Monthly Archives: August 2013

Meryl Dorey’s latest cash grab.

avn-news-article-avoAs readers of this blog will know on Thursday 22nd August I scored a legal victory against Meryl Dorey of the Australian Vaccination Network. Ms Dorey had been seeking an order to have me silenced on the Internet and dragged out the process for nearly a year until I was able to finally have the case dismissed. Ms Dorey was finally ordered to pay $11,187.50 of my legal costs.

Although I received no compensation for the time that I had to spend dealing with this nonsense getting my legal costs recovered was certainly very important because it means Ms Dorey was not able to simply file a vexatious lawsuit and then walk away free of charge.

On the 26th of August the AVN made an announcement on it’s Facebook page.

Ms Dorey quickly resorted to her usual tactic of accusing the courts of being bias against her.

From the beginning, it appeared to me that the magistrate might have already made his decision before we entered the court. The first thing he said to my barrister was that the loser would have to pay costs. It is my understanding that this is not the normal procedure.

The rest of the hearing was no better and though I was able to show that this person had indeed asked people to send me pornography and had posted intimidating mail to me, the magistrate found against me. –Meryl Dorey, 26th August 2013

In court it was revealed that Ms Dorey could not identify the person who had sent her the threatening email, or any other abusive material. However since I am amongst the most vocal critics they decided to focus the effort of their lawsuit on me and even admitted this in court.

Ms Dorey was notified by a magistrate back in November 2012 that she would be liable for my costs if she were to lose. So she can’t possibly claim to be surprised by the fact that costs were awarded against her. This is standard procedure, although less common with AVO cases.

You’d expect that having costs awarded against you might serve to discourage vexatious litigation, but nothing is very quite that simple with Ms Dorey. Rather than paying the legal costs out of her own pocket Meryl Dorey decided to go fund raising. After all she does hold a Charity Fund Raising License so why not put it to use?

That legal bill will need to be paid before the 21st of September. As a full-time volunteer for over 20 years, I have virtually no income nor do I have any way to raise these funds. For 20 years, through my involvement with the AVN, I have worked tirelessly to support and inform those who came to me for help. Our organisation was responsible for the introduction of the Conscientious Objection clause which allows families who don’t vaccinate or who vaccinate selectively to access all government entitlements.

Now, it is my turn to ask for your assistance. If you believe in justice, support informed choice and are able to give any amount – no matter how small – to my legal fund to help pay the costs the court has required me to pay, I would be very grateful indeed. –Meryl Dorey, 26th August 2013

So how long does it take the Australian Vaccination Network to raise this kind of money?

So the “full-time volunteer for over 20 years, I have virtually no income nor do I have any way to raise these funds.” was able to use a charity fund raising license to secure $11,187.50 in funding to harass people with vexatious litigation in just 24 hours. With that type of income it’s no wonder this organisation fights so hard to avoid closure.

Recently Peter Bowditch another defendant against Ms Doreys vexatious litigation campaign wrote to the Attorney General regarding these AVO applications. Here is part of the response.

Under section 99 of the Act, a court may award costs to the defendant, against an APVO applicant. This provides a further safeguard against vexatious or frivolous applications. However, a court is not to award costs against a police officer who makes an application unless satisfied that the police officer made the application knowing it contained matter that was false or misleading in a material particular.

–More at RatBags.com

This supposed “safe guard” clearly fails when the litigant is able to push a court imposed financial penalty onto their own fund raising charity. Besides what sort of charitable purpose does vexatious litigation fall under?

Legal Victory Meryl Dorey's gag order failed..

On Thursday I successfully defended an attempt by Meryl Dorey of the Australian Vaccination Network to have me silenced on the Internet. 

The Australian Vaccination Network (AVN) has been trying to silence its critics for a number of years now. So it come as no surprise that the president of the Australian Vaccination Network would eventually file Strategic Lawsuit Agaist Public Participation (SLAPP) suits against critics in an effort to silence them. What did come as a surprise was the choice of legislation. Back in September of 2012 Meryl Dorey chose to file applications for Apprehended Violence Orders (AVO) against myself and two other critics of the AVN.

(Note: During the 11 months between the lodgement of the application and Todays hearing Ms Dorey resigned as president of the AVN).

Ms Doreys application requested that the following orders be made:

1. The defendant must not approach or contact the protected persons by any means whatsoever except through the defendants legal representative.

2. The defendant must not mention the applicant in any online forum in any derogatory manner.

Although Ms Dorey lodged the applications in her personal capacity the intent of this litigation is clear.

Spot the applicant Meryl Dorey or The AVN?

The AVN has been hitting back at it’s critics for a number of years now. The AVN and their supporters employ the following tactics against critics:

  1. False DMCA reports.
  2. False reporting of critics websites to anti-virus vendors.
  3. Threatening Politicians.
  4. Harassing, abusing, vilifying Grieving Families.
  5. Impersonating critics websites (badly).
  6. Spamming, email bombarding Members of Parliament.
  7. Calling Doctors and Courts peadophiles.
  8. Accused a mobile health service of kidnapping kids off the street.
  9. Abusing Facebooks report feature to get critics banned.
  10. Withholding Financial Reports from the department of Fair Trading.
  11. Advocating the use of violence against critics.
  12. Contacting Civil Rights groups and failing to spot the irony.
  13. Promoting a fake church to dodge the law.
  14. Lying to fair trading, and it’s not even a very good lie.
  15. Bullying Doctors.
  16. Calling their critics terrorists. 

So a SLAPP suit is perfectly in line with the AVN and Meryl Doreys standard operating procedures. The timeline of events is as follows:

5th September 2012: Meryl Dorey files her application in a Ballina local court.

14th September 2012: Peter Bowditch notifies me that my name has appeared in the court registry.

20th September 2012: Meryl Dorey goes on public radio to brag about her AVO applications.

25th September 2012: I receive a summons to appear in a court 4,500km in two days time.

27th September 2012: First mention which I am not party to. Meryl Dorey publically announces on the Australian Vaccination Network website that she has scored a legal victory against her critics.

15th November 2012: Second mention. Application to move the proceeding to Lismore local court which has video link facilities.

10th December 2012: Third mention. I am in Paris when I receive a phone call from my lawyer telling me that the magistrate in Lismore does not appear impressed with the applications.

15th January 2013: Fourth mention. The matter is referred to mediation.

6th Febuary 2013: Meryl Dorey fails to attend mediation.

20th Febuary 2013: Meryl Dorey attends mediation, announces her displeasure at the letter I sent to Greg Beattie. Mediation falls apart.

12th March 2013: Fifth mention. A hearing date is set for the 24th May.

26th April 2013: Meryl Dorey loses her AVO case against Peter Bowditch.

21st May 2013: Meryl Dorey submits application for the magistrate to be disqualified. Application is granted in chambers.

24th May 2013: Was a hearing, now the sixth mention. New hearing and new magistrate set for 22nd August.

19th August 2013: An offer is made to Ms Dorey to drop the case and pay smaller legal fees than she will have to if we go to court. She declines.

22nd August 2013: I receive an email from my lawyer at 4:12am containing documents that Meryl Dorey wishes to use in court. We know Ms Dorey likes to file things at the very last minute but this is surely taking the piss. I print the documents out and bring them to court anyway.

 

1. Ms Dorey included a screenshot of some pornography (“Cunt of the year” award) that she alleges was sent to her, no doubt her intention was to blame me for it despite the fact that she has had it since at least 2011, but claims that a message I sent in 2012 incited people to send her porn. I do not believe that anyone involved with SAVN has ever sent Ms Dorey pornographic material. There is no evidence to suggest that anything I have posted on the internet has ever caused anyone to act unlawfully towards Ms Dorey or the AVN.

 

2. On 25th of September 2012 I received an email from fantasticfox5@tormail.org offering to “fuckup those cunts cyber style” to which I politly declined thinking nothing more of it until I saw a post on the AVN facebook wall complaining about a death threat that appeard to be from the same user.

From: fantasticfox5@tormail.org
Subject: flu-reactions
Date: 25 September 2012 10:09:12 AM AEST
To: meryl@avn.org.au
meryl be warned we’re coming for you. and you will be sorry you filthy
baby killer. sharpening the knives now.
We are Anonymous.
We are Legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Expect us.

As you can see it is quite a nasty email so I decided to publicly disclose my earlier correspondence with this individual along with the mail headers that might be used to identify the perpetrator. Below you can see the full exchange of my emails with fantasticfox5@tormail.org. Mail headers here.

—–Original Message—–
From: Dan Buzzard
Sent: Tuesday, 25 September 2012 8:17 AM
To: ‘fantasticfox5@tormail.org’
Subject: RE: meryl dorey

Hi,

While I appreciate your desire to stop these low lives I could never support the actions you propose.

Shutting down the AVN requires us to keep our footing firmly planted on the moral high ground, so I must decline your offer to “fuckup those cunts cyber style”.

Have a nice day.

~Dan

—–Original Message—–

From: fantasticfox5@tormail.org [mailto:fantasticfox5@tormail.org]

Sent: Tuesday, 25 September 2012 8:02 AM

To: headreptilian@skep.li

Subject: meryl dorey

nice collection of docs. want me to fuckup those cunts cyber style?

they wont know what hit ’em. i can hack their website with sql injection too. plaster it with all sorts. they lose audiance who are offended by wat i post. its how we operate. i could also organize one of our many botnets to take em down with ddos.

just ask if you need help

We are Anonymous.

We are Legion.

We do not forgive.

We do not forget.

Expect us.

You’ll notice that my reply email does not appear in either of Ms Doreys statements of evidence only the email sent by FantasticFox5. Including the entire dialogue would have weakened her evidence. Ms Dorey’s lawyer engaged in a rather pathetic attempt to try and link me to FantasticFox5.

Ms Dorey is aware that I have an account on WhyWeProtest.net. Her lawyer claimed in court that I am active on this forum. I told him that 5 post in 5 years (4 of them in 2008) hardly counts as ‘active’. I only wish I had submitted a dictionary into evidence. He then proceeded to ask whether or not the forum had a private messaging feature, I acknowledge that it probably does as it’s a standard feature. He then suggests that it is entirely possible that I contacted FantasticFox5 via the forums. Of course he had no evidence to backup this false allegation and the desperation was palpable.

There is absolutely nothing to suggest that FantasticFox5 has anything to do with WhyWeProtest.net the Anonymous brand is widely used across the internet and such a person could have come from any of the thousands of sites sympathetic to the goals of anonymous. I find it highly suspicious that Ms Dorey asserts knowledge of an individual who’s identity is still unknown. It is also suspicious that this email is being used as a major piece of evidence in an AVO Application that precedes it. It’s like telling your insurance company that you need to lodge a claim today because your car gets stolen tomorrow.

I consider the FantasticFox5 allegations to be the most serious of all the material as there is a clear and direct threat. However I think Meryl Dorey, or her supporters likely fabricated this bit of evidence. Then her lawyer lied about it in court.

 

3. On 31st of August 2012 I sent Meryl Dorey a butthurt report form. I originally saw the form posted on the WhyWeProtest.net forum by an anonymous user. Ms Dorey and her lawyer decided to accuse me of being the anonymous poster in their effort to link me to that site. Yet again they had no evidence for any of these accusations, the only name I post under on that forum is ‘CIA_sec‘. So they failed again through lack of evidence. There isn’t much more to say on it but you can read about the time I sent it to Meryl here.

On this forum, a person who calls himself anonymous but who I believe is Dan Buzzard (and the original person who started this thread), posted a copy of a 

form called a Butthurt Report Form. Shortly after posting this (please see below), Dan Buzzard sent me a copy of this form via post to my address. He had taken 

a picture of the envelope addressed to me and posted that to his blog. The only purpose of this letter was to harass and intimidate me. -Meryl Dorey, written statement.

 

4. Meryl Dorey also objected to me calling her a liar and assclown.

Do you see what’s missing from the screenshot of my blog? How about everything except the title and first sentence. Wouldn’t want the court to know that you got called a liar and an assclown for doing something dishonest and potentially unlawful would we? Unfortunately this didn’t get brought up, so I didn’t have a chance to ask what they are hiding. You can see what they didn’t want the court to see here.

 

5. I told the court that if someone is threatening Ms Dorey or sending her pornography then she should file for AVOs against them. What other people choose to do on the internet is nothing to do with me. Ms Dorey’s lawyer argued that I am the only person she can identify with any link to the abuse she’s been receiving. In other words they have no idea who the perpetrator is so they blame me. At one point the magistrate did ask if the person who sent the threatening email was in the court room, they had to admit that the perpetrator wasn’t.

In closing the magistrate read both emails from FantasticFox5, plus my reply email to FantasticFox5 and the two screenshot below.

Let’s not be rude on the internet, right?

So the case came down to these points:

  • Meryl Dorey is upset about things being said on the internet.
  • She alleges that people are sending her porn and death threats.
  • Looking for someone to blame she chooses me. (and Peter Bowditch, Daniel Rafaele)
  • I tell the court that she is lying about receiving pornography and I do not know the identity of FantasticFox5.
  • Dorey and co admit that the perpetrator isn’t in the courtroom.
  • Ms Dorey’s Lawyer tries to draw non-existent link between myself and FantasticFox5, fails miserably.

The end result?

Case dismissed, costs application against Ms Dorey for just over $11,000. The system works.

 The Documents presented in this case are as follows. The more familiar you are with these documents the more you will realise what a baseless and vexatious case this was.

Meryl Dorey also lost an AVO application against Peter Bowditch which you can read about here. A third AVO application against Daniel Raffaele was consented to without admission so long as the gag order was thrown out, which it was. So in the end all three attempts to silence her critics have failed and none of the allegations she has made against any of us have been proven.

SAVN and the Taliban united.

What’ is the difference between Skeptics and the Taliban? Because Meryl Dorey, founder of the Australian Vaccination Network wants to know.

That;s because they are NOT normal. Anyone who is even a little bit in touch with reality does not abuse others simply because of differing opinions. Tell me – how do the skeptics and SAVN members differ in any way from the Taliban or any other religious fanatics? They have started a Fatwa against anyone who questions vaccination – even those whose own family members have been injured or killed by shots. They have no compassion for the pain of others and many of them are paid trolls working for the benefits of Big Pharma (you need only look at the number of hours they spend writing on various online forums to see that). 

SAVN are the REAL Australian terrorists and if the law were in any way just, they would have been cited and charged with the crimes of harassment, abuse and threats – all of which are illegal according to Australian Federal and State statutes – years ago.

-Meryl Dorey, 12 August 2013

Meryl Dorey is well known for making absurd comparisons. Just like the time;

Meryl Dorey accuses a family court of raping a child.

Accuses a mobile health service of abducting children.

Likens herself to the suffering of the Jews in the Holocaust.

Encourages followers to join a fake church. (Although one could argue that ALL churches are fake)

Is complicit in the abuse of greiving families.

There is more absurd accusations to come, but for legal reasons they will only be made public after the 22nd of August 2013.

QLD Health issues a warning about fake vaccinations.

The Queensland Department of Health has issued a warning about fake Homeopathic Vaccinations on Facebook. Of course all Homeopathy is fake, but it’s good to see the government acknowledge it from time to time.

‘Fake’ homeopathic immunisations misleading parents trying to do the right thing

Chief Health Officer has warned parents to beware of ‘fake’ immunisations.

Queensland parents are being warned of the risks surrounding so-called homeopathic vaccinations.

The State’s Chief Health Officer, Dr Jeannette Young, said she was issuing the warning after becoming aware of a child whose parents reported she had been protected by “homeopathic” immunisation. 

Dr Young said in scientific terms the notion of homeopathic vaccinations was nonsense.

“The Department of Health becomes aware of this as an issue from time to time,’’ she said.

“It is really frustrating to see cases where parents think they are doing the right thing by their child and, in fact, they’re not protecting them at all.

“We’ve recently been told by a doctor of a parent who reported their child had received homeopathic vaccinations from a homeopath, believing this was an acceptable alternative to mainstream immunisation.

“This is totally wrong and the whole science behind homeoprophylaxis, or homeopathic immunisation, is incorrect.

“Anyone offering remedies in place of standard vaccinations is dangerously misleading parents into believing their child is protected against serious diseases. 

“Homeopathic vaccinations are no substitutes for standard vaccination.

“Such so-called vaccinations are a serious breach of trust and should not be tolerated from a health care provider.’’

Dr Young said immunisation was considered one of the most important achievements of modern medicine and had saved millions of lives worldwide.

“Immunisation underpins a healthy community and is a core responsibility of the healthcare sector,’’ she said.

“The immunisation program remains extremely important and highly effective at preventing serious and life-threatening infectious diseases.

“Thanks to the immunisation program, diseases like diphtheria, tetanus, measles, influenza Type B, meningococcal C, and polio do not occur or occur rarely in Queensland.

“Always talk to your GP or immunisation provider if you have any concerns as there is a lot of information readily available for parents on the importance and value of immunisation.’’ –Queensland Health, Facebook.