THE sexual harassment case against Peter Slipper by his one-time aide James Ashby was a planned attack carried out with the intention of severely damaging the former Speaker's reputation, and enhancing Mr Ashby's own career, a judge has found.
In dismissing the case as an abuse of the judicial process, Justice Steven Rares said it was a political attack devised by Mr Ashby in combination with fellow Slipper aide Karen Doane and with the assistance of the former minister Mal Brough and Mr Ashby's solicitor, Michael Harmer.
Mr Ashby had claimed he was the target of ''unwelcome sexual advances, unwelcome sexual comments and unwelcome suggestions of a sexual nature'' while working as Mr Slipper's aide and media adviser between January and March this year.
Justice Rares found that while some of Mr Slipper's actions, such as text messages suggesting they might have a ''closer relationship'' could be considered harassment, Mr Ashby did not experience them in this way.
He referred to a series of text message exchanges that Mr Ashby had with friends before commencing court proceedings, which he found were notably lacking in ''any complaint by him of feeling sexually harassed''.''Rather, they read as if the participants were discussing the political ramifications of Mr Ashby revealing material that was sexually and politically embarrassing and that would compromise Mr Slipper and his position as Speaker,'' Justice Rares said.
He also referred to a series of admonishing text messages Mr Ashby sent to Mr Slipper, which appeared to debunk the claim the adviser was unable to stand up to his boss because of a ''significant power imbalance''.
By March 29, Justice Rares said, Mr Ashby and Ms Doane had decided the former would make allegations of sexual harassment in legal proceedings against Mr Slipper and would assist Mr Brough and the News Ltd journalist Steve Lewis to ''damage Mr Slipper in the public eye and political arena with any information they could find''.
At the same time, Ms Doane and Mr Ashby had begun talking to Mr Brough about new job opportunities they believed would open up to them following the LNPs resounding victory in the Queensland election.
Justice Rares found that on April 20, Mr Harmer, of Harmers Workplace Lawyers, filed an originating application on his client's behalf that contained irrelevant and spurious allegations, the sole purpose of which was to damage Mr Slipper politically.
This included allegations that Mr Slipper had engaged in criminal activity by giving three blank Cabcharge vouchers to the ''driver of a vehicle'', and allegations that he sexually harassed a junior worker in 2003.
''The makers of the Cabcharge allegations were anxious to wound but afraid to strike,'' Justice Rares said.
''Importantly, by filing the originating application in the Court, Mr Ashby, Mr Harmer and Harmers made the allegations it contained under absolute privilege.
''The purpose that Mr Ashby and Mr Harmer had in including them in the originating application was to further damage Mr Slipper in the public eye and politically.''
The inclusion of these irrelevant allegations was central to Justice Rares' determination that the case as a whole was an abuse of process because they demonstrated that Mr Ashby and his solicitors had filed the claim with an improper purpose.
He dismissed the sexual harassment claim and ordered Mr Ashby to pay his opponent's legal costs.
Read more
In May, Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr came under fire for suggesting Mr Ashby was "more rehearsed than a kabuki actor". Today he has described that as a "modest understatement".
"This has been a conspiracy, it has been a set up, and as the judge found, it was all directed at changing the government of Australia," he told ABC Radio National.
And he said one of the disappointing outcomes of the court case had been that it has created the wrong impression of valid sexual harassment claims.
"To take an issue that can be traumatic for people in a workplace relationship is reckless," he said.
"By undermining that, it has done great harm, and I think the Government's got to seriously consider what it does now in response to that savage finding by the judge in this case.
"Tony Abbott has got a great deal of explaining to do about the level of Coalition leadership involvement in what the judge found was a cynical political exercise to change the government of Australia."
In May, Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr came under fire for suggesting Mr Ashby was "more rehearsed than a kabuki actor". Today he has described that as a "modest understatement".
"This has been a conspiracy, it has been a set up, and as the judge found, it was all directed at changing the government of Australia," he told ABC Radio National.
And he said one of the disappointing outcomes of the court case had been that it has created the wrong impression of valid sexual harassment claims.
"To take an issue that can be traumatic for people in a workplace relationship is reckless," he said.
"By undermining that, it has done great harm, and I think the Government's got to seriously consider what it does now in response to that savage finding by the judge in this case.
"Tony Abbott has got a great deal of explaining to do about the level of Coalition leadership involvement in what the judge found was a cynical political exercise to change the government of Australia."
No comments:
Post a Comment