Earlier this year Australian Opposition Leader Tony
Abbott had openly backed former Howard Government Minister Mal Brough’s attempt
to return to Federal Parliament:
Now
that Brough is linked to a political conspiracy to bring down the then Speaker
of the House of Representatives, one wonders how Abbott will spin that sordid
fact.
Excerpts from JAMES HUNTER ASHBY v COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA and PETER SLIPPER judgment:
Excerpts from JAMES HUNTER ASHBY v COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA and PETER SLIPPER judgment:
132 Mr Ashby and Ms Doane had
decided by 29 March 2012 that Mr Ashby would make allegations of sexual
harassment in legal proceedings against Mr Slipper and would assist Mr Brough
and Mr Lewis to damage Mr Slipper in the public eye and political arena with
any information they could find including using the requested diary entries
together with any proceedings. Mr Ashby referred to seeing or using lawyers in
his texts from about this time. Accordingly, I have inferred that he, Ms Doane
and Mr Brough intended that Mr Ashby would bring proceedings against Mr Slipper
alleging at least sexual harassment.
133 Once they had decided on
their course of action, Mr Ashby and Ms Doane did not go straight to see a
lawyer to air any concerns about any legal wrongs that either may have
suffered. Instead, Mr Ashby or Ms Doane contacted Mr Brough and they began
working with him and Mr Lewis. That was an act of disloyalty that they both
knew was antithetic to their continuing to work for Mr Slipper. But they did
continue. They asked Mr Brough to help them find a lawyer. They used their
positions on his staff surreptitiously to copy and provide extracts from Mr
Slipper’s diaries for periods in 2009 and 2010 at the requests of both Mr
Brough and Mr Lewis. There is no evidence that Mr Ashby ever provided any of Mr
Slipper’s diary entries concerning the 2012 Cabcharge allegations to anyone. Mr
Ashby met Mr Lewis on 4 April 2012 and Mr Ashby so enthused Mr Lewis that the
latter wrote “We will get him!!” just before flying to Sydney.
138 I am also satisfied that Mr
Ashby and Ms Doane by about 29 March 2012 were in a combination with Mr Brough
to cause Mr Slipper as much political and public damage as they could inflict
on him….
141 Mr Brough was unlikely to
have been offering to assist Ms Doane and Mr Ashby in seeing Mr Russell QC for
advice or looking for new careers out of pure altruism. Realistically, his
preparedness to act for them was created and fed by their willingness to act
against Mr Slipper’s interests and assisting Mr Brough’s and the LNP’s
interests in destabilising Mr Slipper’s position as Speaker and damaging him in
the eyes of his electorate….
167 …..In my opinion, Mr Ashby
included the Cabcharge allegations in the originating application for the
predominant purpose of injuring Mr Slipper and assisting a political attack on
him to benefit Mr Brough and the LNP…
199...I am satisfied that the exceptional situation that enlivens the Court’s power to dismiss (or stay) proceedings as an abuse has been proved to the heavy standard required: Williams 174 CLR at 529. The duty and power of the Court to protect its own processes require that I give effect to the findings I have made by dismissing the proceedings under r 26.01...
199...I am satisfied that the exceptional situation that enlivens the Court’s power to dismiss (or stay) proceedings as an abuse has been proved to the heavy standard required: Williams 174 CLR at 529. The duty and power of the Court to protect its own processes require that I give effect to the findings I have made by dismissing the proceedings under r 26.01...
