My opinions on these cases are probably influenced a bit by my own career experiences.
Working for a child welfare department I spent six years at a receiving and assessment centre for wards of the state.
It was a place where children up to 18 first came after removal from their parents or 'carers'
The tales of neglect, physical and sexual abuse were horrific.
Unfortunately these residential/institutional settings also attracted amongst it's work force the occasional predator.
Complaints of physical and sexual abuse against staff were not uncommon.
We've seen some of the results of that following the royal comission which resulted in charges relating to historic sexual abuse of children in institutional settings.
I have no 'truck' with abusers of any kind.
Sexual abuse is the worst thing a person can experience short of murder.
But there is another side to the story.
What happens to the alleged abuser who is actually innocent.
Your career, your reputation, family connections, life as you know it can be destroyed by such accusations.
Even if you're found innocent by the courts it's something that hangs there over your head and there will always be folks who make their own judgement on your guilt or innocence.
Guilty or innocent....Life will never be the same.
Even so it's the courts who must be the final judge.
Higgins is entitled to tell her side of the story.
Accusations such as this are not made lightly.
It takes a lot of balancing of the consequences to decide whether to proceed.
On the other hand Lehrmann is entitled to a presumption of innocence until the matter is decided.
Each case need to be judged on it's merits.
The Toowomba case has no bearing at present.
From what's been revealed it's going to be a difficult one to judge.
It may indicate a pattern of behaviour, but it's also yet to be proved.
As the original case progressed I couldn't help but shake my head as inappropriate comments and judgements were made by various people right up to the PM.
I'm not sure who was advising Ms Higgins but I suspect she didn't always follow that advice in some of her public comments outside the court.
The system won't always get it right, but it has to be followed....and this case went completely off the rails.
Working for a child welfare department I spent six years at a receiving and assessment centre for wards of the state.
It was a place where children up to 18 first came after removal from their parents or 'carers'
The tales of neglect, physical and sexual abuse were horrific.
Unfortunately these residential/institutional settings also attracted amongst it's work force the occasional predator.
Complaints of physical and sexual abuse against staff were not uncommon.
We've seen some of the results of that following the royal comission which resulted in charges relating to historic sexual abuse of children in institutional settings.
I have no 'truck' with abusers of any kind.
Sexual abuse is the worst thing a person can experience short of murder.
But there is another side to the story.
What happens to the alleged abuser who is actually innocent.
Your career, your reputation, family connections, life as you know it can be destroyed by such accusations.
Even if you're found innocent by the courts it's something that hangs there over your head and there will always be folks who make their own judgement on your guilt or innocence.
Guilty or innocent....Life will never be the same.
Even so it's the courts who must be the final judge.
Higgins is entitled to tell her side of the story.
Accusations such as this are not made lightly.
It takes a lot of balancing of the consequences to decide whether to proceed.
On the other hand Lehrmann is entitled to a presumption of innocence until the matter is decided.
Each case need to be judged on it's merits.
The Toowomba case has no bearing at present.
From what's been revealed it's going to be a difficult one to judge.
It may indicate a pattern of behaviour, but it's also yet to be proved.
As the original case progressed I couldn't help but shake my head as inappropriate comments and judgements were made by various people right up to the PM.
I'm not sure who was advising Ms Higgins but I suspect she didn't always follow that advice in some of her public comments outside the court.
The system won't always get it right, but it has to be followed....and this case went completely off the rails.