No, we didn't know about Kathe's personal relationship when we published. When I saw The Australian yesterday I sent an email to Kathe asking for clarification. I received a response today and she describes herself as a "longterm girlfriend". A declaration will go on the article.

While I agree that conflicts of interest like this should be declared up-front, I don't believe that they invalidate arguments, although they may make you look a little closer at them. We would still have published if we had known in advance.

True Graham- whilst her argument may be reasonable, we might still have to consider where the boundaries of professional and personal interest collide and what, if any impact they have on the article itself.

Any further readers of the article should keep in mind the personal interest of the author, and weigh up whether or not she can still be objective on the issue, irrespective of the quality of her argument.