John Bell still seeking a 'sorry' from de Castella

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p1923bellrunningokLETTER TO THE EDITOR
 
Sir – The issues that arose between Rob de Castella and me in the Indigenous Marathon Project in 2010 will be heard in the ACT Supreme Court on March 30 on appeal before Justice Penfold.
 
Deek refuses to withdraw or apologise for his accusation in the ACT Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal on December 16, 2013 that I am a racist.
 
These issues have been extremely hurtful for me over the last four and a half years.
 
While I wish the project continued success, I will forever regret the day I made a handshake deal with a famous Australian, former marathon running associate and friend.
 
As Sam Goldwyn so famously said, verbal agreements are not worth the paper they are written on.
 
John Bell (pictured above left)

Melbourne
 

2 COMMENTS

  1. Dear Erwin,
    Thank you for publishing my letter.
    You are the only editor in the media who will entertain hearing my side of a case against against a former Australian of the Year.
    I have a two day hearing in the AAT in Melbourne on 19-20 March 2015 appealing a decision by DOHA not to release certain FOI information that I stumbled upon a few months ago, quite fortuitously.
    A favourable decision by AAT Deputy President Forgie may well change the current status of my position in the court of public opinion regarding my side of the story in the Indigenous Marathon.
    Perhaps too late for the Supreme Court, but certainly causing very interesting new light to be shed on a long running stressful dispute. And certainly newsworthy.

  2. I accompanied John Bell to the hearing at the AAT, Mr de Castella contested the release of the audit report, he was supported by two lawyers and two assistants.
    John won and was given access to the audit report of which I have a copy.
    Although the report raises many serious questions especially regarding the dollars which should be all answered in Mr de Castella’s reply to the auditors. (Requested by the auditors to be submitted by 31st October 2012.)
    The auditors report states that Mr Bell was actually an employee of Googoil Films. Strange that Mr de Castella has always insisted that John was a volunteer, even as late as March 2015 while giving evidence AAT hearing. I am sure that Mr Bell was not aware that he was working for Goodoil.
    The question I would like to have an answer to is: Why wouldn’t Mr de Castella (or his lawyers) have mentioned this at the first hearing in the action with Mr Bell?
    This could have saved a lot of time and money.

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