You may be aware of the Frank Hardy case where he was sued for criminal libel. He wrote the novel “Power Without Glory” about John West who ran an illegal tote, fixed races, bribed police and politicians, had people disposed of, and various other crimes. It was generally thought that he was basing the character on John Wren owing to the fact that it was generally known that John Wren had done at least some of these things. However, Wren was not the plaintiff. At one point in the novel it suggests that Mrs West had an affair and it was this that was the basis of the lawsuit.
What made this a very interesting lawsuit is the idea that they could identify Mrs Wren as Mrs West when the only thing that they had in common was a husband who was supposedly behind a lot of the corruption in Victoria. Naturally, he had the good sense not to sue which meant that Hardy’s defence had problems in trying to argue that the only reason that Mrs Wren was the one suing was because if Mr Wren sued then all the things that were alleged would come out on in court. As it was, the judge was reluctant to let any of the parts of the novel that were about Mr West to be read out… Mr Wren was clearly a pretty clever man because he didn’t want to admit that he recognised himself by all the illegal behaviour of the protagonist in Hardy’s novel.
In one of the stranger moments in my life, I was at the preview of a play that Frank Hardy had written and at intermission, I started to think about how the whole defamation case would have made a much more interesting play and that maybe I should interview him and try to write a play about it. And then I wondered how I’d go about getting to meet him. A voice spoke and said, “How’s it going in there? I’m too nervous to go in.”
It was Frank Hardy!
I was so surprised that I stuttered something about if going fine and that it was good to meet him and he nodded and said thanks and moved on. If only I’d believed in signs and fate, there’d be a play about Frank Hardy in my resume…
Anyway, moving to the present day…
I don’t want to talk about Bruce or Christian here… although to some extent it’s inevitable that I mention them but just to be clear: Christian Porter did not lose his job over an accusation that was never proven and neither did Bruce Lehrmann.
The accusation against Porter was never proven; neither was it investigated. As such he was entitled to the “presumption of innocence”, as Scott Morrison pointed out many times. Porter continued as Attorney-General until he chose to take on the ABC over their reporting of the allegation, even though he wasn’t named in their reports.
Similarly, Lehrmann had left his job as a “senior adviser”, long before the Brittany Higgins interview on “The Project”, where he also wasn’t named.
Ok, I am aware that just because someone isn’t named, that doesn’t mean that they can’t be clearly identified. When they were reports of sexual misconduct by “an Australian entertainer” that didn’t clearly identify Rolf Harris… indeed, some would even argue that the word “entertainer” may have thrown a lot of people off the scent. However, when they added that he was in his eighties and the suburb where he lived, they may as well have said, “an Australian who was famous for playing the wobble-board and instantly recognisable for his beard and glasses.”
On the other hand, when the ABC talked about the accusations against a Federal government minister, I heard several people speculate about who it could be, and many presumed that it must be one who came from Sydney. Similarly, nobody I know suggested that Higgins was talking about Bruce Lehrmann, mainly because nobody had ever heard of him.
But the point I’m making isn’t about anyone specific, so I’d like to switch from reality to a totally fictional scenario…
Ok, this is not like when comedians say, “If I could just be serious for a moment…” as the set-up for a joke. I am creating a total fiction here and any resemblance between this and reality is purely coincidental, so in the unlikely event that this resembles something that you’ve done, please remember the Streisand effect and refrain from suing. And I am making this so far-fetched that everyone will know it’s a work of fiction and if, by some chance, the collective unconscious has caused me to stumble on something that’s more unbelievable than the Prayer Room at Parliament House being used for sexual encounters, then admitting you recognise yourself from what I’m saying may be worse than just ignoring it and accepting that it’s meant to be fictional. Besides, that’ll may just make you sound guilty and I’m using that as a truth defence…
Darth’s cousin, Taxi, entered politics and thanks to his connections to the Dark Side, Taxi Vader eventually became the Minister for Climate Change. As this was a ministry where neither major party does very much, he had a lot of time on his hands so he started holding parties in his office where drugs and alcohol flowed freely and through a complicated business arrangement he put these all on his expense account. When a staff member queried the ethics of this, he stabbed them with his letter opener and called a friend of his in the waste management business, Tony Soprano, who disposed of the body. Another staffer who feared for their life, reported this to the AFP who told them that unless they had more evidence, then they wouldn’t investigate.
At this point I’m trying to think of something to add so that it’s clearly fictional and not based on reality… I mean after the stuff about the Prayer Room, how can I be sure of anything?
Whatever, imagine that the staffer goes to the media and tells them the story of this enormous coverup and the media say that they can’t possibly do a story on it because Tony Soprano may sue them for defamation.
“But,” pleads the staffer, “we don’t have to mention Mr Soprano by name, and anyway, this isn’t about him; this about the coverup of a crime.”
“Doesn’t matter. We only report things about governments that are legal. If there’s any illegality being covered up, we can’t say anything for fear of lawsuits.”
“Oh,” says the staffer. “That makes sense. Well, can you run a story about how much the minister is spending on office supplies?”
“Yeah, that won’t be a problem.”
Like I said, it’s fictional, but I the point stands...
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