‘Unholy trinity’ plaguing Australians as dark character takes over

An explosive and disturbing set of circumstances is gripping Australians and it’s exposing a dark side of our culture.

OPINION

It is perhaps a sign of the times that in the lead up to the purest and happiest holiday of Christmas, the news is awash with stories of sorrow and shame.

On the global scale there is of course the horror of war between Israel and Gaza, with evermore unimaginably gruesome details of Hamas’s October attack and the ever-rising death toll in the strip as Israel seeks to wipe out the terror group.

But even here at home there is a dark and unseemly character to the stories dominating the headlines. And it is all the more disturbing because they are headlines about the people behind the headlines.

Sitting above the ongoing grind of the cost-of-living crisis is an unholy trinity of tales gripping the nation.

The first is the revived – or perhaps it never died – prosecution of Brittany Higgins’s explosive sexual assault allegations, but this time with the alleged perpetrator Bruce Lehrmann the plaintiff in a civil court instead of Higgins the complainant in a criminal one.

Bruce Lehrmann arrives at the Federal Court. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

Never before has the political and media establishment, and the justice system itself, been so inextricably enmeshed in such an obscene set of allegations.

The latest is the bombshell dropped just days ago by Nine newspapers about conservative icon Alan Jones, once the undisputed king of the media giant’s radio arm and a former Liberal speechwriter and star rugby coach.

The indecent assault claims reported by SMH investigative journalist Kate McClymont could not be more private in their nature yet again they go to someone who was at the very heart of public life in media and politics.

Australian conservative commentator Jones denies allegations he indecently assaulted several younger men and plans legal action to clear his name. Picture: William West / AFP

Both matters are still untested in a court of law and all parties are innocent until proven otherwise.

But what is striking is that they are so personal and private and yet have ensnared the most ardent prosecutors of public debate: legislators, commentators, reporters and policymakers.

Perhaps it is a dose of our own medicine: Politicians and their advisers make rules for others and then get caught breaking them themselves. Journalists reveal scandals that beset both celebrities and everyday people and then get embroiled in their own.

It is brutal but perhaps it is a fair cop. After all, the good book says we should treat others the way we would wish to be treated ourselves.

In other words, if politicians or journalists of anyone in public life believes they are revealing ugly truths or is prepared to accuse others of ugliness, then it is inevitably only a matter of time before they are cast as ugly themselves.

Sometimes the cause is worth it. Sometimes one side is clearly right and the other is clearly wrong. Sometimes it’s black and white.

But not often.

This brings us to the third part of this unholy trinity where public debate has been reduced to personal debasement.

That is of course the outrage over the release of criminal immigration detainees – sparked by the High Court appeal of a child sex offender – several of whom have since been charged with new offences after being freed into the community.

This political and legal omnishambles was bad enough on its own but was somehow made immeasurably worse by one minister calling Peter Dutton a “protector of pedophiles” followed by another attacking a journalist for daring to suggest they should apologise for the fiasco.

Minister for Home Affairs Clare O’Neil labelled Peter Dutton a “protector of paedophiles”. Picture: John Grainger

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus had a fiery exchange with a journalist during a press conference. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Needless to say both these hot-blooded tactics proved disastrous. If political scientists ever needed a textbook example of how to turn a spotfire into an inferno they now have the perfect case study.

The face of the formerly barnstorming Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil has been etched with regret ever since the paedophile slur. No lip-reader in the land could say she wasn’t desperate to rewind those words.

As for Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, he faced the seismic tragedy of the death of his wife just one month ago and no one could be normal after that.

Even so, he ultimately had the decency to call up Sky News reporter Olivia Caisley and rightly apologise for his outburst.

This belatedly drew a line underneath a silly and unnecessary addition to all the problems a first-term government has at the best of times.

But nonetheless it was a gesture of goodwill in a season where many of us mouth that platitude without thinking about what it really means. And frankly it was the only small measure of decency in an otherwise miserable week.

So hopefully there is a lesson here for all of us in public life. An increasingly personal and often vicious tone has infected political debate in an age where question time is 24/7 on everybody’s smartphone except there are no limits and are no rules.

But that doesn’t mean there are no consequences.