Anti-Islamic group Reclaim Australia has been threatened with defamation action over an inflammatory letter posted on Facebook that was wrongly attributed to prominent monarchist Kerry Jones.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Reclaim Australia, which exhorts supporters to band together to "stop halal tax, sharia law and Islamisation", sparked ugly stand-offs on Saturday when it staged 16 rallies across the country.
On Sunday afternoon, a message from a "Kerry Jones" was posted by the administrators of the Reclaim Australia Rally Tasmania page. It linked to the Wikipedia entry for former Australians for Constitutional Monarchy executive director Kerry Jones, who is now chief executive of the Constitution Education Fund Australia.
The letter said the rallies were a "great idea" and made a number of offensive statements about Muslim Australians.
Mrs Jones was appointed by Attorney-General George Brandis to the federal government's Old Parliament House Advisory Council on March 29 along with former federal Labor leader Simon Crean and others.
She said the letter was an "appalling" personal attack, but it also "has to be seen as an attack on the Constitution Education Fund Australia", which runs "neutral education programs" about civics and citizenship across the country.
"I'm absolutely appalled by what the letter said ... nothing could be more personally contrary to my own view," she said.
"I will take whatever appropriate action needs to be taken to ensure that my name is cleared."
Mrs Jones said in a statement that she was "investigating all avenues to take appropriate defamation action" and "social media abuse of this type incites hatred and bigotry".
She told Fairfax Media her lawyers were also exploring the possibility of criminal defamation proceedings, which are rare in Australia. A criminal case would need to be approved by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Mrs Jones' lawyers had not contacted Reclaim Australia but had asked Facebook to remove the offending post and "haven't heard back".
"It is not removed as we're talking right now, and that's very upsetting," she said on Wednesday.
"We're just investigating what can be done at this stage - talking to the police, talking to the various appropriate jurisdictions. We're investigating the Commonwealth offences for criminal defamation under the Criminal Code."
Comment has been sought from Reclaim Australia.
