Analysis of NCAT decisions
and Burns's website reveals complaints against five other people, he
says, meaning Burns was responsible for more than half the 48
homosexual vilification and victimisation complaints to the ADB that
year. Burns has at least 12 court matters listed this month, and
possibly more at NCAT. He says all this legal action is exhausting.
"But what am I going to do? Let them get away with stating that I
have sex with under-age male children?" Burns says.

Some of his targets over the years have included radio personality
John Laws, former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett and singer Rob
Mills, who rose to fame on Australian Idol and is currently on
Neighbours and in Puffs, a play in Melbourne. Last week, Burns
scored a victory against another of his targets: Newcastle-based ex-
cabbie John Sunol, who suffered a brain injury in a 1978 car accident.

Weekend Australian 16-17 June 2018 3

 Sunol was ordered by NCAT to pay Burns $2500 for homosexual
vilification, over a rambling YouTube video in which he calls Burns a
"child-molesting faggot".

Sunol has been the subject of about 77 complaints by Burns to the

ADB, according to a friend who has been keeping a spreadsheet.
These have led to about 24 tribunal or court matters and about 29
days of hearings, which his friend says is a scandal.

The Weekend Australian spoke to several members of Sunol's

family, including his wife and brother, who are deeply disturbed by
the ongoing legal war being waged against him.

"Anyone who knows my brother would know he's brain

damaged," says his brother, who did not want to be named.

Given the extent of the injuries Sunol received as a 21-year-old, his

brother says he is "pretty good", but does not understand social norms
— he can be inappropriate at family functions — and is unable to put
his actions in any broader societal context.

But he is difficult to help, his brother says, because he does

not accept he is cognitively impaired.

Asked if he believes he has a brain injury, Sunol says he has

exercised his brain "in ample ways since the accident", listing off
university degrees and courses he has completed.

"I think I probably have had brain-functioning injuries in the past,

yes, but, I think I've strengthened my mind through the power of the
church I go to," he says.

Sunol received a $400,000 payout after the accident, which was

placed in a trust, but he has been bankrupted twice as a result of
Burns's legal action. He is facing a criminal charge and possible
three-year jail sentence for allegedly continuing to identify Burns
using a commonwealth carriage service, which will be heard on -
August 7. He is also facing a possible jail term for contempt. In May,

Weekend Australian 16-17 June 2018 4

 a tribunal member referred Sunol to the NSW Supreme Court to see
if he should be charged with contempt for failing to comply with
orders, including to pay Burns almost $50,000, and for allegedly
publishing "scurrilous criticism" of tribunal members on his blog.

The Supreme Court registrar is seeking advice from the crown

solicitor on whether proceedings for contempt should be
commenced. Sunol's offending blog has now been taken down and
he has a new blog with ramblings about "Nclear war" and "Kim Jon
Un", and the "Colnial History of south east ASia".

His six-minute YouTube video had last week been viewed a total of
152 times since January 2017 — despite the litigation, investigations
by police, articles in The Australian and Gaynor's blog drawing
attention to it.

Sunol seems genuinely upset when asked why he has not taken
down the video, claiming he has done so and it has been
reposted by third parties.

To understand the genesis of all this legal activity, it is necessary to

step back to 1988, to Bondi's Marks Park, one of the venues for an
epidemic of gay-hate crimes across Sydney. Burns says three youths
dragged him towards the cliffs and almost murdered him. This and
other gay-hate crimes have left him with post-traumatic shock
disorder.

"When you believe you're going to be thrown over the clifftop to

your death, and you piss your pants, and you manage to get away,
what it does is it puts you in a direction you didn't think you'd
necessarily be in," Burns says.

"That direction was that I have to do something to ensure hatred and

vilification are not part of the Australian psyche."

Burns says all his litigation is in the public interest, and he has not
received a cent, other than $35 in "conduct money" from Radio
2UE. Any money from his targets has been paid to charity, he says.

Weekend Australian 16-17 June 2018 5

 Institute of Public Affairs director of policy Simon Breheny says
the threshold for anti-discrimination action has been set far too low.

NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman last week announced a

new law that will impose a jail term of up to three years on those
who threaten or incite violence against others based on their
sexuality, race or religion.

Breheny says this should be the bar set for anti-discrimination laws.
"Lifting the threshold substantially to the level of a crime and
allowing the police to investigate would be a good resolution as it
would virtually eliminate the problem of serial complainants," he
says.

He argues no-cost legal regimes should be abolished. They

"encourage the initiation of frivolous legal disputes", he says,
because there is little downside and a potentially significant upside.
There is always a cost; it is just that it is to the taxpayer, he adds.

Gaynor feeds his large family by writing a blog espousing his

conservative Catholic values. Readers donate to the cause.

His views are provocative, but a tribunal has yet to rule on whether
anything he has said constitutes vilification. To do so, it would have
to find his comments could incite or encourage hatred, serious
contempt or severe ridicule towards a person on the basis of certain
characteristics. Gaynor says it is lawful in Australia to say you do
not support same-sex marriage, but not to say why. Anyone who
tries to explain their reasons is vulnerable to legal action by the
"thought police".

He is supportive of the new NSW laws that criminalise incitement

to violence but says the grounds on which the incitement is made
should be irrelevant. "Whether you incite violence because
someone loves cats or for some other reason, it shouldn't matter,"
he says.

Weekend Australian 16-17 June 2018 6

 Gaynor says Burns has bombarded him and his solicitor with
menacing emails and has sent vulgar statements about Gaynor to the
Attorney-General. But he says he cannot complain because he is
white, male and Catholic.

In April, Burns had a major setback when the High Court ruled
NCAT had no jurisdiction to resolve disputes between interstate
residents. It threw out Burns's complaints against Brisbane-based
Gaynor, and Tess Corbett, a former Katter's Australia Party
candidate from Victoria.

Corbett had told a newspaper in 2013 she did not want "gays,
lesbians or pedophiles" in her kindergarten and said pedophiles
would be next to get rights
Corbett had told a newspaper in 2013 she did not want "gays, lesbians
or pedophiles" in her kindergarten and said pedophiles would be next
to get rights after gays. Gaynor tweeted: "I wouldn't let a gay person
teach my children." Both had been held to account already - by
receiving public criicism and poor showing at the ballot box.

But the High Court decision has not ended the matter. The NSW
government passed legislation giving the local court powers to resolve
NCAT disputes between interstate residents, because of concerns the
High Court ruling would have affected landlords and tennants.

Burns' targets Laws, Kennett and Mills managed to settle their

disputes with him - although in Laws's case, only after he had a
tribunal loss. In Mills's case, Burns had complained about an
Instagram image re-posted after the 2014 AFL grand final, of a
Hawthorn Hawks figurine standing against a bent-over Sydney Swans
character. Burns said that by publishing the "pernicious image",
Mills had "publicly ridiculed homosexual men and portrayed them as
being sick, perverted and dirty".

Mills says he was shocked by the complaint because he is out-spoken

in championing LGBTI rights and it was a "silly retweet".

Weekend Australian 16-17 June 2018 7

He says the complaint process was "pretty stressful" for a few months,
but he resolved it with legal advice from a friend, and by writing a
letter of apology to Burns.

Nevertheless, he thinks there must be "a better way" to resolve such

issues, because of the money and time wasted.

-- o O o --

Weekend Australian 16-17 June 2018 8

THE AUSTRALIAN, TUESDAY JUNE 19, 2018

The Australian Tuesday, June 19, 2018 1

Crusader sparks talk of reform
NICOLE BERKOVIC - LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT
NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman has said the “door is never
closed to reform” of antidiscrimination laws after it emerged one person
was responsible for lodging more than 100 complaints that were then
referred to the state’s administrative tribunal.
Serial litigant Garry Burns pursues people who make homophobic
comments in public, primarily by complaining to the NSW Anti-
Discrimination Board.
The Australian revealed his one-man legal crusade has resulted in the
bankrupting — and potential jailing — of a former cabbie whose family
says is brain damaged, and taken up countless court hours at significant
cost to taxpayers, prompting calls to overhaul the law.
Mr Burns has lodged 77 complaints about former Newcastle cab driver
John Sunol, leading to about 24 tribunal or court matters and about 29
days of hearings.
Mr Sunol suffered a serious brain injury in 1978, and his family says he
does not properly understand the consequences of his actions. He faces a
federal criminal charge and a possible charge of contempt for failing to
abide by tribunal rulings.
Mr Burns has also lodged 36 ADB complaints about conservative
Christian blogger Bernard Gaynor, leading to 18 NSW Civil and
Administrative Tribunal cases, three NSW Local Court cases and
litigation in the NSW Supreme Court, NSW Court of Appeal and High
Court.
The litigation has cost Mr Gaynor, a former army officer and father of
eight, more than $200,000 and forced him to sell his house.

The Australian Tuesday, June 19, 2018 2

Mr Burns has also pursued high-profile personalities, including radio
broadcaster John Laws, former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett and actor
and singer Rob Mills.
Asked if he believed Mr Burns’s pursuit of the pair was oppressive, and
warranted a review of the workings of the ADB, Mr Speakman said
anyone in the state could “lodge a complaint with the Anti-
Discrimination Board if they believe they have suffered a detriment”.
The Attorney-General said complaints not resolved by the board’s
conciliation process were determined by the tribunal. Respondents in
tribunal proceedings could apply to the Supreme Court to have an
applicant declared vexatious.
“The operation of the ADA is monitored to ensure the legislation is
operating as intended,” Mr Speakman said. “The door is never closed to
reform.”
The Institute of Public Affairs director of policy, Simon Breheny, said it
was time to review anti-discrimination laws in NSW.
“The NSW government should be looking at a full review of the way
anti-discrimination law operates,” he said.
“We’ve had piecemeal reform over a number of years, rather than
looking at the whole system and the way it interacts with commonwealth
law and other areas of the law in NSW.”
Mr Breheny said he believed the threshold for launching complaints
under anti-discrimination laws should be lifted.
“Lifting the threshold substantially to the level of a crime and allowing
the police to investigate would be a good resolution as it would virtually
eliminate the problem of serial complainants,” he said.
He said no-cost legal regimes should be abolished because they
encouraged the initiation of “frivolous legal disputes”.

The Australian Tuesday, June 19, 2018 3