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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.
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
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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".
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.
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