The Null Device

How quickly they change their tune. The Government has confirmed that allegations of pederasty made by Senator Bill Heffernan against Justice Michael Kirby are completely false, and based on fraudulent documents, and called on Heffernan to apologise and resign from being cabinet secretary. This is not long after Howard himself lent credence to the allegations, suggesting that the government have the power to sack judges whose sex lives it didn't approve of (other than the usual puritanism, a breach of separation of powers), and insinuating that there is a connection between homosexuality and paedophilia; undoubtedly hoping to leverage the prejudices of Hanson-voting Middle Australia, so useful for winning the last election, to help purge a cumbersomely progressive judge.

There are 9 comments on "":

Posted by: Ben http://leviathan.weblogs.com Wed Mar 20 13:42:51 2002

Damn. I was really looking forward to an enquiry. Especially when they started re-examining those claims by former MP Franca Arena that all Judges belonged to a particular Satanic Lodge and fought with axes to determine their leadership. Apparently most of the juciest claims originated with someone in Maximum Security Insanity Prison.

Still, it is a bit odd that no-one is calling for an enquiry. Normally they call for an enquiry if the biscuits at the Parliamentary Tea-Room are broken or the seventeenth secretary to the minister's assistant admits a drink driving offence thirty-eight years ago.

Posted by: acb http://dev.null.org Wed Mar 20 13:52:13 2002

Well, there's no grounds to believe that there is any truth to the allegations; the evidence behind them has been examined and found to be fraudulent, and there's a clear motive for the allegations (getting rid of a left-leaning judge by marshalling public outrage).

It's clear that Kirby didn't screw that particular rent-boy; are you saying that they should dig around in his personal life to see whether there perchance are some others he did screw?

Posted by: Ben http://leviathan.weblogs.com Thu Mar 21 01:50:53 2002

Actually it's less clear than all that. The evidence that Justice Kirby went cruising for boys in a Comcar on that particular night has been discredited. The Statutory Declaration from a gay prostitute has been conveniently forgotten however.

And where do you get the idea that Kirby is 'left-leaning'? He seems fairly center-right to me. Of course maybe you're one of those people who think the Age newspaper and the Democrats are 'left wing'?

Posted by: acb http://dev.null.org Thu Mar 21 03:47:43 2002

Left-leaning compared to the Howard administration's ideologies, and enough so to get in the way. Besides, if he goes, Howard can replace him with a conservative of some sort, stacking the High Court more quickly than mere attrition would allow.

Posted by: Andrew http:// Thu Mar 21 06:00:01 2002

I seem to recall Kirby being a Monarchist actually. People are complex; assuming that one's sexuality indicates a left lean can be quite an error.

Posted by: acb http://dev.null.org Thu Mar 21 06:15:53 2002

He seems to be more of a liberal humanist by far than the government would like.

And I am aware that not all gays are leftists; ever read Andrew Sullivan?

Posted by: Igor Fri Mar 22 02:54:37 2002

I suspect a lot of male homosexuals are more right-wing than left-wing, the connections between fascism and militarism and homosexuality are well documented. Any why do there seem to be so man lesbian policewomen?

Hmmm.

Posted by: acb http://dev.null.org Fri Mar 22 03:51:52 2002

Ah, but how many gay fascists are out of the closet?

Posted by: Ben http://leviathan.weblogs.com Sun Mar 24 11:59:43 2002

Hmm. I read a piece in Time recently on Holland's radical right-wing anti-immigration political sensation of the moment, it give passing mention that he is gay.