The Greens have discovered natural justice.
asserted
Greens → discover → justice
Apparently it was hiding underneath their stack of media releases demanding accountability from everybody else.
asserted
it → hide → everybody
With Senator Jordon Steele-John facing allegations about his conduct towards women, suddenly the vocabulary is wonderfully careful: procedural fairness, independent investigation, proper process.
asserted
vocabulary → face → women
Steele-John denies wrongdoing and deserves a fair hearing.
asserted
John → deny → hearing
He says police investigated one sexual assault allegation and laid no charges.
asserted
police → say → charges
None of this establishes his guilt, clearly.
asserted
None → establish → guilt
But it does provide a useful opportunity to examine the Greens’ spectacularly selective appetite for restraint.
asserted
it → provide → restraint
In June 2021, Larissa Waters declared Australians could not have confidence in the government while a minister remained in Cabinet with a rape allegation hanging over him.
uncertain
allegation → declare → him
Porter denied the allegation.
asserted
Porter → deny → allegation
Yet the allegation itself was sufficient for Waters to pronounce no confidence in the entire government.
asserted
Waters → pronounce → government
Senator Jordon Steele-John (pictured) denied any wrongdoing and rejected the allegations about his conduct towards women
Now Greens leader David Shoebridge declines a ‘running commentary’ while an independent process examines concerns about his colleague.
asserted
process → picture → colleague
How convenient that political restraint becomes such a prized virtue when the microphone is pointed at your own party.
asserted
microphone → become → party
To be fair, the Greens demanded an independent inquiry into Porter, too.
asserted
Greens → demand → Porter
Although the allegations against him were historical dating back more than 30 years.
asserted
allegations → date → years
The hypocrisy lies in the accompanying political prosecution: opponents must answer immediately for everything an allegation supposedly reveals about their character, leadership and party culture.
asserted
allegation → lie → character
Their own side gets careful qualifications.
asserted
side → get → qualifications
In March 2021, Waters accused Scott Morrison of treating sexual violence and misogyny as ‘another PR problem to be managed away’.
asserted
Waters → accuse → problem
A Cabinet reshuffle, she argued, would merely shuffle the problem around.
asserted
she → argue → problem
Now we learn the WA Greens maintained a crisis communications document about concerns involving Steele-John.
asserted
Greens → learn → John
According to reports the document ran to 47 pages and included instructions for managing coverage and monitoring party members’ social media discussions.
uncertain
document → accord → discussions
That is quite a commitment to managing communications from a party so disgusted by other people managing communications.
asserted
That → manage → communications
The WA Greens say the historical allegations were unsubstantiated and the named people never lodged formal complaints.
asserted
people → say → complaints
Shoebridge says he had no prior knowledge of the document.
asserted
he → say → document
Greens leader Larissa Waters (pictured) has previously pronounced a no confidence in the entire government over a rape allegation however has a different approach to allegations thrown at a fellow party member
What was examined?
asserted
What → picture → member
Why was a communications plan required?
asserted
plan → require → ?
What would Waters have said had this document belonged to the Liberals?
asserted
document → say → Liberals
Steele-John is entitled to defend himself.
asserted
John → entitle → himself
Complainants are entitled to have concerns properly examined.
asserted
concerns → entitle → ?
Fairness requires both.
asserted
Fairness → require → both
But the Greens can’t spend years turning other parties’ scandals into sermons about their own moral superiority, then complain when somebody checks beneath the pulpit.
asserted
somebody → spend → pulpit
What happened to the ‘all victims should be believed’ principle?
asserted
victims → happen → principle
The Greens keep treating it like a membership benefit you only get if you join their political party.
asserted
you → treat → party
The Aporia
