Thursday 21 February 2013

Australian political scandal

I don't know the details of this case, but the tactics on the part of the right-wing party are very familiar.

Australia ex-speaker's scandal "elaborate plot"





Press TV

Only a few months have passed since a tearful Peter Slipper bid the parliament goodbye, handing in his resignation as parliamentary speaker in October 2012. The resignation came as no surprise. By then, Slipper's reputation and credibility had been dragged through the courts and in turn through the mud. His former employee, James Ashby, had accused him of sexual harassment due to text messages he claimed were "unwelcome." Ashby also accused Slipper of fraud, claiming that the former speaker misused tax payers' money to pay for cabs that were not of a working nature.

While the courts dismissed the sexual harassment case in December, citing that the accusations were a clear political attack against the former speaker, it did little to save his reputation. This, according to the managing editor of the Independent, David Donovan, made him all too easy a target. Donovan, along with several researchers, spent hundreds of hours following the trail that lead to Slipper's demise. They claim that the events leading to his resignation are an attempt by the opposition, or the Liberal-lead coalition, to destabilize the labor-lead government.

By using Ashby as bait, who was in constant contact with the coalition, the opposition easily tarnished the former speaker's reputation. The Independent also believes that the current scandals that are threatening the future of the Labor government, such as the case of Craig Thompson; a former Labor minister accused of 154 counts of fraud, could also be the work of the coalition. Slipper is presently defending himself in the courts after officially being charged with three counts of fraud. While many researchers are striving to uncover the truth in regards to the demise of the former speaker it is yet to be seen, after yet another court case, whether Slipper's reputation is at all salvageable.


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