Monday 7 January 2013

The on-going Slipper saga

The conservative side of politics appears to be rejoicing in the fact that the former currently absent Speaker of the House of Representatives has been summonsed by the Federal Police with respect to the alleged misuse of CabCharge vouchers on three occasions.

Three.

Occasions. 

Count them.  One.  Two.  Three. 

It took the AFP nine months to investigate, and lest we forget, the principal witness is of course James Ashby, who has just lost any possible credence that he may have enjoyed, as a result of the Federal Court throwing out his sexual harassment case.

The Hon. Mr Slipper is apparently being charged under the Commonwealth Criminal Code Act, and has been ordered to appear in the Canberra Magistrates Court on 15th February 2013, to answer the charges.  The relevant section of that Act reads as follows:-

Section 135.1(5) of the Criminal Code Act 1995:

A person is guilty of an offence if:
(a) the person dishonestly causes a loss, or dishonestly causes a risk of loss, to another person; and
(b) the first-mentioned person knows or believes that the loss will occur or that there is a substantial risk of the loss occurring; and
(c) the other person is a Commonwealth entity.


Penalty: Imprisonment for 5 years.

As a non-partisan political commentator, I am frankly appalled that the Right Wing continue to hound the Hon. Member for Fisher (and absent Speaker), to this extent. 

I ask all of you to honestly assess how many times you (as have I) have, in the past, misused CabCharge vouchers.  Honestly.

Three times?  What utter bullshit.

The Hon. Member for Fisher should be soundly supported in his defence of these scurrilous accusations, and once again (albeit not necessarily) prove his complete innocence.

1 comment:

Rossini said...

Bryan,

How oten can we expect updates?