Mick Dodson's Australian of the Year title is Refuted
Wednesday February 18, 2009
A retired lawyer does not believe that Aboriginal leader Mick Dodson should have been made Australian of the Year because of his alleged dishonesty.
"The people who accepted his nomination for this high honour have made a serious mistake," said Geoff James, the retired lawyer about Northern Territory';s Dodson, who was named Australian of the Year by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
Previously the director of the Northern Land Council Dodson appeared in the NT Supreme Court in Darwin as a witness in 1999 when the council was being sued for unfair dismissal.
Supreme Court Judge, Justice David Angel said that Dodson lacked a memory for detail, was not as conscientious as he might have been and didn';t give honest answers during his time as a witness in the Darwin Court.
Justice Angel also said that Mr Dodson in Darwin gave inaccurate reports of a phone call with the federal Aboriginal affairs minister at the time, Robert Tickner.
"The plaintiff did not swear offensively at the minister as Mr Dodson alleged," Justice Angel told the Northern Territory News.
Mr Dodson was approached about his actions made no comment.
