Former Stonnington mayor Jami Klisaris has launched defamation proceedings against Council Watch president Dean Hurlston, alleging he spread false sexual harassment claims that caused “serious harm” to her reputation.
A writ filed in the County Court accuses Hurlston of publishing an untrue allegation that Klisaris “relentlessly” sexually harassed his partner and her political opponent, former mayor Joe Gianfriddo, by “touching him repeatedly on the upper thigh.”
It alleges the posts appeared on Hurlston’s Council Watch Facebook page and X account.
The filing states Hurlston’s “vendetta” began in 2021 after Klisaris, then mayor, supported the development of a sports centre at Percy Treyvaud Memorial Park, a project Hurlston and Gianfriddo “were vocal opponents” of as residents living across the road.
It claims he subsequently used Council Watch to “persistently and unreasonably” criticise and vilify her and sponsored defamatory posts during the October 2024 council elections, when both Klisaris and Gianfriddo contested the Malvern Ward.
Klisaris, Stonnington’s youngest-ever mayor who served three terms and is also a practising solicitor, says she previously held an “outstanding and unblemished reputation” before the alleged publications.
The writ argues she has been “humiliated and embarrassed” and suffered damage to her professional standing. She is seeking aggravated damages.
Hurlston maintains the allegations are “substantially true,” telling the Herald Sun: “More will be said in the defence and it will not be good for many people involved with Stonnington council.”
His defence, signed by barrister Sue Chrysanthou, describes Council Watch as a watchdog holding councils “accountable” and says he made “two reasonable offers to make amends.”
He rejects claims of a longstanding vendetta, calling them “embarrassing and liable to be struck out.”
The dispute comes after Hurlston was earlier issued a two-year order barring him from stalking, harassing or making derogatory remarks about current Stonnington mayor Melina Sehr, a ruling he intends to appeal.
Source: Herald Sun.
