52 Comments

I really hope someone makes a soap opera out of the drama that is happening in the ACT right now. Without the internet, we would be none the wiser about what is happening and totally dependent on what the media is willing to portray, take for example the Project, which apparently has scarcely mentioned a word about Lisa and how she inadvertently help for the accused to stay out of gaol.

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I wonder how much longer this is going to go on for?

Will the inquiry findings be the end or will there be more to come?

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money is the root cause of many false allegations. No need for a trial, the man is convicted in the court of public opinion.

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The sad part to me is, if Lehrmann’s had had his day in court and been found innocent, it will never go away it will be like a nightmare, everywhere he goes people will whisper and point. It will affect his employment chances, his social life and much more. It's as if the justice system or part thereof in this case had got it's self in a bind and tried to find an easy way out and it's back firing. I can see the eyes of the media when the story first broke WOW RAPE IN PARLIAMENT HOUSE, how can we milk this, we've gotta flood every front page with poor me. Women's Magazines don't forget to make it as lurid as possible and don't forget the bruises around the throat, a knife mark could also help, it doesn't who the photos are from that doesn't matter. Now the most important addition, bring on the dancing girls, you know, the "all men are rapists" mob. The sheaves of paper are laid out, the staves are there let's start the orchestration. And we're fooled into thinking there is going to be a non biased trial, I think not.

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The whole case was a sham from the start and DP Drumgold's lame reason for withdrawing was suspect from the day we heard it, so no surprise at the latest revelations. I am quite convinced it was all a "political fix", nothing to do with truth and justice. Shame on those pollies playing us as the dumb public.

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An appalling travesty of justice...not all that surprising coming from the ACT!

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"They never asked the right questions, " a witness once told me.

He said that he wasn't going to lie for anyone and the one crucial question that needed to be asked, was never asked.

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The 'bh' circus is still "entertaining /confounding" long after the "big top" has been taken down. But with so many woke clowns like 'drumgold' spruiking the lie that feminists took to heart as irrefutiable evidence, it's not over yet, not by a long shot!

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As Lewis Carroll said in Alice in Wonderland this is getting curiouser and curiouser.

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LOL I'm just waiting for the "magic 'shrooms" and a "Hookah pipe" to appear in the bh fantasy epic... they'd compliment the copious quantities of alcohol she purportedly consumed on the night in question and give a plausible reason for the bizarre statements that she, drummy, et al have made since her unsubstantiated allegations were forced unconsensually on the Australian public.

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Disgusting, is the only suitable word to describe this whole case . Is there NO shame in our Justice System ?. We may be justified in thinking China would be a better option.

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"Is there no shame in our (in)justice system"? Um, well NO! Just look at our family court and domestic violence courts

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As I wrote, Lehrmann was required to serender his phone. Higgins was wrong, yet again!

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Is "serender" the act of singing whilst surrendering? ;-)

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Instead of noting where bh was "right", might it not be easier and involve less referencing, to note when bh was right? Oops, my bad ~ a blank page.

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'Ms Higgins claimed in the speech that the criminal justice system had “long failed to deliver outcomes to victims of sexual assault” ... '

Non sequitur: Unless a trial is abandoned there is always an outcome, though it may not be the one the complainant wanted, and may mean that she has failed to prove she is a victim, meaning she is not. Therefore complainants always receive an outcome, whether it was the one they wanted or not, and victims always receive the outcome they wanted.

' ... that Mr Lehrmann had not been forced to surrender his mobile phone and data – as she had – and that he had not been held accountable for “his actions”.'

What would be the point of his doing so unless there was evidence that using it he had boasted to others of committing the crime of which he is accused?

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All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. A proclamation by the pigs who control the government in the novel Animal Farm, by George Orwell.

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Great article and I can appreciate the time and effort involved thanks for playing a big part in keeping this story in the public’s mind. They would like to bury it but are now forced to deal with it and hopefully it leads to big changes in the justice systems of this country. The right to the presumption of innocence for men for a start.

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Men, just as women do, enjoy the constitutional and legal right to the "presumption of innocence". It is feminists and their woke political enablers who are trying to enshrine in legal practice (and law), the "presumption of (male) guilt"... they have achieved this in domestic violonce and family law matters (to the extreme detriment of children)

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The reversal of the "onus of proof" was a feature of the domestic violence hysteria of recent years and was a concern for the legal industry at the time , warnings were issued about the decay of principles ETC. but lawyers quickly saw that this could be a goldmine and did nothing. They were right and a vast amount of money from working class men has flowed to the legal coffers, to the eternal shame of those in the legal profession who amazingly still think they are entitled to the respect of the "working classes"

Sexual assault has been a big winner for lawyers as well, this case is a good example and when you look at the numbers of MPs who are EX lawyers there is little hope of change .

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Firstly, the Sofronoff inquiry was set up to find out why Lehrmann retains his scalp.

Not how principles of Justice were trampled upon… some think the principles need stomping upon some more.

Secondly, the events are reminiscent of James Frazer’s The Golden Bough published 1890, a major theme of which was the temporary, token kings of the matriarchal age, The King of the Wood, men who were enthroned by the Queen for a short period, only to be hunted down like a dog and killed by the mob at the expiry of their term:

“…these motives have operated widely…perhaps universally in human society…producing a variety of institutions specifically different but generically alike…”.

As I read of these ancient temporary kings, figureheads of a transparently pseudo-patriarchy, at first proud, then ultimately hunted…and my mind turns to Bruce Lehrmann, to men in general, and to our institutions, our chambers of government and our halls of justice. The Sofronoff inquiry.

Over the ages, what has changed?

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Government inquiries are for the purpose of covering things up. Royal commissions occur when the cover up is failing and they need to shift the blame.

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I actually had a person confess to me, that when he appeared, they never asked the one question that would have changed the findings of a Royal Commission

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good grief, you live in a sad and strange world indeed

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It would be great if Sofronoff made findings which ruffled feathers, but I believe the probe is targetting the police, as designed. Not the DPP. Organizations exercise power in a downwards direction. Praise and credit flow upward, censure flows downwards. Scapegoats are being sought. The shortcomings of the case are not within the scope. They are angry that Lehrmann got away. If you ever happen to read Frazer, he has a Chapter LVIII Human Scapegoats in Classical Antiquity. Page 669

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Agree. Just took a gander at the TOR. They suggest this is just an investigation of police on the back of a little barney between DPP and police (and a letter from higgins lawyers). Seems little to do with a fair trial and treatment of an accused.

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Men in general? Could this POSSIBLY be actionable sexual discrimination?

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What has happened to Lehrmann is sexual discrimination but not as defined in federal statutes. I do not believe Bruce will ever be permitted by our institutions to derive a just outcome. So Frazer’s observation was apt and predictive. It is all reminiscent of the WA case of Kevin Ibbs, the 30-second rapist. The epilogue of that sorry tale is that the “Justice” Minister later Premier McGinty refused Ibbs more than paltry compensation for his imprisonment, and Ibbs, his life ruined, took his own life under a bridge. The co-conspirators who lied in court got a slap on the wrist.

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Oksanna - I’ve found your observations quite interesting. They have caused me step back from the visceral anger I felt at the way this particular case was conducted, it’s minutiae, and instead, look at how big power operates, from a wider lens.

My initial optimism for a positive finding from Sofronoff has not disappeared but has certainly been dampened. La plus ca change…

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We are in big trouble.

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As you are familiar with both cases, I do wonder what influence Grace Tame had on Higgins. They did spend time together, even though their circumstances were worlds apart.

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