Former Tour Down Under boss Mike Turtur files defamation lawsuit over Facebook posts
The man heralded for conceiving the Tour Down Under has filed a lawsuit over Facebook posts that he says falsely accuse him of stealing credit for the event from a dead man.
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Former Tour Down Under boss Mike Turtur has filed a defamation lawsuit over Facebook posts which, he says, falsely accuse him of being a “pretender” who stole credit for creating the multi million-dollar event from a dead man.
The former Olympic cyclist has asked the District Court to order Adelaide marketing identity Francene Connor pay him aggravated damages for her “malicious” social media comments.
He asserts she had “improper motives” and “ulterior purposes” when she claimed the TDU had actually been conceived by the late David McFarlane, of SA Major Events.
Mr Turtur asserts she further defamed him by claiming he stayed silent to “maintain the lie” and “ensured no credit was given” to anyone but himself.
In addition, he asserts Ms Connor falsely accused him of being “arrogant, dismissive, demeaning and unacceptably rude” toward local mayors and race volunteers.
Mr Turtur asserts those attacks damaged his chances of remaining TDU Director – a role from which he stepped down in January – and exposed him to “odium, scandal and contempt”.
“(Ms Connor claimed) Mr Turtur was a person who has deceived many people with his dishonourable and untrustworthy conduct,” his court papers assert.
“(She claimed he has been) conducting himself as a pretender and a credit-take(r) would, but could not deceive people such as her, who have been on government boards and understand how major events work.”
Mr Turtur was the TDU’s inaugural race director in 1999 and, ever since, the event has repeatedly been called his “brainchild” in media coverage.
On March 30, 2019, Ms Connor published a Facebook post about the then-imminent revelation that Lance Armstrong was paid $1.5 million to ride at the 2009 Tour.
She also discussed Mr Turtur and his part in the TDU’s creation in that post – in his statement of claim, he says that was defamatory.
“(She claimed) Mr Turtur has, at least since 1999, acquiesced with the media reports that he conceived the idea of the TDU, which he knows to be false, and in truth stole the credit for the concept of the idea from Mr McFarlane,” the document asserts.
“(She claimed) he has acted in a dishonourable and untrustworthy manner by staying silent as to the alleged ‘true position’ because Mr McFarlane was a person who ‘was never one to take credit for his ideas and achievements’.
“(She claimed) Mr McFarlane never did anything to state the ‘true position’ to the media, thereby enabling Mr Turtur to maintain the lie and continue to take undeserved media credit and accolades that he knew belonged, in truth, to Mr McFarlane.”
It asserts Ms Connor’s post included a quote from Indira Gandhi comparing people who do work with those who take credit.
“(She claimed Mr Turtur) is, by reference to a quote from Gandhi, one of the second kind of people in that he did not do the work but is prepared to take the credit for the work,” it asserts.
“(She claimed he) deliberately concealed, and has continued to conceal, from the public the fact that he was not the person responsible for conceiving the concept of the TDU, knowing that the credit for that should have gone to Mr McFarlane.”
It asserts Ms Connor also referred to Mr Turtur when responding to comments on her post, and that those mentions were defamatory as well.
“(She claimed) Mr Turtur, over the time he was the race director of the TDU, had so poorly treated local mayors and sponsors in his role,” it asserts.
“(She claimed he) was an arrogant and dismissive person who used his position of authority to treat people, in particular volunteers and persons supporting the TDU, in an unacceptably rude, demeaning and unacceptable manner.
“(She claimed he) was a ‘pretender’ who only holds the position he does due to the one ‘amazing person’ that worked for SA Major Events, Mr McFarlane.
“(She claims Mr Turtur) was actually incapable of doing the work required to create the concept of the TDU and throughout ensured no credit was given to any person other than himself.”
The statement asserts Ms Connor portrayed herself, in her post and comments, as a person who “could identify those in government who actually did the work”.
“(The post and comments) were downloaded and viewed by … people throughout Australia who were in positions of power within government so as to cause harm to and damage Mr Turtur’s prospects of being retained by the SA Government in his role as tour director of the TDU,” it asserts.
“Mr Turtur has been greatly injured in his career, reputation and profession … he has been brought into public odium, scandal and contempt.”
It asks the court to award aggravated damages, owing to Mr Turtur’s “reasonable belief” in Ms Connor’s “malice, improper motives and ulterior purposes”.
Her comments, it asserts, were “targeting … people within the SA Government who held senior and influential positions”.
Ms Connor told The Advertiser she could not comment on Mr Turtur’s lawsuit “as the matter is before the courts”.
“I will be vigorously defending myself in this matter,” she said.