Suspended mayor Luke Smith facing new lawsuit
Already facing corruption charges, suspended Logan mayor Luke Smith is now being sued for $1.4 million by a former colleague.
Crime & Justice
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A FORMER Logan City chief executive officer has filed a $1.4 million defamation claim against the council and its suspended mayor Luke Smith.
Sharon Kelsey, who was controversially sacked a year ago, has lodged the Supreme Court claim alleging Smith made defamatory comments against her in six media publications.
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Ms Kelsey is a police officer-turned-barrister who once worked for Victorian’s anti-corruption watchdog before being employed on a four-year contract as Logan’s CEO in June 2017.
She was sacked by councillors in a 5-7 vote in February last year despite a favourable independent review, and just months after reporting allegations about Smith to the Crime and Corruption Commission.
The CCC is investigating whether she was sacked in retaliation for being a whistleblower, while Ms Kelsey has taken legal action in the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission.
Her defamation claim relates to media comments by Smith, who is on an unrelated CCC corruption charge, after her 2018 dismissal.
According to documents filed with the court, the comments include that Ms Kelsey never had an actual contract, rather a probation contract, and that councillors chose not to appoint her because she “wasn’t up to scratch”.
Her claim also refers to Smith’s comment that she had her probation extended twice.
According to her claim, this implied it related to performance concerns rather than to accommodate leave of the mayor and other councillors, and an application in the QIRC to be decided.
The defamation claim also reveals allegations by Ms Kelsey that Smith launched a probation review of her partly in retaliation for her appraisal of another staffer’s performance.
Ms Kelsey alleges Smith disagreed with her about the performance of council director Jane Frawley, with whom she alleges Smith had an undisclosed personal relationship that went beyond the usual professional relationship.
Ms Kelsey says she gave positive and constructive feedback in Ms Frawley’s performance review.
A month later, Ms Kelsey alleges Smith started a probationary review process for her and she formed the view that he intended to sack her.
Ms Kelsey alleges she was later sacked by councillors politically aligned to him.
Smith and the councillors have previously denied a political affiliation and reject they sacked her in retaliation for her CCC complaint.
Smith and council are yet to file a defence to the defamation claim.
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