Kingston councillor Jane Agirtan commences defamation proceedings in the County Court against Clementine Ford

A newly-elected councillor in Melbourne’s southeast is suing for defamation after the controversial author described her as a “racist, transphobic cooker”.

A freshly-elected Kingston councillor is suing controversial feminist commentator Clementine Ford for defamation after Ms Ford called her a “racist, transphobic cooker angling to be a politician”.

The Herald Sun can reveal that Jane Agirtan, who will on Wednesday be sworn in to Kingston City Council in Melbourne’s southeast, has formally commenced defamation proceedings in the County Court, seeking $150,000 in damages.

But Ms Agirtan, an accountant, has landed herself in hot water before her term has even begun after publishing details of a member of the public on Sunday who described her in similar terms to Ms Ford.

The councillor-elect won the Chicquita ward, which covers the suburbs of Cheltenham, Heatherton and Mentone, with 52 per cent of the vote after preferences, over incumbent deputy mayor Tracey Davies.

Kingston councillor-elect Jane Agirtan. Picture: Supplied

In a writ filed last month and obtained by the Herald Sun, Ms Agirtan claims Ms Ford published several posts on Instagram and Facebook last year, which were read by a “significant number” of her more than 200,000 followers.

In the first post, Ms Ford shares a photo of Ms Agirtan’s Instagram profile with the caption: “This is @jane_agirtan, a racist, transphobic cooker angling to be a politician.”

Since then, Ms Agirtan has sent Ms Ford – an author and columnist known for her at times controversial views on feminism and social issues – four concerns notices between October last year and August this year in the hopes of reaching a resolution.

She is seeking “reasonable legal costs of $15,000 to be paid to date and damages of $150,000”, a public apology and a retraction, according to the latest notice.

Clementine Ford is a feminist commentator. Picture: Brendan Radke

But in October, Ms Agirtan launched legal action in the County Court.

According to the writ, Ms Agirtan is pursuing a judge-alone trial as she seeks damages and an injunction restraining Ms Ford from publishing any “defamation imputations” about her.

She claims the post is defamatory and “likely to cause serious harm” to her reputation due in part to the loyalty and dedication of Ms Ford’s followers to “believe and accept what she says and to attempt to imitate her”.

Ms Agirtan is also suing Ms Ford over further posts made in November last year and April this year.

She claims that Ms Ford, through her lawyer, “continues to deny any defamation has taken place” and has failed to apologise or provide any retraction.

Ms Ford at a pro-Palestine protest. Picture: Brendan Beckett

She also alleges that in the wake of the posts one of Ms Ford’s followers published Ms Agirtan’s work address, while others published her home address “along with threats of sexual violence towards her”.

But after an anonymous Reddit post on Sunday described Ms Agirtan as a “bully, racist, transphobe, anti-vaxxer” with a link to a news story outlining racist memes Ms Agirtan had shared about Indigenous people, Ms Agirtan responded by posting the full name and workplace of the post’s author.

One of the memes Ms Agirtan shared between 2014 and 2018 depicted an Indigenous elder with the words “spends all his money on petrol doesn’t own a car”.

Ms Agirtan apologised when the memes were exposed by the Herald Sun in 2020 when she previously ran for council.

“The posts — which are from many years ago — are not consistent with the views I currently hold,” she said in 2020.

The Reddit post also contained a screenshot of an Instagram comment where Ms Agirtan appears to describe “drag crusaders” as “unemployed soyboys, blue haired Marxist cell recruits or just plain crackheads with no kids of their own”.

On Sunday, Ms Agirtan invited her 4000 Facebook followers to drop the Reddit post’s author “a line” with a link to the individual’s own social media profile.

The Herald Sun has chosen not to name the person.

The alleged doxxing has led to several complaints about Ms Agirtan being lodged with both Kingston City Council and the Local Government Inspectorate, the Herald Sun understands.

Ms Agirtan, a long-time Liberal member, ran as an independent candidate who vowed to “go back to basics and manage ratepayer funds efficiently”.

The LGI refused to comment citing confidentiality concerns.

Ms Agirtan, Ms Ford and Kingston City Council were contacted for comment.