St Kilda Village business owner and local resident, David Carruthers, is seeking legal advice as to whether he can personally sue Councillor Dick Gross (and the City of Port Phillip - CoPP) for defamation of character to the tune of $15 million - the estimated amount it would cost to refurbish the heritage-listed Palais Theatre.
Councillor Gross was quoted in The Age (Saturday, 9 December), saying, 'Dishonest representations have been made about the council's role throughout this whole process (the Triangle site tender) and this was another example'.
Gross was referring to a media release sent out following the Annual
General Meeting of the Acland Street Precinct Traders Association, where
Gross was quoted as saying, 'The State Government has done a ‘Pontius
Pilate’ on this site by making it a council issue when it’s
a State Government asset. It’s unfair to give it back to council
to manage when the Palais Theatre is in such a dilapidated state.'
'When a councillor calls you a liar because they don't want to be accountable
for what they've said, someone has to do something about it. I don't
intend to let Councillor Gross get away with it,' Carruthers
said. 'I am not dishonest and neither are the 25 people, including
council officers, who attended the AGM. Dick Gross said all those
things and more.'
'The council has said it needs to put a supermarket and intensive retailing
on the Triangle site to pay for the Palais Theatre refurbishment. If I win,
I will use the $15 million to refurb the Palais Theatre, then the site
won't need supermarkets and national retail chains and it won't become
a mini-Chadstone.'
Carruthers is also demanding a full retraction from Councillor Gross and
a written apology to appear in The Age.