NSW:Orkopoulos whistleblower faces costs

AAP General News (Australia)
08-03-2011
NSW:Orkopoulos whistleblower faces costs

SYDNEY, Aug 3 AAP - Gillian Sneddon, the whistleblower in the Milton Orkopoulos child
sex case, could lose more than a third of her damages payout after being ordered to pay
legal costs for the state of NSW.

NSW Supreme Court Justice Derek Price on Wednesday delivered his judgment against Ms
Sneddon, who believes the sum could be as much as $175,000.

The result means she will have to part with a portion of the $438,613 she received
in her case against Orkopoulos, who has been jailed, and her employer, the Speaker of
the NSW Legislative Assembly.

She was awarded the payout in June after a judge found the then NSW MP bullied and harassed her.

Ms Sneddon, 54, who worked in the Swansea electorate office of Orkopoulos, sued him,
the state and the Speaker.

She lost her bid against the state, but argued she shouldn't have to pay its legal
costs because of the "unusual circumstances" of the case.

She also claimed that having to pay would effectively deny her much of the benefit
of the verdict in her favour.

But the judge rejected that argument, saying it was the plaintiff's decision to embark
upon litigation with the Speaker and the State as defendants.

"I conclude, that the justice of the case requires that the state, the successful party,
be entitled to its costs," he said.

Ms Sneddon said she was harassed, bullied and victimised by the MP and co-workers in
the office for almost a year after reporting an October 2005 phone call.

The caller said he had been sexually abused by Orkopoulos since he was 15.

In 2008, the former Aboriginal affairs minister was jailed for at least nine years
for child sex and drugs offences.

AAP bzs/tr/it/jjs

KEYWORD: SNEDDON

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