Howdy dear availees...it's been such a 'bizarre' fortnight of watching PM Scott 'Scummo' Morrison and the Liberal/National Party drowning in a rancid cesspool of their own toxic conduct...I've been chronically unwell, myself deeply triggered and re-traumatised regarding the similarities playing-out here and what we parents experienced with the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up...cannot imagine what it must be like for victims/survivors (for lack of a better descriptor)...started this post a week ago and events have repeatedly stampeded over it, several more half-posts in 'Drafts', etc, but gunna' post this and move onto the next one, and then again, and so on...***
If you can stomach it, here's the link to Scummo at the UN international Women's Day forum last week...as per usual, and usually by ignoring it, here's Scummo desperately trying to distance himself from the horrendous reality of what happened to Ms Higgins and how appallingly corrupt he and the LNP have been in covering it up, and then trying failingly to cover-up that cover-up, etc, etc...in what parallel dimension is it even vaguely appropriate to have this lying, moral-less misogynist speaking at this event?...in general, he quite deliberately does everything he can to minimise and de-personalise the Rape and/or Ms Higgins, whom he constantly and disrespectfully refers to as 'Brittany', and move the reality into the realms of 'an incident', and/or 'the issue', etc...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzht7ObTQvs
But Scummo doesn't just save his base political hypocrisy for Ms Higgins, with his faux-concerns for the safety of all workers, etc, and fronting-up to the UN Women's event, etc...two weeks ago, the day after his LNP government unilaterally dismantled/destroyed the Family Court (without being asked/lobbied by anyone, or consulting a single expert or provider, etc, and against the wishes/advice of many experts/providers, etc), immediately rendering 1,000s of woman and children vastly more vulnerable to Domestic Abuse, Homelessness, etc, Scummo stood at the Dispatch Box in Parliament and asked everyone to spare a thought for Hannah Baxter and her three children, Aaliyah
Addressing the Ms Higgins case, Home Affairs Minister Peter 'Spud' Dutton carefully described the specific processes that define the fact that he's lying about what he was told and when...Peter says that the Australian Federal Police are 'legislated' to notify him of critical issues where-in the AFP become involved...given that the AFP 1) knew of the 'security breach' issue that saw the 'alleged' Rapist 'sacked', and 2) supposedly advised Minister Linda Reynolds on how to handle the situation, etc, both happening within days of the Rape, then Spud must have been informed immediately back in March 2019...and so when he claims that he was only informed the day before journo Samantha Maiden wrote to Linda Reynolds in February 2021, because that's the protocol/process, he's also explaining why that's a lie...and furthermore, how did the AFP know the day before it happened that Ms Maiden was going to make that call? were/are her communications being monitored? her and who else?...as the sole subject of the ICAC/SAPol 'Operation Baritone', I consider that all of my communications, ie, phone calls, emails, my computer, etc, were and likely still are being monitored/recorded by authorities...
Dutton's language has been appallingly revealing about exactly what goes on in that horror-head...as many have observed, he's a former cop and epitomises the attitudes/response that deter so many Assault victims from even going to police...here's how a Twitterer perfectly summed it up...
First Dutton called the rape an "extra curricular activity" and now he calls it an "operational matter"! Could he please borrow Scotty's empathy coach or Jenny to explain it to him?
"He said, she said" is only - barely - appropriate in the total absence of any evidence. I think once you have a disheveled distraught women found by security, deep cleaning of the room and AFO involvement we're in new territory.**
Last week in Parliament Scummo spewed forth his carefully advised and revised 'summary' of how terrible it is, and now it's about 'the protection of all Australians', and 'how wonderful are our highly qualified police, and especially those who deal with Sexual Assault'...and so it's Scummo desperately distracting and hiding behind 'it's all down to the police now'...(***which he continues to do, and we'll look at this in next post***)..and Scummo is brazenly praising-up the AFP, desperately hoping that the AFP, themselves finally shaken from their pro-LNP malaise by the abhorrent and obvious nature of both the Rape and the LNP cover-up, that the otherwise Labor-attacking, media-threatening, LNP-protecting AFP doesn't suddenly go against it's own well-defined modus operandi and actually investigate Ms Higgins' Rape properly and thoroughly, and then lower the boom on the perpetrator and on all of those whom have definably committed crimes by covering-up the Rape and protecting that perpetrator...
Scummo has also said that he only recently found out about Ms Higgins' Rape, and now repeating Dutton's lies about 'only knew last week' (***Parliament live on ABC/BBC News Radio***)...Scott Morrison is not just lying, he's lying about the lies he's previously told, and lying about the base realities as they present themselves to everyone else...everyone except the Liberal/National Party and their usual entourage of Right Wing media remora and stoogish sycophants, etc, everyone else believes that Scummo knew that weekend (March 2019) or even that very first day...and even his carefully rehearsed and advised language is appallingly lacking in actual empathy and/or understanding...who in the living shreck says "I look forward to how that investigation proceeds"?...
It is fundamentally unbelievable that Morrison did not know that weekend...as covered in previous posts, there is a litany of Ministers, Prime Minister's Office staffers, security, the AFP, the Speaker and the President, and gourd knows who else, who all knew that day or within days...
Mr Speaker, Mr Speaker, Mr Speaker:...and Scummo desperately tries to give some credence to his relentless lies by addictively referring to 'Mr Speaker' over
and over and over again, trying to vicariously attach to his deceits the credibility of the Speaker...and the truly wondrous irony of that, is that the Speaker Tony Smith has no credibility, he is a blatantly biased LNP servant in the grubby mold of Bronwyn Bishop...Lower House Speaker Tony Smith and Senate President Scott Ryan were both officially informed about Ms Higgins' Rape back in 2019, Ryan within 4 days (March 27th) and Smith within a fortnight (April 8)...I personally find it very hard to believe a scenario where the President didn't immediately contact the Speaker, and even if that didn't happen, that Smith didn't know well before the 'official' 8th April 2019...just listening on ABC/BBC News
Radio to Scummo's latest Parliament lie-answer and we're already at 12 'Mr Speaker'...no 13...oops 14...I've read claims counting 30+ 'Mr Speaker' in a single extended answer, 40+ across 2 answers, etc...here again is the link to the Nine News article identifying what Smith and Ryan knew and when...and remember dear availees, that the Nine network is currently run by former Liberal Treasurer Peter Costello, so if they're reporting this deeply damaging stuff about the LNP, what does that say about the state of internal LNP politics?...
Just listening to the Speaker Tony Smith dutifully running interference on behalf of Scummo...it has been claimed then established that the 'alleged' Rapist Bruce Lehrmann attended a function at Parliament House shortly after his dismissal for a 'security breach' related to the Sexual Assault of Ms Higgins...it has been identified he attended 'a small event related to the Captain Cook commemoration' ...regardless of whom he attended with and/or in what capacity, eg, as the lobbyist he became after his dismissal, etc, it is fact that he would have had to be signed in to that event...but Tony Smith is claiming right now, in Parliament, that it would all be a bit difficult to trace that 'alleged' attendance because 'there are so many sign-ins to go through', and people who attend the public areas don't sign in, etc...the obvious truth, they know what function he attended and what date that function was and that he had to be signed-in to attend...Smith's vacuous response about 'it's all too difficult' is a deliberately deceitful denial of the facts as he knows them, and simply parrots other deceitful statements by LNP stooges, eg, Simon Birmingham in The Guardian article, link here...
And now former Liberal one-woman horror-show of desperately skewed ideology and rankly soul-less inhumanity, Amanda Vanstone, now Amanda's mouthing-off yet again about Ms Higgins...here is her extraordinary attempted gaslighting, victim-blaming, discrediting of Ms Higgins, whilst dutifully congratulating Scummo and attacking Labor...it's a cacophony of denialist diversion and ideological idiocy and victim-blaming thuggery...because this is such an appalling piece of abusive, victim-blaming dross I've pasted the full article rather than just a link...in a festering circus of low clowns, Amanda is at a sub-level all her own...***
The Brittany Higgins story is unattractive on so many levels that it’s hard to know where to start. As is the case with so many aspects of life, others with hindsight and information not available at the time will second-guess everything. Armchair experts are everywhere.
Higgins claims that in March 2019, after attending work drinks at a bar, a colleague took her back to their boss’ office at Parliament House, where he raped her on a couch. Sexual assault and rape in Australia are all too common.
Brittany Higgins was allegedly raped at Parliament House.
The 2016 Australian Bureau of Statistics Personal Safety Survey found that 148,000 women and 57,200 men were sexually assaulted in the previous 12 months. Most assaults are not reported to police. One reason women don’t report them is concern as to whether they will be believed.
One of the trickiest aspects of rape cases is the question of consent. Understandably defence lawyers focus on that issue. Lawyers who have acted for both the prosecution and defence will assure you of something you already know: when two people go out and drink too much, the mental capacity of both can be impaired but the hormones can be raging. Just as Prime Minister Scott Morrison reflects on “what if this was one of my daughters”, so many mothers are reflecting on “what if this was my son”. They would be thinking, “I hope someone listens to his side of the story”.
If it turns out their son coldly took advantage of an inebriated young woman they’d be tossing a million things over in their mind. Did they fail in parenting? They’d feel simultaneously love and shame for their son.
In the end it doesn’t matter what prism mothers or fathers look through. Rape is against the law. Whether one occurred is something we have clear rules and a process by which they are followed to ascertain the facts.
Higgins’ boss, now Defence Minister Linda Reynolds, gave Higgins all the appropriate support when she heard about the incident. You might call it a textbook response. She listened to Higgins and respected the choices she made. She encouraged and assisted her to report what had happened to the police. Having spoken with the police, Higgins decided not to pursue the matter and asked that her privacy be protected. Almost two years later, Higgins changed her mind, spoke to the media and decided to proceed with the police report.
An emotional Minister for Defence Linda Reynolds in Parliament on Thursday where she apologised to Higgins. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
As tough as this seems, the fact Higgins chose not to lodge a complaint to the police until now allows people to wonder if there has been some sort of cover-up. The delay was her decision. I don’t blame her for that. But it’s made it harder for her and for everyone else. It has put Reynolds under an attack she does not deserve. Quite the opposite.
Reynolds offered Higgins the opportunity to work in a different place, namely Reynolds’ home state of Western Australia. Reynolds has been criticised for meeting Higgins in her office, the scene of the alleged crime. But at the time of their meeting, Reynolds did not know the significance of the couch. Because Reynolds respected Higgins’ desire for privacy, Higgins went on after the election to work in another office. Let’s put some clarity on that. If someone had applied to work in my office and the story going around was that she had come, drunk, into a previous minister’s office at the weekend, late at night, with a man, I would have thought very carefully before offering them a job. “Possible powderkeg” are the words which would have come to mind.
Related Article
Veteran journalist Michelle Grattan described Higgins’ decision to go public as “the cluster bomb she’d tossed – in media terms, a highly organised operation with a kit of information circulated to news organisations”. Plenty of alleged victims understandably think hard about reporting a rape. Plenty take a long time to decide to pursue the matter with the police. Not so many have an organised media offensive. In whatever way they come forward, it takes great courage.
There’s some lack of clarity as to who in the Prime Minister’s office knew what and when. Ministerial offices depend on trust. It’s the most valuable asset in an office. If someone has let Morrison down he will rightly feel deeply aggrieved.
Labor Senator Penny Wong has urged the Prime Minister to stop treating the allegation “as a political problem”. It’s a clever tactic. Wong and Labor are using Higgins’ situation to be political, yet urge the Prime Minister to not do so. It is sadly all too common to see people using someone else’s misfortune to paint themselves as models of concern. You use a potential victim to promote your own caring credentials. It’s conspicuous compassion at its worst.
In federal Parliament, there is a high prevalence of advisers under 35. It’s a high-pressure job. They’re away from home, eating out and alcohol is at almost every restaurant. It’s a heady mix. There are things that could be done to improve the culture. But that mix will always be potent.
***Language Warning:...Amanda can take her grossly offensive "conspicuous compassion" and go fuck herself...this appalling attempt to blame Labor for what Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton and Linda Reynolds and Michaelia Cash and Simon Birmingham et al have done, are still doing, what a disgrace...
Anyone familiar with this issue will immediately see the victim-blaming, the gaslighting, the pro-Liberal redefining of facts, etc, but here's coupla' quick notes, from the top, 1) 'the story is unattractive on so many levels'...this is just straight-out offensive, it's not a 'story', it's Ms Higgins' personal trauma...2) 'information not available at the time'...reproducing already known lies, they all knew, and within days if not the same day it happened...3) "a text-book response" was threatening Ms Higgins job if she went to police...it was not "her decision" not to go to police, she was forced to that decision...4) how generous of the Liberals to re-employ this problematic person by moving her to Perth to get her out of sight and out of mind and out of earshot...that job was purely about damage control and also clearly illustrates that the Liberals knew that Ms Higgins was the victim...5) 'Reynolds didn't know', yes she did...6) constantly gaslight Ms Higgins about her conduct, eg, she was inebriated/"drunk", she has an organised media campaign...7) 'lack of clarity in PM's office'...bollocks, they all knew in March/April 2019...8) Labor, Labor Labor...blaming Labor for 'playing politics' is another attempt to discredit the facts and the seriousness of the Liberal's cover-up...
I could write volumes on literally every line in this rancid piece from this rancid Liberal apologist and denier, but she's hardly a lone voice, particularly with media half-wits like Andrew Probyn and Chris Uhlmann going in to bat for the LNP and doing the traditional gaslighting of victims/survivors...
Tomorrow: Mick 'Could These Bins Be Any' Fuller Puts Out Morrison's Latest Bin Fire
And it's now a week since I started this post, and here's Scummo's latest effort when asked about the appallingly low conviction rates for reported Sexual Assaults...takes him 30 seconds to trot-out 2 of his classic deflections of responsibility, 1) 'it's a state responsibility', and 2) it's about "the rule of law"...and as literally every other 'sewer rat" is asking on Twitter, why in the living shreck didn't the New South Wales police interview Katherine Thornton, 'cos it looks like the classic 'Cover-up System' of repeatedly/constantly deferring investigation until the complainant gives-up...
https://twitter.com/Qldaah/status/1367675006491131907
Scroll down this Twitter thread 'cos it includes an excellently sarcastic but accurate clip of Scummo explaining the 'Rule of Law'...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...
No comments:
Post a Comment