Sexpo lost a court challenge against an outfit campaigning against ‘sexualisation of girls’

SEXPO, organisers of an adult consumer exhibition, lost a Federal Court challenge in Brisbane against Collective Shout, a grassroots outfit which campaigns against “the objectification of women and the sexualisation of girls’’.

Illustration of Justice John Reeves by Brett Lethbridge.

THE gang at Sexpo have sought relief and failed.

But it’s not the kind you might suspect so wipe that smirk off your face.

Organisers of the long-running adult consumer exhibition lost a Federal Court challenge in Brisbane this week against Collective Shout, a grassroots outfit which campaigns against “the objectification of women and the sexualisation of girls’’.

Sexpo alleged that it had suffered loss and a damage, as well as a bruised commercial reputation, after Collective Shout called for the removal of “porn ads’’ on the sides of buses used by schoolchildren.

In a web post last June, Collective Shout claimed Sexpo was promoting their “live sex webcam’’ and links to hardcore porn sites on public transport and billboards ahead of its Brisbane show.

Group members then went further in a series of tweets and Instagram posts, alleging that Sexpo was promoting paedophilia.

“There’s something really sick about people who insist on advertising live sex shows to kids. It’s called grooming. Those who do it – abusers,’’ one tweet said.

Sexpo slammed these actions as “misleading and deceptive conduct,’’ launching court action last August to access extensive financial data about Collective Shout and its backers.

They also sought an injunction barring publication of similarly incendiary claims in the future.

But Justice John Reeves ruled that, despite Sexpo’s filing of more than 500 pages of affidavit material, it failed to prove it had suffered any damage to its reputation or trading activity.

It’s unclear whether Sexpo will appeal the decision and no one from the group returned City Beat’s call to find out yesterday.

But Collective Shout, a non-profit which claims to have 30,000 supporters, was happy to declare victory and vowed to maintain the rage over Sexpo.

The group said it was “delighted that its vigorous defence of Sexpo’s application has been vindicated and it will continue to advocate for the protection of children, including by drawing attention to the conduct of Sexpo’’.

It also renewed its call for more stringent advertising regulation.

GONE BUST

THE niece of Australia’s most notorious conman, Peter Foster, had just $1254 in the bank when she declared personal bankruptcy last week. City Beat has obtained a copy of the statement of affairs for Brisbane-based Arabella Foster, a self-described consultant on “business strategy, coaching and mentoring’’.

The document show the 32-year-old went bust owing nearly $8 million, with virtually all of that sum owed to a bloke named Paul Baker.

Baker was a lead plaintiff in a class action of 153 dudded investors who won court orders against her last year to pay her share of $9.7 million.

The investors claim they lost millions in an alleged betting scam known as Sports Trading Club, which was based in Hong Kong and – surprise, surprise – -linked to Peter Foster.

Following his arrest on the Gold Coast early last year, Foster is now awaiting trial on fraud charges stemming from the STC case.

It’s alleged that he helped move more than $32 million in STC investor funds in to offshore bank accounts.

Like his niece, Foster was also declared bankrupt in January after the ACCC chased him over an unpaid $50,000 bill for legal costs.

The ACCC accrued the legal bill after Foster failed in his bid to overturn a court order that he pay a $660,000 fine stemming from the $6.4 million SensaSlim scam.

A court determined in 2014 that Foster fleeced 80 franchise managers and faked a trial of 10,000 people who supposedly lost weight with the oral diet spray.

Foster never paid that $660,000 fine and, now that he’s bankrupt, you can forget about it.