Tozer denies ticket untruth

OIA senior prosecutor Amanda Bridgeman, he admitted he had not been engaged to write the review at the time he asked for the tickets.

Ms Bridgeman suggested Cr Tozer had “concocted” a story that he was friends with Mr Van der Woude and his evidence was “fabricated in order to make your conduct more palatable”.

“No, I don’t accept that,” Cr Tozer responded.

Cr Tozer told the tribunal that he considered Mr Van der Woude and his wife Michelle as friends, with a common interest in music.

He said Mr Van der Woude had told him: “If you ever want to come to one of these gigs, just come. We’d love to help you out, you’re friends’. And so I responded accordingly.”

Ms Bridgeman suggested Cr Tozer had put Mr Van der Woude “in a very difficult position” by asking for free tickets.

“No, I don’t accept that at all,” he said. “I believe that I responded genuinely to an invitation of a friend.”

Cr Tozer said he ended his friendship with Mr Van der Woude and cut off Facebook messenger contact after the businessman “threatened” him with legal action.

“At that time, I disconnected myself from a relationship with that man and I felt sad about that,” he said.

“I thought we were friends, but he betrayed that trust and then he threatened me.”

Cr Tozer said Mr Van der Woude made a complaint against him to the Crime and Corruption Commission in December 2018, three months after the Cat Empire concert.

He said it appeared to him Mr Van der Woude had “retaliated” for not getting a government subsidy for NightQuarter, which was forced to relocate to the Sunshine Coast after being hit with a massive rent rise at Westfield Helensvale.

Councillor Conduct Tribunal president June Anstee called for final submissions by the end of May and is expected to hand down findings later this year.