My name has been cleared, councillor says

SURF Coast councillor Rod Nockles says his name has been cleared after fellow Liberal Kurt Reiter withdrew a court order taken against him.

Cr Nockles has claimed his innocence since Mr Reiter accused him of making death and rape threats against him late last year.

The matter centred on an allegedly abusive text message Mr Reiter claimed was sent to him by Mr Nockles on December 7 and further claims of harassment dating back to 2012.

It was scheduled to be heard in the Geelong Magistrates’ Court next week.

Mr Nockles — a former Liberal preselection candidate in the federal seat of Corangamite — said yesterday he was ready to prove to the court that he did not send the message, and had phone records to support his claim.

But Mr Reiter abandoned his application for a permanent intervention order last week before his accusations could be tested, and after the court was told he had deleted the message.

Mr Nockles spoke out about the matter for the first time yesterday, after his lawyer successfully applied to the Geelong Magistrates’ Court to have an interim intervention order taken out by Mr Reiter removed.

“I have consistently maintained there is no substance to any of Mr Reiter’s bizarre allegations and that the matter would be vigorously defended,” he said in a statement.

“After Mr Reiter made his allegations in a highly public manner he then, via his lawyer, offered several times to withdraw the application, but only if I would release a statement saying that I had in fact sent him a threatening text. This was clearly unacceptable to me because it is simply not true.

“I remain ready to defend the slur on my name. I have provided Mr Reiter’s lawyer with my phone records and an email from Telstra Customer Service that confirms that I did not send Mr Reiter an offensive text as he alleges.”

Mr Reiter, a selfproclaimed bisexual and rape victim, was the Liberal Party’s candidate for the state seat of Bellarine in 2010 but did not run last year.

He has declared he plans to seek preselection for the party in the seat in 2018.

In abandoning his application last week, he said he stood by his claims against Mr Nockles but the matter had become too costly.

Mr Nockles told the Geelong Advertiser yesterday he was unsure what motivated Mr Reiter’s claims against him.

It is understood the pair had a disagreement on the phone after Mr Nockles went on Jon Faine’s 774 ABC radio program on December 5 and discussed the Liberal Party’s state election loss days earlier.

Mr Nockles said Mr Reiter lacked the evidence to support his accusations, questioning his credibility and the use of intervention orders.

“This matter has caused me and my family significant distress,” he said.

“Intervention orders are important legal instruments that need to be taken seriously to protect vulnerable families.

“It frustrates me to think that law enforcement and court resources are distracted, and the protection of intervention orders may be undermined if they are used for deceitful and politically motivated smear campaigns.”