Barrister Charles Waterstreet says paralegal may have felt like ‘vegetarian in an abattoir’
COLOURFUL barrister Charles Waterstreet said the paralegal who accused him of making sexually inappropriate comments “might have felt like a vegetarian turning up to work at an abattoir”.
NSW
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COLOURFUL barrister Charles Waterstreet said the paralegal who accused him of making sexually inappropriate comments “might have felt like a vegetarian turning up to work at an abattoir”.
The man whose life inspired hit TV series Rake explained away the paralegal’s complaints of being shown pictures of naked women and a man being masturbated as being linked to work he was doing for clients and articles he was preparing for the magazine Penthouse.
Mr Waterstreet said he had warned in his CareerHub advertisement for a “Paralegal and Personal Assistant” the candidate “required a strong stomach for the distressing materials prevalent in complex criminal trials and a sense of humour in the face of the unexpected”.
The ad was answered by Sydney University student Tina Huang, a former editor of the uni’s Honi Soit magazine, who said in her CV she had experience on the uni Law Society’s “Intergenerational Experiences of Feminism” panel, and had been a speaker at “Radical Sex and Consent Week”.
Ms Huang said she was compelled to speak out on her alleged treatment in Mr Waterstreet’s chambers after reading of sexual harassment allegations against Hollywood heavyweight Harvey Weinstein.
“In retrospect, despite Miss Huang’s assurance that, ‘not only did I develop a strong stomach for distressing materials but I learnt to engage with clients in a a [sic] sensitive, but efficient manner,’ I feel that, given my own peccadillos, the type of cases I was then currently involved in and my tendency to speed-read applicants, Miss Huang might have felt like a vegetarian turning up to work at an abattoir,” Mr Waterstreet said yesterday.
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In a column published by Fairfax, he also addressed Ms Huang’s claims he had spoken of sex parties, cocaine, threesomes and sex toys.
“The reference to women snorting cocaine off my body is a joke I fondly tell, since I have been sober for 21 years with respect to alcohol and illicit drugs,” he said.
“As to ‘sex parties’, I have yet to be invited to one.
“As to having many girlfriends and enjoying threesomes, I refer to an article about myself in the July 2017 issue of Penthouse in which I gave answers to questions on this subject matter.”
Mr Waterstreet said Ms Huang’s reference to a missing payment for sex toys probably referred to his account at a Darlinghurst lingerie shop, “which was without doubt overdue”.
He said he was also preparing for a panel at Sydney Contemporary titled Post Porn: Art, Feminism and Sex in the Age of the Internet.
Ms Huang made her claims in an article on the New Matilda website which led Sydney University to ban Mr Waterstreet’s job ads from its publications.
The barrister said he had “more flaws” than the world’s tallest building.
“One of them is to make a joke of everything.”
The NSW Bar Association would not confirm or deny whether any complaint had been made against Mr Waterstreet.
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