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ashbygate ....

ashbygate .....

Whether Parliamentary Speaker Peter Slipper sexually harassed James Ashby is something for the courts to decide, but the case against him appears weak and there is a trove of evidence that suggests a conspiracy. Managing editor David Donovan reports.

The case of James Ashby against Peter Slipper always seemed rather fortuitous for the Opposition, coming just five months after Slipper added an extra vote for the Government by becoming Speaker — after having previously been endorsed and re-endorsed by the Coalition for 18 years.

As they say, if something walks, talks and looks like a duck — you can guess what it is.

And since Ashby first came forward with claims of sexual harassment and taxi voucher fraud – the latter of which he later dropped – the case looked, to many, like a duck. And so most people were probably rather unsurprised when the Commonwealth launched an action in the Federal Court to strike out the case — alleging it was a plot by the LNP and the Liberal Party to bring down the Federal Government.

The courts will decide about the relative merits of these actions — whether it really is a duck, if you like. However, IA has been quietly investigating the Peter Slipper – James Ashby case since it appeared in the press, and we feel confident in saying the case against Peter Slipper certainly waddles and quacks. We will be going into significant depth over coming weeks into the allegations against both parties, as well as the people who may be involved in the alleged Ashbygate conspiracy.

In this first part, we take a look at James Ashby, and consider the serious allegations he has made against Australia’s parliamentary speaker Peter Slipper.

How Ashby met Slipper

Speaker Peter Slipper, 62, met James Ashby, 33, in Beerwah, a sleepy rural village in the lushly picturesque Sunshine Coast hinterland of Queensland, situated about an hour’s drive north of Brisbane. Behind and around the town loom the sharp ridges of the Glasshouse Mountains and ranges of verdant rainforest. Just outside it is the famous Australia Zoo — a tourist mecca made famous by the ill-fated local legend Steve Irwin — the ‘Crocodile Hunter’.

A half hour drive east will find you upon the wide golden beaches of Maroochydoore and Sunshine Coast proper. Peter Slipper’s electorate office is just a few minutes north of there, in a little hamlet called Buddina. The roadsides around the tranquil country town of Beerwah are colourfully dotted with macadamia and avocado plantations, along with pineapple and strawberry farms.

Indeed, it was on a strawberry farm that Peter Slipper first met James Ashby, just a little over 12 months ago.

Journalist Jared Owens described this initial meeting in The Australian on 25 April 2012:

It happened in July last year when Mr Slipper – then deputy speaker and a member of the Liberal National Party – invited frontbencher Bronwyn Bishop to breakfast with constituents at the Sunshine Coast’s Gowinta Farms, where Mr Ashby worked in marketing.

The ice was broken by Rhys Reynolds, a young staffer and family friend of Mr Slipper, who … told The Australian the pair struck up an effortless rapport.

Rhys Reynolds, 20, was still active in the LNP after Slipper “ratted” on the LNP and became the Speaker.

The Gowinta strawberry farm is just minutes away from the strawberry farm of other prominent Beerwah local residents the Roy Family — which encompasses 22 year-old Wyatt Roy, the MP for Longman. Longman is also the former seat of Howard Government front bencher – and Peter Slipper arch nemesis – Mal Brough.

According to Owens, Ashby was “a gay LNP member, [who] quickly became a regular guest at local party functions and gatherings” at Peter Slipper’s home. Curiously, Ashby was hired by Slipper at almost exactly the same time the MP became Speaker and resigned from the LNP — on 24 November 2011.

Ashby’s allegations

James Ashby had only worked for Peter Slipper for five months before he came forward with his allegations of workplace sexual harassment and Cabcharge fraud, on 20 April 2012 (he later dropped the cab voucher allegations). The substance of Ashby’s complaint may be found in the publicly available court documents, but are adequately summarised, for now, by an article published in the Brisbane Times on 23 April 2012:

Extracts from court documents, obtained by News Limited, allege that in January, Mr Ashby drove to Mr Slipper’s home to take him to meet some of his constituents. They stopped at a coffee shop where Mr Slipper allegedly asked him: ”Have you ever c— in a guy’s a— before.”

Mr Ashby replied: ”That’s not the kind of question you ask people, Peter.”

In another incident, Mr Slipper questioned why Mr Ashby did not shower with the door open.

The documents also claim that Mr Slipper allegedly sent text messages with ”x” and ”xxx” and in other texts Mr Slipper says ”U getting roks off. Pity”.

It is also alleged that on March 20, Mr Ashby was in his office and Mr Slipper ”walked into the office and said ‘Can I kiss you both”’. There was no other person in the office, the documents said.

How credible is James Ashby?

Sexual harassment in the workplace is undoubtedly a very grave offence, but so is bearing false witness — and there are reasons to suspect that Ashby may, at the very least, have had ulterior motives in launching his action against Peter Slipper.

The first reason Ashby’s allegations give most people pause for thought, is that he is a rather burly 33-year-old male who, many would imagine, would have little difficulty in rebuffing the untoward advances of almost any male in no uncertain terms. Indeed, Ashby has a history of aggression and confrontation that make any suggestion of him being a vulnerable target for harassment and bullying difficult to conceive.

An insight was provided on 17 April 2012 (just days before Ashby made his allegations) in the local Sunshine Coast Daily newspaper, which reported Ashby being investigated by the Police after a confrontation with a local television reporter:

PETER Slipper staffer James Ashby has refused to be interviewed by police over an incident in which he threw a Sunshine Coast Daily reporter’s telephone during a press conference.

Award-winning political reporter Owen Jacques had asked Mr Slipper a question about his expenses during the March 9 interview when Mr Ashby decided to intervene.

Mr Ashby knocked Mr Jacques’ mobile phone out of his hand and then further taunted him by saying “go and get it”.

The Daily lodged a formal complaint with police and Mr Slipper promised to investigate.

In the end, the Police declined to lay charges, saying the incident was not sufficiently serious to warrant expending the court’s time.

Ashby, however, was not so fortunate in 2002 when, as a DJ at Newcastle radio station NX-FM, he ended up with a criminal record over threats he made to a rival DJ.

The incident was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald on 23 April 2012:

Mr Ashby was known as Jimmy on NXFM when he rang rival Jim Morrison while Morrison was on air, Newcastle Local Court previously heard.

”Yeah, go for it you f—ing psychopath,” Mr Ashby said.

”Next time I see you riding on your f—ing bike I’ll hit you, you idiot, all over the sloppy road, you dumb prick. F— it, if I was your mother I would have drowned you at birth.”

He pleaded guilty to using a carriage service in an offensive manner. In a statement issued this weekend, Mr Ashby said the 2002 incident was a ”silly” joke.

Ashby was fined $2000 and given a three-year good behaviour bond.

Given these facts, you might assume that Ashby would not be the sort of person to feel unduly oppressed by another man simply asking him a sexually suggestive question, or sending him a dubious text message. Indeed, as IA columnist Bob Ellis put it:

“He … is the first thirty-four year old homosexual male to file a civil suit for sexual harassment in world history, I would think. I may be wrong about this. But he is a trail-blazer.”

Ashby’s claims of sexual harassment stray further into the realms of implausibility after ABC 7.30’s 30 July 2012 report by Stephen Long on Ashby himself being an alleged sexual predator — and on much more vulnerable individuals than himself:

STEPHEN LONG: But now there is a new twist in this battle of claim and counter-claim. Tonight, 7.30 can reveal that James Ashby’s own personal history is under investigation. It goes back to his time in Townsville. The North Queensland city became James Ashby’s home in 2003. He moved there from Newcastle where he’d resigned from his job as a radio DJ in controversial circumstances, convicted and fined for making threatening and abusive phone calls to a rival radio host.

In Townsville, then in his mid-20s, James Ashby met a 15-year-old boy. Nine years on, spurred by the publicity about Ashby’s sexual harassment case, that young man contacted Peter Slipper. His email to the Speaker has been obtained by 7.30.

EMAIL (male voiceover): “In 2003 I met James Ashby through a mutual friend. He was working for a radio station and in the process of moving to Townsville. We began a sexual relationship which lasted for a few weeks before James broke it off as he had started a relationship with another person which lasted two or three years. I was 15 at the time, however what we did under Queensland law cannot be consented to under the age of 18. The guy James broke it off for was also 15 at the time they began their relationship.”

According to these claims, it seems James Ashby broke off a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old boy — for a sexual relationship with another 15 year-old boy.

Now, these claims must be tested in a court of law — but based on our information, they must be extremely credible. We can say this because, on the 3rd of August 2012, this publication received a telephone call from a senior ABC TV producer wanting to discuss our investigations into Jacksonville and Ashbygate. During the discussion, we asked the producer why such shows as 7.30 and Lateline had not sufficiently publicised the clear evidence of corruption demonstrated through our (then) 18 (now 20) investigative Jacksonville stories into the HSU saga, all of which were backed up by primary source documentary evidence, and none of which have been legally contested.

The response from this ABC producer was that 7.30 and Lateline had been “eager” to do the stories, but needed to do their “due diligence”. After pressing, we were told that this meant, effectively, that they had been unable to gain sign-off from the ABC “legal department”. Of course, when asked what the actual legal impediment was to publicising primary source material, noting that I have legal training, and given we had published 18 stories without any legal action, the ABC producer seemed somewhat stumped.

However, the point is, these emailed allegations by a callow youth, which were passed on to the authorities and the ABC by Peter Slipper, must – by definition – be far more credible than IA’s several hundred pages of original hard copy primary source documentation about corruption by HSU and FWA officials ― since the emails were aired in full on 7.30, yet the Jacksonville material has never been seen on the programme even once.

People may wish to pause and have a think about that.

The only conclusion we can reach, therefore ― without reaching the almost unimaginable conclusion that Australia’s national broadcaster, the ABC, is a highly compromised organisation that, for opaque reasons, reports allegations against certain people, but not others – is that the allegations against Ashby must be very highly verifiable. That the Facebook messages passed on to Peter Slipper from Ashby’s accuser are far more conclusive then the original hard copy bank statements, credit card statements, cheque butts, cheque requisitions, letters, emails and internet records Peter Wicks and IA received in our investigations into the Jacksonville case (a case which is still ongoing, by the way).

One can only presume that the ABC “Legal Department” was very convinced by Ashby’s young accuser. A former Labor Party candidate, along with a former vice chair of the Australian Republican Movement, are obviously far less believable.

So, if Ashby’s accuser is so much more credible than Peter and myself, and Ashby’s accuser’s claims so much more legally defensible than the truckloads of primary documentary evidence we have provided ― then can Ashby credibly attempt to adopt the role of a sexual victim?

On the face of it, the assertion seems absurd ― but only the courts will tell for sure.

(In Chapter 2 of Ashbygate, coming soon, Independent Australia will present a comprehensive timeline of events.)

Ashbygate 1 - How Ashby Met Slipper

 

a councillor "was offered sex and bribes"...

 

HIS political opponents call it an ''act of desperation'' to get elected, but that hasn't stopped the Penrith councillor Marko Malkoc going public with a series of lurid accusations of bribes and offers of sexual favours from Liberal Party members trying to sway his independent vote.
Cr Malkoc, who was on the council as a Liberal until the party expelled him last year, has taken his claims to the Independent Commission Against Corruption, naming former colleagues and party operatives in western Sydney.
According to ICAC documents seen by The Sun-Herald, the now independent Cr Malkoc alleges Liberal members attempted to buy his vote to secure the mayor's office last year. In the event, he backed the Labor candidate Greg Davies, who became the mayor. Cr Malkoc alleges inducements offered to him include:
- An all-expenses paid trip to the Crown Casino in Melbourne for a fortnight, with spending money;

- Resources for his re-election campaign, including advertising material and volunteers on the ground;
- A new position as ''assistant deputy-mayor'';

- Two offers of sex from women connected to the Liberal Party.
A nude picture of one of the women, passed to The Sun-Herald, forms part of Cr Malkoc's claim to ICAC. He claimed the picture, which was texted to him, was proof that the woman - the daughter of a prominent Liberal - made the offer.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/i-was-offered-sex-and-bribes-councillor-claims-20120901-2578y.html#ixzz25GYfvQyT

 

so much for loyalty ....

In a bombshell development, the federal government has settled its case with James Ashby, the aide to the stood-aside Speaker of the Parliament Peter Slipper, for $50,000 and a commitment to introduce training for all MPs and senators regarding sexual harassment.

The settlement between the commonwealth and Mr Ashby was reached on Thursday and detailed in a three-page letter of offer from the Australian Government Solicitor.

Mr Ashby’s lawyers, Harmers Workplace Lawyers, accepted the deal on his behalf. Mr Ashby had sued the commonwealth, alleging it had failed to provide a safe workplace.

Separately, Mr Ashby has sued Mr Slipper with allegations of sexual harassment, supported by records of lurid text messages sent by the Speaker to Mr Ashby.

Mr Ashby’s case against Mr Slipper continues and is listed for an interlocutory hearing at 10.15am on Tuesday.

The settlement by the commonwealth also canvasses Mr Slipper losing the Speaker’s role permanently.

It states that Mr Ashby’s employment will be terminated when Mr Slipper ceases to hold the Speaker’s office.

“This event will occur if Mr Slipper resigns as Speaker, is replaced by another, ceases to be a member of parliament or is not re-elected Speaker after the next federal election,” the settlement says.

“One or other of those events is likely to occur. Accordingly, the longest period your client can reasonably expect to remain employed with the commonwealth is some time toward the end of 2013.”

The settlement is a remarkable step-back for the Federal Government at a point where the Slipper case is threatening to take up oxygen again.

The commonwealth has also agreed to implement an improved training program for MPs’ staff on how to raise issues of sexual harassment, as well as “specific training [for] members and senators in relation to issues of sexual harassment”.

The letter of offer from the commonwealth states that it believes Mr Ashby would have had significant problems fastening liability to the commonwealth “given the nature of the relationship between the commonwealth and the Speaker. And the fact that the acts alleged were not authorised in any way by the commonwealth”.

In order to avoid “the very significant expenses associated with ventilating these issues at trial, the commonwealth is prepared to make an offer based on a worst-case scenario analysis”.

Government Settles Ashby Case For $50,000

see what happens next...

 

Me think that the hit on the Commonwealth by Ashby was designed by his lawyers to stop some of the information being used by Slipper against Ashby... The "commonwealth knew that" ... and instead of fighting for a long time a very winnable court case that would have hampered the civil case, the commonwealth wisely paid him off, without any acceptance of guilt. Result? A cheaper way to get to Ashby — and his lawyers should have seen this coming...

But there would have been no way the commonwealth would have paid a cent more... See  what happens next...

 

update from the naughty corner ....

The Speaker, Peter Slipper, and his former staffer, James Ashby, have been ordered to appear in person at a Sydney court tomorrow.

Mr Slipper and Mr Ashby, will sit down face-to-face in front of a court-appointed mediator in an attempt to resolve their bitter legal dispute.

In the Federal Court today, Justice Steven Rares also ordered the federal government to send a representative with the authority to make decisions to the mediation after it failed to get a settlement negotiated with Mr Ashby last week over the line today.

The mediation will deal with all the issues in dispute between the parties, including Mr Slipper's application that the sexual harassment suit bought by Mr Ashby should be thrown as an abuse of process, Mr Ashby's defence to that allegation, the original sexual harassment case and the deed of settlement between the Commonwealth and Mr Ashby.

"At the moment there is a possibility that it can all be resolved by people being forced to go and talk to one another," Justice Rares said.

If the mediation fails, the parties will return to court on Thursday so the hearing of the abuse of process application, which is part-heard, can continue.

Justice Rares told the parties they may have to compromise, including withdrawing allegations made against each other, to achieve a resolution.

But Michael Lee, SC, for Mr Ashby, said today's hearing should be allowed to continue because Mr Ashby and his legal team had been subjected to very serious allegations and "we are entitled to be vindicated".

Mr Ashby "has been more demonised than the Exorcist", Mr Lee said.

He also criticised the Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon, for her comments last Friday following news the Commonwealth had negotiated a settlement with Mr Ashby.

Ms Roxon said: "The case should now be dropped against Mr Slipper as well and the whole matter should be brought to a speedy conclusion in coming days."

Mr Lee said her comments were "unprecedented" and "undermines, we say, legitimate public confidence in the judiciary for there to be a suggestion that my client should be made somehow to drop his case".

Earlier today, Mr Lee said the settlement, under which the Commonwealth would pay Mr Ashby $50,000, had hit a hurdle, with the government now requesting that Mr Ashby sign a deed acknowledging that the government does not have any ongoing liability.

"[These requirements] simply aren't in the express terms of the agreement reached on September 27," Mr Lee said.

"Your honour should make an order in accordance with that agreement."

But Justice Rares said this appeared to simply be a lack of "consensus on the wording".

He also said that even if the allegations were proven they would not demand a damages payout even close to the maximum $110,000 sum allowed under law.

"This case cannot come within a bull's roar of that," he said. "We’re not talking about something that has gone on that would generate a large liability - we’re not talking about a huge amount of money."

Julian Burnside, QC, for the Commonwealth, said the government did not withdraw its allegations that Mr Ashby's lawsuit is vexatious and bought for an improper purpose.

"The reason for the settlement is that in a no-cost jurisdition it was going to cost a lot of money to get no result," he said.

Mr Burnside also argued that, as Mr Ashby had agreed to settle with the Commonwealth, there should be no other case to pursue against Mr Slipper.

"If there’s any life left in this case for any reason it should be sent to mediation without wasting any more of the court’s time."

The Commonwealth, not Mr Slipper, is Mr Ashby's employer.

Slipper infuriates judge with no-show

Justice Rares sternly rebuked Mr Slipper for failing to attend today's hearing, either in person or through legal representation.

"He's not a man in penury, he's the Speaker of the House of Representatives and I'm sure he gets paid for it," Justice Rares said.

"He has a responsibility to the public to be here and there are clear consequences for litigants who don't turn up, which I would have thought he would be aware of.

"I'll order him to attend personally ... there's absolutely no reason why he's not here today."

Mr Burnside said that it had been a "difficult time" for Mr Slipper and that he may have stayed away from court to avoid being pursued by the media.

He also said that the Speaker's failure to have legal representation at the hearing was related to "financial considerations".

But Justice Rares said that the court had received a letter over the long weekend in which Mr Slipper had indicated that it was not convenient for him to attend the hearing, and asking the judge to direct Mr Ashby to undertake mediation if he wished to pursue the matter further.

"But it doesn’t mean he can simply tell the court that he happens to find it inconvenient to be here," he said.

Mr Slipper has yet to hire new lawyers after recently parting company with the Melbourne-based solicitor Josh Bornstein, of the firm Maurice Blackburn.

The stood-aside Speaker is believed to be in Canberra today on Business.

Mr Burnside said Mr Slipper would attend court tomorrow, and Mr Lee gave the same assurance on behalf of Mr Ashby.

Slipper & Ashby Ordered To Appear In Court

move over godwin grech ....

The Federal Court has thrown out the sexual harassment case brought against former parliamentary speaker Peter Slipper by his ex-staffer James Ashby.

In a scathing judgment handed down on Wednesday, Justice Steve Rares found that the case was an "abuse of process" which had been carried out for the "purpose of causing significant public, reputational and political damage to Mr Slipper". He dismissed the claim and ordered Mr Ashby to pay his former boss's legal costs.

Mr Ashby, wearing a grey suit with a purple checked shirt and dark purple tie, was red faced and looked down at his lap as the judgment was read out.

Soon after Justice Rares finished reading his judgment, Mr Ashby dashed out of court and into a meeting room with his legal team.

Outside court, Mr Ashby said: "Obviously I'm extremely disappointed with the court's decision today. This has been a very harrowing time for me and my family, my friends and supporters.

"I first filed my sexual harassment complaint against Mr Slipper back on April 20. That's almost eight months ago - eight months. And since that date no evidence at all has been heard of my substantive complaint against the former speaker that he sexually harassed me.

"There has been a determined campaign to try to prevent the substantive allegations being heard and judged in open court and to put me to the maximum cost of pursuing justice," he added.

"With my lawyers, we will study the judgment in detail, but at this stage we intend to appeal this regrettable decision."

Mr Ashby had claimed that he was the target of "unwelcome sexual advances, unwelcome sexual comments and unwelcome suggestions of a sexual nature" while working as Mr Slipper's aide and media adviser between January and March this year.

Mr Ashby had revealed hundreds of text messages in which he claimed Mr Slipper made lewd comments, including comparing female genitalia to shellfish, and an exchange in which Mr Slipper allegedly suggested that the two have a "closer" relationship. He also claimed that Mr Slipper attempted to victimise him when he rebuffed his advances.

But the former speaker had maintained the allegations were false and that the lawsuit was a "character assassination" undertaken in an attempt to "hurt my political career, hurt me financially, destabilise the government and destroy my marriage".

He pointed to the fact that Mr Ashby made serious criminal allegations against him regarding the use of Cabcharges which were then withdrawn before the matter came to court as evidence that the entire lawsuit was little more than an attempt to generate negative publicity.

Justice Rares today upheld that argument, hitting out at the former adviser and his lawyers for making the claim for political and personal purposes.

Justice Rares said Mr Ashby had made the allegations about Cabcharges to "make a public attack on Mr Slipper so that his conduct would be reported to the police and so as to suggest that he was guilty of misusing Commonwealth funds".

"I have reached the firm conclusion that Mr Ashby's predominant purpose for bringing these proceedings was to pursue a political attack against Mr Slipper and not to vindicate any legal claim he may have had ... To allow these proceedings to remain in the court would bring the administration of justice into disrepute."

The judgment also delivered a major blow to the political career of Mal Brough, the former Howard government minister and political rival of Mr Slipper within the Queensland Liberal National Party.

Justice Rares found that Mr Brough, who recently won Liberal Party preselection for Mr Slipper's seat of Fisher, acted with Mr Ashby and another Slipper staffer Karen Doane in abusing the judicial process.

This included promising to help Mr Ashby and Ms Doane find jobs within the LNP after their employment with Mr Slipper ended and arranging a meeting between Mr Ashby and prominent QC and Liberal Party member David Russell.

"The evidence established that Mr Ashby acted in combination with Ms Doane and Mr Brough when commencing the proceedings in order to advance the interests of the LNP and Mr Brough," Justice Rares said.

"Mr Ashby and Ms Doane set out to use the proceedings as part of their means to enhance or promote their prospects of advancement or preferment by the LNP, including using Mr Brough to assist them in doing so."

A spokesman for Attorney-General Nicola Roxon said it had clearly been found that Mr Ashby had abused the process of the court and that the Coalition now had serious questions to answer.

"The Commonwealth welcomes the court's decision," the spokesman said in a statement on Wednesday.

"This shows how dangerously wrong and misleading [Shadow Attorney-General] Senator [George] Brandis can be in prejudging court matters. The Coalition will have some serious questions to answer about their own conduct."

Senator Brandis had previously accused Ms Roxon of securing a "political fix" for the Slipper and Ashby matter.

In a statement, Senator Brandis said the opposition was carefully studying the verdict by Justice Rares this morning.

"The Attorney-General has once again behaved inappropriately, and once again shown a misunderstanding of her appropriate constitutional role, in commenting on the case when it remains before the court pending the appeal," he said.

"The Attorney-General has also yet to explain why the Commonwealth settled its side of the proceeding in breach of the Commonwealth’s own guidelines."

Senator Brandis noted that Mr Ashby "has already announced he will appeal the decision".

In October, Mr Ashby settled his case with the federal government for a sum of $50,000 and a commitment from the government to introduce training for all MPs and senators regarding sexual harassment. He still had the civil case against Mr Slipper.

"By paying Mr Ashby a very substantial sum and for all practical purposes, conceding that he was right all along, what the Commonwealth has in effect done is concede the accuracy of his claims against Mr Slipper," Senator Brandis said in October.

In a Senate Estimates hearing in October, Mr Brandis said there was "no way in the world" that any court would summarily determine the proceedings [ie, make judgment without full trial].

"I would not have advised a client of mine in a million years that they had any chance of success at all of getting summary judgement on this material," Senator Brandis said.

Slipper Case Thrown Out