By Gemma Grant and Kishor Napier-Raman
City of Kingston councillor Jane Agirtan is surely breathing a sigh of relief this week, after escaping conviction in Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court, where she was facing a charge of breaching an intervention order.
Independent councillor Jane Agirtan.Credit: janeagirtan.com
Instead, the former Liberal Party member-turned-independent was ordered by a magistrate to make a $2000 donation to the Royal Children’s Hospital as punishment.
“Bonus: the donation is tax-deductible. I’m off to the post office first thing this morning to sort the money order – because, you know, accountability,” Agirtan commented on a local Facebook page.
This winding tale dates back to October’s fever-pitched council elections, when an anonymous Reddit user posted, according to material heard in court, the following: “Jane Agirtan (bully, transphobe, anti-vaxxer) elected to Kingston council.”
Agirtan, having identified the poster’s real name, then shared it with her 4000 Facebook followers – along with their workplace, a prominent Melbourne legal firm. She urged her followers to “collectively help” the lawyer “overcome her Auntie Jane derangement syndrome”.
An online pile-on allegedly followed, prompting the court to grant the lawyer a personal safety intervention order against Agirtan. Charge sheets show the councillor was subsequently charged with breaching that order by failing to remove the post within 24 hours.
Agirtan was stood down from her council role in April, pending the outcome of the Magistrates’ Court case.Credit: Penny Stephens
While the post remained online for months after the fact (albeit with the name in question edited out), Agirtan’s Facebook account now appears to have been wiped clean.
But the independent councillor still might have a few hurdles to leap. She was stood down from her role in April, pending the outcome of the Magistrates’ Court case.
We spoke to Kingston Council on Thursday, and it said she was yet to be reinstated. The council has put in a call with its legal team about how it should best proceed.
Going, going, gone
The mighty Hawthorn Football Club is really flying at the moment. The club managed to convert its gold-coin Waverley Park purchase into a million-dollar payout earlier this week, after the ground was bought by the AFL.
The AFL has snapped up Waverley Park, buying it from the Hawthorn Football Club.Credit: Pat Scala
While the final sum is all very hush-hush, it’s been estimated to be between $10 million and $15 million. Talk about ka-ching.
But word on the street is that an assortment of Melbourne’s private schools also expressed their interest in the sale. CBD has heard whispers that Caulfield Grammar School pricked up its ears when the oval went on the market.
We were surprised to learn that the prestigious college (which sets parents back about $40,000 a year for a senior student) was considering picking up more acreage. With three existing campuses and another in the works, you’d think the school would be spoilt for choice.
But acquiring a footy ground which hosted the 1991 AFL grand final would be the type of status that money simply can’t buy (unless you’re got eight-figures to spend, that is).
This isn’t the first time that a private school has shown interest in acquiring one of Melbourne’s public landmarks. Regular readers will recall that St Michael’s Grammar School in St Kilda were short-lived proprietors of the famed Astor Theatre, before losing money when the school offloaded it in 2012.
More recently, Mount Scopus Memorial College announced plans to build a super-campus at the Caulfield Racecourse, buying the land from the Melbourne Racing Club for $195 million. The school will be neighbours with the Melbourne Football Club, which has also sketched up the blueprints for a new home base at the racecourse. Quite the hub growing out there.
When CBD contacted Caulfield Grammar on Thursday, the school declined to comment. But to any educational establishments who might be in the market for a footy ground – we’ll keep an eye out for any new listings.
Liberal Hack
Wednesday was meant to be an opportunity for the Liberals to reset.
Sussan Ley, the party’s first female leader, delivered her address to the National Press Club, calling for, among other things, better recruitment and retention of women.
The message was clearly lost on whoever manages the party’s socials. Around midnight, someone posted a series of lewd, pornographic images of scantily clad women to the stories on the @liberalaus Instagram account.
A social media Freudian slip? The act of a rogue intern?
Whatever the explanation, the offending material was, thankfully, swiftly removed.
“Overnight, the social media account of a contractor used by the party was hacked leading to the posting of unauthorised material on the Liberal Party’s Meta accounts at around midnight,” a party spokesman told CBD.
“All material was removed within 10 minutes of it being posted, and the matter was urgently raised with the Australian Cyber Security Centre and with Meta overnight. We apologise for any offence caused.”
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