Settlement closes dispute over 2025 lewd-photo allegation
Former Carlton AFL president Luke Sayers acknowledged through his barrister on Friday in the Victorian Supreme Court that his former wife Cate Sayers had not posted a lewd photograph of him to his X account in January 2025, accepting that she had been wrongly accused in a statutory declaration. The apology, delivered in Melbourne as the matter settled, closed Cate Sayers’ defamation action against him; Justice Andrew Watson dismissed the proceedings and commended both parties for resolving them, the terms of which were not discussed in open court.
Lawyers for Sayers read the apology in court after indicating the settlement. “I acknowledge the extreme hurt and harm caused to Cate Sayers by suggesting she posted or may have posted [the lewd photo],” his barrister Sandip Mukerjea said on his behalf. “I accept she did not do this. To the extent I may have suggested otherwise, I apologise unreservedly to her.”
Cate Sayers had claimed her ex-husband defamed her in a statutory declaration accusing her of accessing his X account, posting a photograph of his genitals in January 2025 and tagging a female executive at Bupa. The document was sworn by Luke Sayers in the weeks after the post, which was quickly deleted, as the AFL and Carlton conducted investigations into the incident.
In May, Luke Sayers applied to have the case transferred to the federal circuit and family court of Australia, where the matter would have been heard in private. Justice Watson rejected the application in June, finding the supreme court was the more appropriate venue for a defamation claim.
On Friday, Watson dismissed the proceedings and commended both parties for reaching settlement. “All litigation involves time, expense and risk,” the judge said. “There was every reason to expect this proceeding would be no different.”
Outside court, Cate Sayers said she accepted her ex-husband’s apology and that the settlement closed a “painful and difficult chapter” for her. “I commenced these proceedings to establish the truth, clearly and finally,” she told reporters. “With Luke’s apology, I feel I have achieved what I set out to do.” She thanked the women who had supported her and said she hoped Friday’s outcome gave them the strength to stand up for the truth. She did not confirm whether the settlement included a monetary component.
Luke Sayers chaired the Carlton board from 2021 to 2025. Before that, he led consultancy firm PwC Australia between 2012 and 2020. At an inquiry into a confidentiality and tax scandal at PwC in 2023, he apologized while stating he had no knowledge of the conduct during his tenure. “If the [tax office] had directly and formally advised me as the CEO of PwC Australia … I would have sought details and ensured a full and thorough investigation,” he said at the time.