Today is the 184th day since Victoria Police executed a search warrant that named the sitting Prime Minister of Australia as being associated with serious crimes.   Later police lodged a further court application that was released for publication by the court.  That application shows the nature of the material seized and clearly references those documents to Ms Gillard.   Police characterise some of the material as legal advice given by a lawyer to a client for the furtherance of fraud.

6 months and one day since the raid happened and still no report about it on the ABC.

But when a protester involved in a dangerous protest near a busy road got horse spit on him, the ABC was all over it, proving that when motivated, the ABC can seek and find court documents and make a news report as a result.

Protesters splashed with horse spit - covered extensively.   A serving Prime Minister named as a subject of a police search warrant raid - on her former office and nothing?   Someone has to be accountable for the ABC's failure.

Meanwhile the usual suspects turn to their PR advisors for coverage like this.

Horse dribble lawsuit brought by protester outrages Victorian police union

The Victorian police union is outraged at the use of taxpayers' money to sue the force after a protester was dribbled on by a police horse.

The Flemington and Kensington Community Legal Centre has reportedly launched the case on behalf of two protesters who took part in a demonstration at the Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Centre in 2011.

They were protesting with the the Refugee Action Collective.

One of the protesters claims a horse salivated on him......

Writ alleges assault and unlawful battery

The writ obtained by the ABC alleges Mr Forbes who aged 18 at the time, was in fear of being trampled or bitten by the horse.

It also alleges he was frightened and intimidated by the horse.

Tomorrow the ABC's managing director Mark Scott is due to face questions under oath at the Senate Estimates heariong.  For Mr Scott's convenience, here is a link to the police application setting out the details of the search warrant.   And here is a link to a chronology of the opportunities for the ABC to report and the data confirming that it did not.

This is not a matter of differing editorial opinion or news judgement.   By any judgement this was news.  A part of a properly functioning western democracy with the rule of law and universal suffrage involves a fully informed electorate.   Where politicians try to conceal, media should uncover.

You don't have to do anything to uncover this one Mr Scott, the details are laid out for all to see.   You simply need to report.

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/09/detective-sergeant-ross-mitchells-application-to-the-melbourne-magistrates-court.html

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/09/the-abcs-news-judgement-is-an-impediment-to-fully-informed-democracy.html

PhilB quick off the mark this morning.

Looks like Ocean Protector "copped the chooks" last night. Isn't it funny that the ships at CI are switching on when Morrison and Campbell say they want to keep "On sea operations" secret so as not to help the people smugglers. HMAS Armidale is alongside at the base in Darwin with it's transponder s/w on as is HMAS Sydney on the main wharf.

One of the participants in this quite civil exchange on Twitter dropped me a screen grab of their chat.

Ben Cubby records his details thus:

This is a serious question from me about Ben's central proposition last night.

Most people don't think Fairfax or the ABC are too far to the left.   It's rare.

I'm particularly keen to see any objective data that try to establish what a contemporary lefty or tory in Australia is and where do the lines get drawn.

Either I'm living in the Twilight Zone or Ben Cubby doesn't get out to the burbs enough - let's see if we can settle which is right.

NB - the Twitter conversation last night seemed to be conducted with good grace, good manners and some punctuation, let's keep our debate at least on that plane.

There are considerably more connections between Julia Gillard and Val Gostencnik than the FWA related legal ties I wrote about in The Weekend Australian.

This 2004 Corrs Chambers Westgarth biography page for Val Gostencnik was archived here.The bio is a bit hard to follow - I've extracted these jobs and the dates he held them.

• 1982 - 1986 Union Official HEF which became the Health Services Union
• 1986- 1990 Union Official Australian Nursing Federation
• 1990- 1992   Adviser to Labor Health Minister Maureen Lyster in the Kirner Government
• 1992 - 1994 Union official Australian Nursing Federation

Julie Ligeti has a close personal relationship with Julia Gillard dating from the early 1980s at Melbourne University.

Although Ms Gillard dates her partnership with Tim Mathieson to 2005/6 they did not live in the same house until the Lodge became vacant.

As Ms Gillard explained to Michelle Grattan, right up until Ms Gillard was made Prime Minister in 2010, she shared her Canberra unit with Julie Ligeti who then worked for Brendan O'Connor, the brother of one of Ms Gillard's other lovers.

Soon after Ms Gillard was made Prime Minister, Julie Ligeti was given a job in Slater and Gordon managing the company's relationship with the government.   Slater and Gordon acknowledged to me in writing the potential conflict of interest Ms Ligeti's "personal relationship" with Ms Gillard would raise if it were not noted and acted on.

I have provided the source of my observations in these entries

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/03/what-slater-and-gordon-says-is-a-matter-for-slater-and-gordon-and-julia-gillards-former-flatmate-jul.html

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/09/slater-and-gordon-confirmed-julia-gillards-personal-relationship-with-julie-ligeti-some-time-ago.html

Anthony Carbines MP said this of Julie Ligeti in his maiden speech to parliament 2011

Thanks to Julie Ligeti, who is always fighting for the Labor movement.

Former state secretary health and community sector union Kay Darveniza exposed the limitations of human imagination when she dedicated her 1999 maiden speech amongst other things to her HSU friends.

Here are some other 1998/9 documents that set out Ms Ligeti's then job as a union official with the Australian Nursing Federation.

http://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/45271/sub054.pdf

http://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/45602/subdr086.pdf

http://www.pc.gov.au/projects/inquiry/nursing-home-subsidies/docs/transcripts/melbourne981118

Staying in 1999, these are the matters involving joint HSU/Nursing Federation legal action with employers.  In each matter Val Gostencnik of Counsel appears with J. Ligeti of the nurses union.

http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/cth/AIRC/2000/1217.html

http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/cth/AIRC/1999/67.html

http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/cth/AIRC/2000/1217.html

http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/cth/AIRC/1999/1044.html

Their relationship is shown as

Appearances:

V. Gostencnik of counsel with J. Ligeti for the Australian Nursing Federation.

K. Wilson for the Health Services Union of Australia.

There was a large body of work to prepare or and many sitting days together in both Melbourne and Sydney.

Fast forward to 15 May 2013 and Julie Ligeti is government relations manager at Slater and Gordon and Julia Gillard is PM.

Bruce Wilson is working in the kitchen of a mid north NSW coast sports club.

Val Gostencnik had just been appointed as a Commissioner of Fair Work Australia.   He had been at Corrs Chambers Westgarth where he was the partner responsible for the firm's pro bono program, working out who got public interest free of charge work done.

He was also a director of the board of the PILCH, this extract from its 2010 Annual Report explains its role.

On 15 May this year the Melbourne Magistrates' Court directed Victoria Police to enter Slater and Gordon's premises by force if necessary and to take from there the things particularised in this precis of the warrant.

A hard copy or Notice to Occupier associated with the warrant would have been left with Slater and Gordon when the warrant was executed.  It would be fascinating to follow the travels that any copy of that document might have made.  Every touch leaves its trace.

Summarising the whereabouts of selected people on 15 May 2013

• Magistrate Martin was satisfied by the evidence on oath of a police officer of or above the rank of senior sergeant that serious criminal offences had occured and evidence of those offences could be found at Slater and Gordon.
• Ross Mitchell was getting carboard boxes ready
• Julie Ligeti was managing communications between Slater and Gordon and government.
• Julia Gillard was crying in the House.
• Bruce Wilson was flippin' burgers at the sporties. 

Slater and Gordon told the world that it ceased to act for the conman who had taken in one of its young and naive partners as soon as it was tipped off about the con (psst, buddy, wanna buy a Fitzroy town-house, sorry, workplace reform headquarters?) So Slater and Gordon would not be able to act for nor fund Mr Wilson in any court dramas related to his activities during the time that he was a conman as defined by the Slater and Gordon managing (as opposed to young and naive) partner Peter Gordon.

By 17 May, police had all the doccos boxed and trollied up from Slater and Gordon.   A few weeks later it should have been all done and dusted.

For many years now police have been refining the processes associated with raids on sundry shitbags.  The search warrant for Slater and Gordon was the 1,535th for the year.  Police get the evidence, get it before the court and have matters arising heard and determined within days.  Normally.

But there is something very special about the unique situation of the conman and taker in of the young, naive and unvigilant laywer - who was made partner before 30 and was available for discrete private engagements with selected client(s).

It is now 17 November 2013 and Mr Wilson' s very special brand of lawyer-assisted alleged fraud as described in the 360 documents sitting in a property room at the Melbourne Magistrates' Court is still not settled.

How does he find the money to fund the legal apparatus of sufficient impressiveness such as to secure delays long enough to get past the election and get a public image as educator/stateswoman established of sufficient time so as to allow for the appropriate depth of analysis of the core issues associated with his very own unaided or abetted conmanship?

Instead of receiving the disdain reserved for people accused of pocketing $25,000 for a fictional consultancy that purported to clear very real and deadly asbestos contaminated soil for contact with his workers - this conman has been getting moral and financial support.

The Public Interest Clearing House thought it so much in the public interest that it find support for the conman-broke-my-heart friend of the asbestos distributors - that it went outside the guidelines that directors with fiduciary responsibilities (like Val Gostencnik in his pre Judicial Appointment days) have to make sure are diligently adhered to.

I was sufficiently perplexed to pose this question without answer in September this year.

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/09/wonder-who-put-bruce-wilson-and-pilch-together.html

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/09/bruce-wilsons-defence-organised-by-tax-deductible-gifts.html

Whoever designed the laws associated with making a community feel that any money sent off to a Deductible Gift Recipient charity is money that will be well spent on charitable endeavours.

Anyone got their number?

One of the first forms we learned about as young coppers was the "Result of Charge and Antecedents".  We had to fill out a separate form for each crook each time the crook was locked up or charged.  That form went on the front of the brief and when the charges were heard and determined the prosecutor would write down what the magistrate handed down as a penalty.  Then the form was sent to the police information bureau and that's the basis for any person's criminal history (along with fingerprint forms).

Young coppers who wanted to drive fast and catch lots of crooks hated forms, me especially.  It's only now much later in life that I can see the wisdom of the old and bold of yore who set those systems up.   I'd imagine that when police are called on to conduct major investigations with lots of pressure to get the crook off the street, the information written down by every other copper who had to deal with that crook over the years would be invaluable.

Old and bold coppers might find this PhD Thesis on criminal history checks and associated issues useful.  If you search the document for "Result of Charge and Antecedent" you'll be guided through the development of the Victoria Police form since WW2 - with the questions and prompts on the form giving an insight into the sort of information police are interested in.  Known associates, places frequented, habits, background, jobs etc - it's from that stuff that connections with other people who might be of interest to investigators jump out.

The stuff that police write on those forms is all hearsay, the value of each contribution has to be weighed against other observations or data that might contradict it etc etc etc.   It's not evidence and none of it could be brought up in court just on the strength of what a young copper typed in.

Lots of people have their name recorded on someone else's criminal history document in the "Result of Charge and Antecedent" form.  That fact does not necessarily mean anything.  Just that at some point in time, police arrested or charged a person with a crime and then made enquiries about the person charged and their associates.

We are experiencing a bit of a growth spurt on this site with so much new information coming to hand.  I am currently engaged in a lot of research that I find satisfying and which is helping me to frame my ideas about what may have happened in some of our union related "irregularities".   Some of the connections might prove important, some entirely irrelevant.

If I believe someone is a crook I'll say it, you won't miss it.   Until then I'd ask you not to make any assumptions about the character of real people who might have had connections with the AWU Scandal simply because you've read their name in the research material I've published here.

This website and the research conducted, opinions expressed and information passed on to it are unique.   Much of our research necessarily is conducted in public - person A makes a statement, it's added to with B's information, C has an insight into legal precedent that might affect it etc etc etc.

That could not have happened without the public nature, or published status of every piece of information.   I bear the burden of responsibility for every word published here and the status of publication on my site is identical to a newspaper for the purposes of defamation law etc.

It's in that context that I've written these notes for you.   You can help by your own researching and talking to people - and by self moderating any gratuitous commentary or imputation of motives/grand conspiracies etc.

Facts presented in good faith as facts can speak for themselves.   And some of the facts emerging in Ms Gillard's antecedents are screaming for more attention.  Rest assured, you will read about it as that attention gets focused here.

Sometimes in our lives we are given the chance to see our hitherto invisible prejudices.   It can be confronting to get a rock solid example of your own behaviours being based on a false assumption about something.   We are very good at creating scotomas, or blind spots so that we genuinely don't "see" things or hold ideas that don't support our view of the world.

Entire communities can build systems and structures based on partial information or on beliefs held so strongly that they obscure facts that should be taken into account lest graver dangers develop.

Here's a small example on the positions defaulted to by much of our media in the way it covers certain issues or perhaps better put the way it covers certain people in relation to certain issues.

Why is it important?   Because the way we vote is a result of the way we see and evaluate our political choices.  

Here's the enthusiastic Sun-Herald report today.  It starts with a photograph that sets the scene.    "Thai Massage" within this story is a hold-all euphemism for illegal sexual services delivered at illegal brothels outside of council planning approvals.

New red-light zone as illegal sex trade expands north

November 17, 2013

Two years after they were ordered to shut down to prevent the exploitation of women, Fairfax Media can reveal 15 illegal brothels continue to operate daily from the same premises across Chatswood, Willoughby and Artarmon.

Concerns have also been voiced about the emergence of a series of restricted adult forums where thousands of ''punters'' not only review sex workers but share tips and stories on how to ''crack'' illegal Asian workers who will not have sex.

Chris Seage, who runs Brothel Busters, which investigates illegal brothels on behalf of councils and the legal brothel industry, said: ''When existing laws were introduced six years ago, councils were handed the power to close illegal brothels within five days. Yet, according to latest evidence, they seem unable to stop them altogether. A brothel closure order is not worth the paper it's written on. The lack of follow-up action is appalling.''

In 2007, the NSW government introduced a range of reforms under the Restricted Premises Act to help Sydney councils better detect and prosecute illegal brothels. The then premier, Morris Iemma, also handed local courts the power to shut down electricity, gas and water supplies.

But, in the years since, cash-strapped councils have found the system hard to enforce. Once a suspected brothel has been found, councils must hire private investigators to collect evidence. After a brothel closure order has been served, councils must also monitor the premises to ensure it has ceased operating. If a court order is to be obtained, the costly, time-consuming cycle must start from scratch.

While hundreds of illegal Sydney brothels continue to fly under the radar by masquerading as health, medical and remedial massage centres, they are being exposed by a growing number of clients, or ''punters'', who ''rate'' sex workers on brothel review forums.

That's an extract and I've done my diligent best to  make sure I've not omitted anything like important inclusions or observations about legitimate services being delivered at those places.

Given the tone of the report, imagine if a local councillor responsible for planning approvals or enforcement was photographed going in, spending an hour, then coming out.   Imagine then that when the existence of the photographic evidence was put to him he said,  "yes I did go there, yes I did procure services - but I went for the express purpose of receiving a therapeutic massage and that's what I paid for and received in relation to a medical condition I suffer in my back."

The second part of today's Fairfax report is this story

Brothel patrons review illegal sex workers' services online

Date

November 17, 2013

Welcome to the XXX Australian Reviews website, where members post restaurant-style reviews of brothels and rate sex workers on a scale of one to 10, like courses on a menu.

The site is one of several forums where membership is restricted to clients who contribute regular reviews and feedback. But not only do these sites cater for tens of thousands of men who pay for sex in legal parlours, they double as an underground information exchange for those who fuel Sydney's illegal sex trade. There are many tiers of membership available, based on the number of reviews and level of detail posted.

In nearly every case, these explicit, degrading evaluations read the same. The illegal sex worker hails from an Asian background and offers ''exotic'' services at a fraction of the cost being charged in legitimate premises elsewhere in the city. The cheaper the price and the further she goes beyond a ''happy ending'' massage, the better. Often, the reviewer will encourage others to try her or advise them to head elsewhere. Likening one illegal Chatswood Taiwanese sex worker to a racehorse, one client wrote last month: ''Nervous at the barrier but started well and soon settled. Faded a bit at the finish but will improve with each run. Certainly worth following.''

Fairfax Media also uncovered many posts in which members offer tips and encouragement on how to push individual girls who are reluctant to provide services beyond traditional massage, particularly to full sex.

In an exchange about one such girl who works at Orchid Thai Massage in Cremorne, a punter wrote: ''You cannot beat the Thai girls when they are like that … I reackon (sic) sometimes her resistance to not do full service was like hanging over a cliff, clutching

Fairfax contacted and then included a contribution from various groups not impressed by reading some of the observations made by men who frequent these places.   Any reasonable person reading that stuff would have to come to the conclusion that at the lower end of the comments its pretty off and that some of the comments are downright reflective of potential crime.

I cut the extract of the Fairfax piece at the word clutching above for a good reason - the thoughts of the men who wrote the comments there are directly reflective of planning to commit an offence of rape, if a person is expressing resistance to having a "full service" provided by you and you continue you are arguably attempting to rape her. Resistance on her part is one step further than she needs to go old mates, the target of your lurid intentions needs to give you absolute informed consent, any thoughts you harbour about the intensity of her resistance and the methods by which you will break it are very good evidence of a criminal state of mind.

NSW Rape Crisis Centre executive officer Karen Willis described these online communications as ''completely unethical''.

''A line is being crossed here. Ultimately, it incites violence.''

Fairfax is right to pursue it, it is a legitimate issue with all the negative connotations about council approvals, health, immigration and people trafficking etc.   I'm sure that given it's in the leafy north shore where Barry O'Farrell and misogyny city men like Tony Abbott also live it would not have been hard for Fairfax to muster support for this no downside story.   Anne Summers and Ms Gillard could have contributed any of the anti- quotes and they'd sound both correct and congruent with public views about the positions Ms Summers or Gillard would be likely to take.

So it's worrying that all of the facts about Mr Albanese's excursion and business dealings with his Thai provider of choice were so actively hosed down eaerlier this year.

Fairfax reports on the "emergence" of the XXX Review website.   We included the specific references to Albanese's choice of service provider in our reports earlier this year, same style of comments but associated with a place associated with Albo.

I can't find within me anything to account for the collective decision of Australia's federal parliamentary press gallery not to report on photographs and other eye-witness accounts of the member for Grayndler photographed in the circumstances I described above about a fictitious local councillor - who I'm sure would have been pursued with zeal and an ICAC reference.

But Albanese wasn't just a local councillor - he was the Federal Minister of the Crown responsible for local government (the enforcement authority for legislative provisions regulating illegal brothels) and as Deputy to Kevin Rudd he was later a heart-beat away from being Prime Minister with all the potential for comprise that attends those jobs.

Specialist coverage of federal politics is usually delegated to a particular media outlet's senior political journalist, often called the newspaper/TV Channel or other outlet's "political editor".

I spoke with a number of senior media figures when I was given the story of the Albanese photographs taken by a person who observed him at a Thai Massage business in his electorate earlier this year.   The major newspaper groups had the story before I did, a papparazzi photographer who was amazed at the collective decision not to report came to me the next week, and I like him was just amazed too.

"Albo's a good bloke" was the best reason for not covering the story that I received.  Others told me about shifting contemporary standards, what constitutes genuine newsworthiness versus salacious tittle-tattle etc.

Stripped of excuses, here was a Minister of the Crown directly responsible for local government in the federal ministry and also responsible for the security agencies associated with air, marine and other transport photographed patronising a place where wholly unlawful services were provided in direct contravention of the laws he had sworn to uphold.   The fact of him being a good bloke might make it harder for each journalist to do the job they're paid to do but it's no reason not to cover a legitimate if tacky story.

The absence of genuine coverage deprived Albanese's electorate from assessing genuinely relevant information about the family man married to the local member of the NSW State Parliament for the same area.   It also had the further deleterious effect of sending any legitimate coverage into a nether world of slogans, photoshop and other graffiti on news coverage that is enthusiastically pointed to as a reason to ignore the genuine and properly researched information without so much as reading it.   That's the stuff of Gillard and others, "well, we know where that allegation came from, the nutjobs and mysoginists on the internet."

Too often we prioritise "who said that" over any analysis of "what did they say" when arriving at our own opinions.   Twitter is the greatest of the pernicious influences driving us in that direction.   That kids in fan clubs evaluate stuff on that basis doesn't hurt us too much - that senior journalists decide coverage that way is more concerning.

Please re-read our coverage of this issue in light of what you've read above.  If you need to, imagine it was the Vice President of the United States in urgent need of therapeutic massage services for the medical condition he says he suffers.   Imagine the public or media reaction in this country if Dick Chaney said he could only find relief from his back pain in the hands of a Thai specialist above the fish and chip shop. Local physiotherapist or medicare-registered providers didn't cut it.   Further Mr Chaney said that during his attendance at the wholly therapeutic Thai massage provider there was absosutely nothing that he saw, heard, received or was offered that gave rise to any suspicion of potential illegal activities going on.

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/03/anthony-albanese-and-his-dangerously-poor-judgement-.html

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/03/private-investigators-report-visit-to-true-thai-massage-467-new-canterbury-road-dulwich-hill-25-marc.html

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/03/my-efforts-to-provide-anthony-albanese-with-the-opportunity-to-comment-on-or-correct-my-story-today.html

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/03/here-is-some-expert-commentary-about-the-unusual-development-application-for-the-premises-at-467-new.html

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/03/why-i-think-the-anthony-albanese-true-thai-massage-story-is-important-and-newsworthy.html

This beautiful front page of Fairfax's Wollongong Mercury newspaper says almost everything that needs to be said on today's opportunity TO TAKE REAL ACTION on climate change.

In this crazy messed-up corporatised world you don't have to look far to see platitudinous, empty displays of moral superiority masquerading as REAL ACTION.    And that's as old as the Bible, I think there's even stuff in there about people who get dressed up and go to the temple bragging about how important it is to make sure other people are doing as much as they are for the poor.

So listen up Wollongong, former dirty steel town.  

There's a conference stream at the next gathering on CLIMATE CHANGE at Cancun, Bali, Copenhagen, Mauritius, Warsaw entitled "Turning disused steel smelters into productive Arts Spaces with cafe concession revenue streams".  (And don't miss the Leh Valensa tour of closed down dirty factories now providing waterside condominium living for the new age migration industry, English language translation by Angelina Jolie on the headsets available for $100 extra ++ carbon offset premium,  payable by your government at time of registration, we sent an advance delegation just to scope it out, Greg Combet's report said "so worth it".)

You can read the whole story here.   There's irony in just about every sentence - even down to the publisher who I'm sure is proud of taking REAL ACTION by promoting GetUp on the front page of their shareholder (evil) funded newspaper.

You could look at the things made by manufacturing industries and steel mills till the cows come home, but nothing compares with a stock market listed business like the publisher of the Wollongong Mercury that produces digital age content for the online NBN green industries of the future - content like the last couple of paragraphs in the story quoting the perfectly groomed beneficiary of the riches created by dirty industry workers - chief rally organiser Ms McPaul.

Ms McPaul said she became conscious of the effects of climate change after watching a documentary on glaciers.

‘‘There were photos of glaciers over a long period of time and you could see how they had changed and diminished,’’ she said.

‘‘It was such a powerful image and it made me realise we need to do something – you could see the impacts and it’s the same with things like rising sea levels; the Illawarra is such a low-lying region so it could have an effect.’’

See your ad here

Sunday’s event kicks off at 10am.

For more information, visit www.getup.org.au.

This is a formal, approved statement issued by and with the authority of the Government of Canada.

The ABC did not think it worthy of news coverage.

Statements made by this man are not statements of the Government of the Republic of Indonesia.   He is a member of a minority party in Indonesia and holds no ministerial title.  Statements made by Tantowi Yahya are statements of a former game show host who can be relied on to say bad things about Tony Abbott's asylum seeker policies.

The ABC gives Tantowi Yahya extensive coverage.  Google search results below record ABC appearances for the man from this rugged yet dreamy photo of a border control and international relations authority.

    It goes on for pages and pages and pages.

Shaz told us about the two journalists on 9 September 2013.

Later that day I wrote to the New York Times asking if it wished to comment about the journalists.   The paper did not reply.

Today the story and photos have been published in the New York Times Magazine.   They are lucky to be alive.

This is the most important thing you will read today.

Not for the way it's written, nor its particular timeliness.  Nothing in it is new, you can find all of the details in published articles.

Hedley Thomas's article in today's The Australian newspaper is the most important thing you will read today because we are yet to realise we should be outraged about it.   The fact we do not respond in that way tells us a lot about what we are prepared to accept.

Are you prepared to accept the behaviours set out in Hedley's article?

Hedley is to be congratulated for his persistence in the face of much of Australia's grovelling acquiescence to the extortionate demands presented with menaces by Ms Gillard.

But now the persistence in reporting and rereporting these facts is meeting resistance of a much more dangerous, insidious and society destroying nature.   I speak of our institutional acceptance of Ms Gillard's behaviour as "not unusual, they all do it".

Well they will if you let them.   Reading Hedley's piece is a great start to informing yourself.

It's well worth buying The Australian newspaper just to read Hedley's article today.

How Julia Gillard was ready to censor our free speech

JULIA Gillard began to squeeze the trigger of a powerful weapon aimed directly at the media on August 29, 2011. The story she wanted dead and buried that day, and forever after, had the potential to be extremely damaging to her as the then prime minister. It revolved around a secret union fund she had quietly, without even the knowledge of her law firm partners, given advice about setting up for her former client and boyfriend, the allegedly corrupt Australian Workers Union boss Bruce Wilson, who would allegedly use what was later described as a "slush fund" in a serious fraud.

This little-known scandal had been largely concealed since Gillard left her job as a salaried partner at Slater & Gordon lawyers in Melbourne in late 1995, when several of her colleagues discovered facts about her conduct. Her unceremonious departure from the firm would launch her career as a professional political adviser and, subsequently, as an ambitious Labor parliamentarian. But the facts about the slush fund were known to very few people in 2011. The sanitised, official version was misleadingly different.

How Gillard responded on that Monday morning, August 29, 2011, and subsequently, should be a salutary lesson about the lengths that powerful political figures will go to crush a damaging story, neutralise journalists, intimidate media outlets and even attempt to permanently alter the freedom of the media.

My then colleague at The Australian, Glenn Milne, had published in his column that morning a mere handful of paragraphs about his previous attempts to investigate the slush fund. Milne was essentially flagging a deeper story that was being prepared for imminent airing by a 2UE radio host, Michael Smith, a former police officer who had been digging among union scams after his recent success in cross-examining alleged Health Services Union fraudster and federal Labor member Craig Thomson.

Gillard already knew that Andrew Bolt, the conservative and widely read commentator for the Herald Sun (sister paper to The Australian), had flagged the revisiting of the slush fund scandal - he had written of a "tip on something that may force Gillard to resign". "On Monday, I'm tipping, a witness with a statutory declaration will come forward and implicate Julia Gillard directly in another scandal involving the misuse of union funds," Bolt wrote on his Herald Sun blog over that August weekend.

On the Monday morning, early, a furious Gillard called John Hartigan, the then head of News Limited in Australia. News, and Milne's column, were in her sights. "She said they were very damaging accusations," Hartigan told The Australian a few days later. "She wanted some action and she wanted it quickly."Gillard demanded a public apology, the immediate expunging from the website of Milne's column, and undertakings that the allegations never be repeated again in The Australian. Leaving nothing to chance, the PM extended this demand to cover all News Limited newspapers and their websites. The Australian's editor-in-chief, Chris Mitchell, who was told to call Gillard that Monday morning, described her reaction at the time as "apoplectic". Paul Keating's rages were nothing compared with this one from Gillard, Mitchell noted.

Almost all of Gillard's demands were met. Seeing what was happening over at News Limited, Smith's bosses at the Fairfax-owned 2UE then lost their nerve and pulled his carefully researched story, too. Smith protested but lost his job over it. Bolt, appalled at the censorship and the cave-in, considered resigning. Milne lost his column and his place at The Australian.

But this ugly, self-serving assault by a prime minister on the Australian media was not over by a long shot. The Gillard government's announcement of a public media inquiry just a couple of weeks later, in September 2011, was the next blunt instrument to ensure we were more poodle than watchdog.

See more at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/how-julia-gillard-was-ready-to-censor-our-free-media/story-e6frgd0x-1226761407076#sthash.FldONHHB.dpuf