From Richardson Post.
Paul Zanetti
Tanya Plibersek has been exposed as a hypocrite and a liar on sexual assault against women.
She seems to pick and choose rape allegations which are politically convenient to her political career.
On Monday, in an interview on Channel 7’s Sunrise program with Natalie Barr, Plibersek portrayed herself as 30 year activist against sexual assault against women.
She painted this self-serving portrayal following the Sunday night program, Spotlight, where Bruce Lehrmann was interviewed, giving his version of events, after being accused of raping Brittany Higgins in Parliament House. Lehrmann denies the accusation and is currently taking defamation action against Lisa Wilkinson and news organisations.
On the Spotlight program Lehrmann said he does not rule out suing Higgins.
Higgins and Lehrmann were young Liberal staffers in the Defence Minister’s office.
At the time of the allegation, the Labor Opposition, including Plibersek seized on the scandal, politically weaponising the rape against the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison and senior government ministers, while conveniently ignoring an alleged rapist in their own ranks.
Plibersek told Sunrise interviewer, Natalie Barr,
“I’ve been an advocate for victims of sexual assault, domestic violence and child sexual assault for the last 30 years and I guess the most disappointed thing about this is we live in a country where in general the odds are stacked against victims of sexual assault.”
However, for many years, Kathy Sherriff has reported an historic sexual assault by a prominent sitting Labor MP, a previous Prime Ministerial candidate and colleague of Tanya Plibersek.
At the time of the alleged sexual assault, Sherriff was a 16 year-old minor. The alleged attacker was an adult.
Sherriff has tried multiple times to reach out to Plibersek and other women of Labor.
Sherriff was a successful, rising Young Labor volunteer at the time of the alleged assault.
Sherriff claims she has contacted Labor MPs Anthony Albanese, Tanya Plibersek and Penny Wong, as well as Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young – but to no avail.
She even claimed Ms Plibersek said she would speak with her at the March for Justice rally in 2021, only to be ushered out a back door after her speech to avoid Sherriff.
Tanya Plibersek picks and chooses her sexual assault victims.
Here is the interview with Natalie Barr:
Natalie Barr, “Tanya, you have just heard the audio there of Lisa Wilkinson speaking. Were you approached by her or her producer to raise Ms Higgins alleged assault in Question Time?”
Tanya Plibersek, “Well, I didn’t watch the interview last night. I just saw the footage that you ran there. I don’t think it’s any surprise that people know that I’ve been an advocate for victims of sexual assault, domestic violence and child sexual assault for the last 30 years and I guess the most disappointed thing about this is we live in a country where in general the odds are stacked against victims of sexual assault. Only about 13% report to police and of the 13% only a fraction ever get the guilty conviction. So it’s no surprise that they’ve been working out how to get questions raised about an alleged very serious crime that occurred in parliament house when we couldn’t get straight answers out of the Prime Minister or any of the senior ministers that had questions to answer about how this incident had been responded to.”
Natalie Barr, “So, with respect, could you answer the question? Were you approached by Lisa Wilkinson or her producer to raise Brittney Higgins’ alleged assault in Question Time?”
Tanya Plibersek, “No, not by them, but I was in contact with Brittney to check on her welfare. I was very worried about her. I was very worried about her indeed.”
Natalie Barr, “So, were you approached by Brittany Higgins to raise questions about her alleged assault in Question Time?
Tanya Plibersek, “I checked on her. She didn’t have to approach me. I checked on her. I wanted to make sure that she was going okay. And I was very worried about a woman young enough to be my daughter who made a very serious allegation about a very serious crime in parliament house when we couldn’t get a straight answer from the Prime Minister, from any of the senior ministers involved about any action that had been taken to follow up on what was an…you know…really….extraordinary….extraordinary breach of safety in a building that was supposed to be the highest security building in the land…Actually it is absolutely no surprise that anybody would think that I would follow up on it, on an instant like this. For 30 years I have been campaigning for better investigation and better treatment of victims of domestic violence and sexual assault and child sexual assault. It’s been a constant party of my political activism, long before anybody ever heard of Brittany Higgins. I’ve been doing this for decades now, and it’d be no surprise that I would be interested to make sure that justice was served in a situation like this.”
Natalie Barr, “And we absolutely need that in this country, I don’t think there’s any argument there.”
Tanya Plibersek, “Well, it’s not happening currently, that’s for sure. There are too many victims of sexual assault who don’t report to the police, and those ones who do report to police very rarely get a guilty conviction.”
Natalie Barr, “Tanya, will you watch this episode of Spotlight last night? (The interview with Bruce Lehrmann, accused of raping Brittney Higgins)”
Tanya Plibersek, “Nope.”
Natalie Barr, “You won’t?”
Tanya Plibersek, “No. I don’t wanna to. I don’t wanna watch it. I don’t wanna platform Bruce Lehrmann, sorry.”
Natalie Barr, “You’re not interested in what went on behind the scenes? The allegations that your name is mentioned? Footage that was never seen before, of the two of them walking inside parliament house?”
Tanya Plibersek, “No. I don’t need to see that.”
Picking and choosing rape cases when it suits.
Kathy Sherriff tells her story on her website in the link below.
