 |
| The Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory |
Bettina became famous as the editor of Kerry Packer magazines. A true feminist icon of the sixties. Now she cops much grief because of her views that boys should get a fair go in trials. And men too. It’s all too much for the Wokesters, for whom it’s one story and one story only: men are beasts; they’re toxic. They’re at fault for whatever and we have to find them guilty and jail them whenever we can. Because of Domestic Violence.
We have a mutual friend, Bettina and I, a same age woman who was my first proper girlfriend back in those sensuous sixties. Who has since told me that she’s friends with “Tina”, but that she thinks Tina “goes over the top” a bit. Which I take to mean she thinks Bettina is not Woke enough. Because she cares about boys’ issues. Which is weird on another level, as her three kids are all boys. I have boys and girls in my life and I don’t like that either one gets treated badly coz of their gender. Which is what Bettina is all about. I think.
For sure she goes against the tide. Against the current. Against the narrative.
The pleas I get for money, as an Alumnus of the ANU, are increasingly Woke. I used to be active in the Alumni stuff. No longer. I don’t like to put money to things that will only entrench more identitarian politics, more racism, more sexism. Even if the aims are the opposite. Even if that Road to Hell is paved with Good Intentions. It’s past that now. We can’t forgive because of good intentions.
A picture speaks a thousand words. Look at this line-up, showing all the ACT Supreme Court judges. This formidable female-dominated bench wouldn’t exactly inspire confidence if you were a poor sucker facing a last-ditch appeal of a guilty verdict following a false rape accusation.
All the more so when the bench is led by Chief Justice Lucy McCallum who recently grumbled in a newspaper interview about the “intractable problem” of “ensuring an accused person has a fair trial.” Women’s groups are working hard to solve her problem, with all sorts of inventive solutions that do away with any notion of a fair trial – like an alternate court system with a lower standard of proof.
Whenever there’s a big job announced in Australia, you can bet your bottom dollar that the prize will fall to a woman – even when that means the newcomer is decades younger and less experienced than her predecessors. Read on....
