Burns v Sunol [2016] NSWCATAD 74

Civil and Administrative Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Burns v Sunol [2016] NSWCATAD 74 Hearing dates: 10 November 2015 Date of orders: 19 April 2016 Decision date: 19 April 2016 Jurisdiction: Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division Before: A Britton, Principal Member E Hayes, General Member Decision: (1)The complaint of homosexual vilification in relation to Statement 1 of Complaint 1 is substantiated. The balance of Complaint 1 is dismissed. (2)The complaint of homosexual vilification in relation to Statement 1 of Complaint 2 is substantiated. (3)The complaint of homosexual vilification in relation to Passage 3 of Complaint 3 is substantiated. The balance of Complaint 3 is dismissed. (4)The complaint of victimisation in relation to Complaint 3 is substantiated. The complaint of victimisation in relation to Complaint 2 is dismissed. (5)Within fourteen (14) days of the date of this decision, Mr Sunol must post an apology in the following terms in a prominent position on every website controlled and/or operated by him. The apology must remain on the website for the life of the website or at least six months, whichever is the lesser:

This apology is made pursuant to an order of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT):

On various dates throughout 2015, I published statements on various websites concerning homosexuality and homosexual people.

NCAT held that those statements amounted to unlawful homosexual vilification in contravention of s 49ZT of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW) (the Act). NCAT found that those statement were capable, of inciting hatred or serious contempt of homosexual people on the ground of their homosexuality. NCAT also found that my statements were not published reasonably.