WATCH DOG ACTS - PART TWO
No wonder Guerin
quite happily boasted of his exploits. He made an empty apology and alluded to
his ‘fame’, moralised at others and claimed (despite his age and role) that it
was a learning experience, that his embarrassment at being caught somehow made
him a victim, and, perhaps as a demonstration of his rampant narcissism,
claimed he was ‘entitled’ to make those vile comments using a fake identity.
Yet a victim doesn’t even have the right to make a complaint and expect real
justice for what they suffer.
A victim
will usually be discouraged from even making an official complaint, and the
fact that they tried to won’t even be recorded. In years to come, this failure
to record anything at all will be used by defence lawyers as evidence that
there is “no history” of such incidents, that it’s all a lie. But the police
will insist, just like the public services, that what happened to Yvonne Berry
was an isolated incident. That it was only one person, Geurin, doing the wrong
thing. They must have a handbook on bullshit cover-ups.
Let’s have
a look at what’s been going on in Queensland recently. Rick Flori, a former
police sergeant, arrested, charged, and dragged through Court on bullshit
allegations of misconduct, for years, his reputation ruined and his life catastrophically
impacted. His crime? He leaked footage of police bashing Noa Begic, a kid who
was handcuffed, prone, unresisting, then washing away the blood. The officers
involved in the beating have, it turns out, a long history of complaints
against them for violence...
… yet they have never been charged
for any of it. David Joachim also has a history of complaints levelled against
him while he worked as a police officer in New South Wales, and, it turns out,
Queensland Police Commissioner Ian Stewart was the brother of Joachim’s
brother-in-law. Oh, dear. Things do look a little dodgy. Initially, it was just
a cop having a bad day in an isolated incident and another cop trying to smear
him to get even over a promotion by leaking footage to the media. Now look.
Yes, it certainly is astonishing what
is discovered if the authorities get off their lazy arses and do their fucking
job. When they bother to investigate, suddenly all manner of things are
uncovered. Yet it’s usually not the police or relevant public services doing
the investigation. It’s the media. The only reason, in far too many cases, that
anything is discovered at all, and a victim gets a small measure of justice, is
because a reporter, their producer and employer, sees an opportunity to expose
a long history that proves to be commercially valuable injustice.
Sensationalism sells. If it is disturbing, vindictive, gory, humiliating, or inflicts misery, it is a commodity that can bring fame and fortune to whoever breaks it. And so, just like the police and public services, if a victim and their history is not considered worth the effort, and they can be ignored with little chance of any repercussions, they will be. They will be told what happened to them was an isolated incident, on they don’t have enough evidence to prove their allegations, and or are mocked and bullied into silence.
And, if it goes sideways, and the
victim gets killed, or snaps and takes justice into their own hands, the
authorities or media control the narrative as long as they can keep the other
on-side, and neither side sees an opportunity for petty revenge or personal
benefit. Ask yourself how many high-profile cases involving domestic violence,
child and elder abuse, systemic failure, rape, and murder were investigated
only because the media exposed the story…
… and how many incidents have
managed to avoid investigation as a result of the indifference of the media. We
don’t know the full extent. How could we? The authorities cover it up, and the
media barely mention it, if at all. So
now the question becomes, what are we going to do about it? Clearly, the
authorities cannot be trusted. Elements within their ranks have, often for
decades, demonstrated a consistent effort to obstruct and pervert the course of
justice.
Those elements within those
agencies are complicit in crimes, covering up evidence, intimidating and
silencing witnesses and victims, and persecuting those who fail to remain
silent. Again, some of us have suffered personal experiences at the hands of
these so-called anti-corruption agencies. IBAC isn’t the only one I’ve contacted.
I’ve contacted the CMC, now the CCC, in Queensland. Despite what I shared with
them, they insisted the matter should be reported to those who were at fault
for an ‘internal investigation’ and, if they conducted one, the CMC would review
it.
Yeah, that’s right, the people
named in the ‘allegations’ would first determine if they should be
investigated, then conduct any investigation, and the CMC would rubber stamp
whatever finding got shat out. How many ‘isolated incidents’ and victims are
there? Where can they go when the entire system is infected with that vile,
entrenched culture of corruption? How can positive change ever be affected when
the people in positions of power in those agencies are part of the problem?
Bill Shorten suggested an independent
Office of Integrity to take complaints and oversee investigations into the
police, public services and politicians. It’s something a lot of us have been
asking to be implemented, for decades. But how do we know it will be any better
than the bullshit cover-up agencies we already have? Brett Guerin and
(apparently) Ian Stewart have proven just how corrupt the highest ranks can be,
the positions of ultimate authority filled with those who are causing the
problem.
So people like me, who have been
fighting for decades to speak and be heard, really heard, continue to work our
arses off to accomplish that, year after year, decade after decade. We contact
every agency we know of or are told about, seeking a means to reveal what we
know. The corruption, the child abuse, the possible sexual abuse of children,
thefts, fraud, mail tampering, slander, stalking, harassment, systemic
failures, suspicious deaths, cover-ups. And nobody cares.
Years ago, I contacted Civil
Liberties Australia seeking help. Initially, the guy that responded was very
friendly and helpful. Upon doing as he asked, and sending the seven page
document I had, he changed his tune. Instantly. He stated that he had not
bothered to read what I had written, but then blamed me for everything that had
been done to me despite the fact that his idiotic claims were simple victim
blaming. Adding insult to injury, when I asked him why he behaved that way, he
boasted about doing it to others and that he did it because he could.
He knew nobody would stop him.
It’s what many predators tell their victims: “I do it because I can and nobody
will stop me”. Recently, I managed to track down a group called Whistle-blowers
Australia (WBA), then shared my experiences with them and asked for help. They
responded in pretty much the same manner. They then advised me to consider
giving up. If I’d been at it this long, and nobody was helping, they said,
maybe I should just get over it.
That is the same attitude directed
at victims of domestic violence, sexual assault in the media industry and other
workplaces, paedophiles in the Churches, banks, and too many other crimes. The
victims are bullied into silence so that the predators can continue doing what
they do, knowing damn well it’s wrong but continuing because they can. Because
nobody will stop them. For decades. Because the people and agencies that are
supposed to help victims of injustice and systemic failure won’t – they are
staffed with predators and are part of the problem.
WBA explained that, even with
evidence and signed statements from witnesses and victims, none of it would
ever be enough. Even if they had the time and money to help someone like me,
they wouldn’t. It just wasn’t worth their effort. A victim like me just isn’t
worth the effort. All the other victims who have a similar set of circumstances
to me, are not worth the effort. How many other predators in the general public
and public services are protected by these so called child protection, victim
support and other oversight and ‘anti-corruption’ agencies?
You have no idea how much I’d like
to see someone hunt these people down, brutalise them, steal from them and burn
their whole world down, day after day, for years on end, make sure they never
get help, and then tell them to get over it. Perhaps empathy can only be
learned through shared experience. The only way a predator will ever stop is if
someone forces them to stop. The only way that can ever happen is if the predator
is identified and the authorities agree that, yes, there is a problem here.
None of that can ever happen while
the predators are the ones in position of authority. Me Too, Times Up, and
Anti-Bullying initiatives are like make-up over the black eye of a domestic
violence victim. It’s cosmetic. The “we hear you”, “you’ve had your say”, “now
you have closure”, and “the healing has begun” bullshit rhetoric is cruel and
vindictive when victims have not even had a chance to speak, their suffering
continues, and those at fault are not even stopped let alone held to account.
And, meanwhile, Barnaby Joyce,
Michaelia Cash, Joe Hockey, Bronwyn Bishop, Julie Bishop, Laurence Springborg,
Campbell Newman, Jeff Seeney, and all the other rotten current and former politicians
and ranking members of the police and public services find ways to get around
laws using technicalities, and circumvent justice for their own financial and
personal advantage, sacrificing the odd political member (who made enemies) to
maintain an illusion of accountability.
We are told to rail against Putin,
Kim Jong Un, and Trump for their hypocrisy and blatant corruption, yet how are
our own political representatives, police and public service leaders any
different? How many of them have I contacted because they have demonstrated
concern for people like me suffering injustice, only to discover that what they
were doing was all an act? How the hell do we purge this vile filth from our
leadership and authorities to build a better future?
How the hell do we get justice for
the victims? How the hell do we find a way to give those victims the same right
to speak and share the truth about what happened to them? If a politician can
misuse Parliamentary Privilege to spread lies, or simply fire people, in an
effort to intimidate people into silence, maintain a cover-up, and obstruct
justice, why can victims simply speak the truth? If political representatives
are not representing the people, do we really have democracy at all? If public
servants are not serving the public, then who is protecting and helping the
most disadvantaged and vulnerable?
The politically motivated Royal
Commission into Churches exposed the evil there, and silenced any criticism
from the churches regarding immoral acts and laws inflicted by the LNP, but
what will it take to expose and force accountability on the rotten police,
public servants and politicians who are helping abuse thousands, possibly
millions of victims in the general public? Those who are silent may be said to
condone, but those who force others to remain silent are complicit.
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