Why couldn’t we afford Ashleigh Raper anonymity?

We need a better way to balance the public’s right to know about allegations against someone standing for public office, and a woman’s right to privacy, writes Katy Hall.

“This poor woman.”

“This poor woman who did nothing wrong, who didn’t even complain, who put up with it. David Elliott has abused her by using her as a pawn.”

These were the words of journalist David Marr following the NSW Minister for Counter Terrorism, Minister for Corrections and Minister for Veterans Affairs’ public airing of allegations in Parliament that the now-former NSW opposition leader Luke Foley harrassed an ABC journalist in 2016.

Marr is right, of course. Ashleigh Raper will likely now face months, if not years, of having her name dragged through the media cycle, her family life disrupted, her career forever linked with an event she did nothing to deserve all thanks to one of the grossest violations of political tit for tats we’ve seen in recent years. And so what should have been a story solely about one man and his alleged misconduct is also one about a woman who sought privacy and attempted to remain in the shadows.

NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley stood down on Thursday, following allegations of sexual misconduct. Picture: AAP/Joel Carrett

The issue for many now, though, is whether or not the allegations should ever have been made public in the first place.

In a statement released on Thursday, Raper said that on multiple occasions since the alleged incident occurred she had expressed her wish to not make a formal complaint and to not pursue the matter. Raper also said Elliott made the event public “without my involvement or consent”.

But where does the right to privacy end when the alleged perpetrator is a public figure?

When someone is in public office, when someone is paid by the public purse, when someone is selling themselves and their image to the public and heading to the polls in the hope of leading an entire state as Foley had planned to do, the usual rules do not apply. They can’t.

Voters have a right to know. And the minute Foley’s alleged behaviour was raised in Parliament this story became bigger than just the two of them.

Ashleigh Raper was a political correspondent when she alleges NSW Labor Opposition leader Luke Foley indecently assaulted her at a party. Picture: Channel 7

Going on the record about a sexual harassment or assault is something most women in the situation choose never to do. The risks are high and the reward of seeing justice served occurs on a minuscule level. One only needs look to the saga of Dr Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony against the now confirmed Supreme Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh to see that.

Despite hours of convincing testimony and laying the most traumatic moment of her life bare for the world to see and judge, all in the hope of doing what she believed was her civic duty, Kavanaugh still rose to the top and secured the plum job he so badly wanted.

And now six weeks on from recounting her version of what she alleges took place in a high school bedroom almost 40 years ago, Blasey Ford is still, according to NPR, being harassed, paying for a private security detail, unable to return to her permanent home or her job as a professor at one of the United States’ top universities. All because she dared come forward and speak out.

ABC journalist Ashleigh Raper should have been afforded the anonymity she requested. Picture: ABC

So if Foley did do what Raper alleges he did, the people of NSW should have the right to know that.

How we as a society navigate these stories in a way that respects privacy but holds those in public office to account remains to be seen. People who sexually harass or assault need to be held to account, but perhaps we need to grant anonymity to victims so their lives don’t become collateral damage in a situation that is not of their making.

If Foley did do what Raper alleges he did, the people of NSW should have the right to know that. But Foley vehemently denies the incident and says he plans to sue.

One thing’s for sure; Ashleigh Raper should never have been thrown under the bus in the way that she has been and made responsible for us figuring it out.

Katy Hall is a writer and producer for RendezView.

@katyhallway