Gillian Triggs seems to have a habit of telling the senate stories that differ significantly from the truth.

It's my opinion that she is a disgrace to the position and either needs to resign or be charged with contempt or perjury.

"Correspondence from the Australian Human Rights Commission shows that Gillian Triggs has made more misleading statements to parliament, this time about section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.

Professor Triggs, who chairs the commission, has misled parliament about unexplained delays in the commission’s complaint-handling process, the impact of the defences to section 18C and how her organisation dealt with Bill Leak, The Australian’s ­cartoonist.

The discrepancies between her statements to parliament and the content of correspondence from one of her most senior officers is the latest in a series of incidents in which she has been forced to apologise for memory lapses.

Her latest fumble, which came to light on Tuesday at a Senate estimates hearing, left senators with the false impression that Leak and The Australian did not try to justify a cartoon that was the subject of a complaint under section 18C.

“We received no response,” she told the hearing.

Section 18C, which is the focus of disquiet within the federal ­parliamentary Liberal Party, makes it unlawful to do anything that causes people to feel offended, insulted, intimidated or humiliated because of their race, colour or ethnic background. She also gave evidence the complaint would ­almost certainly have been terminated immediately if Leak had sought to justify it by using the defences in section 18D.

Legal correspondence between the commission and lawyers for Leak and The Australian indicate that those assertions are at odds with what was set down in the formal exchange of letters. Leak and The Australian did respond to the complaint and, when they invoked the defences in section 18D"

I don't know what Triggs committed or didn't commit. I just know that the woman is a disgrace; the Human Rights Commission is a disgrace, and Section 18C of the Human Rights Act is a disgrace.

Now we know that the committee looking into 18C is also a disgrace, lacking the guts to abolish or even emend the foul, anti-democratic thing. This country is in one hell of a mess, with the most gutless, self-serving PM in history, and not a single person able to replace him. 95% of Australians believe in freedom of speech; 5% of Australians say that we cannot have it. Australia is rooted.

Hi Ttbn,

Your astute observation that "Australia is rooted" is pregnant with possibilities. Will Turnbull grasp the nettle, bite the bullet, go the extra mile, and negotiate with Abbott to give him a role in government, a cabinet position, as a sort of United Front inside the tent ? Will One Nation expand or implode ? Will Trump turn up at the Correspondents' Dinner ? So many imponderables.

Hi SM,

Yes, what an appalling woman. She has no compunction about destroying the careers of students, and of our best cartoonist. She lies about what she or her staff should have done. Clearly, she cares little about freedom of expression. She held back on illegal refugee numbers UNTIL the Libs had been in power and reduced them considerably, then sunk the boot in, using false numbers into the bargain.

Leak's cartoon today was a ripper ! Maybe Triggs needs to spend a month or two out on remote 'communities' to understand realities.

Cheers,

Joe

Being 50% for /against the Leak cartoon in the Australian context and noting the absence of court sentence due to 18D, there is a question:
Supposing a Chinese paper in Oz did a cartoon in Chinese text about a wife-bashing , drunken , surfie and overweight whitey , what would the OLO comments be?
If the cartoon was in a Muslim newsletter in Oz .....hmmmm ?

"Has Gillian Triggs committed perjury a 3rd time?"

Yes, but I do not believe there should be any action other than censure by the Parliament. No way anyone would want to make a 'victim' out of her.

She will, like the awful 'Juliar' Gillard and others, be buffed up by the national broadcaster, just imagine the fawning feminist interviewers, and feted by the Emilys Listers when she retires.

Hi Nick,

Do you really think most Australians would do anything but shrug ? 'Well, duh,' they would think.

So you know nothing about life in remote 'communities' ?

Better for a fool to stay silent than to ........

Actually, I've found that that has been a fairly common practice in Indigenous organisations. I recall one person who accidentally broke that rule, and destroyed herself, by asking an utterly dumb question, after being five years in the job: something equivalent to a football coach asking "Is Collingwood in the ARL or the AFL ?" Her feet barely touched the floor on the way out.

Joe

There seemed to be a little bit of comment about Muslim preachers saying women at beaches were like meat . There was a bit of chat about SBS programs on welfare at Mt Druitt and so on. The odd OLO remark comes up about Islam in Oz ..have you noticed any of these ?

Dear Shadow Minister,

It is surprising that Gillian Triggs failed to check
her facts on the Leak case. What this demonstrates is
that she had a limited grasp of what was going on
inside her own organisation. She should have been
aware of the details of the Leak complaint and even
more astounding is the fact that she seems to have
mislead the senate.

Perhaps it is time for her to retire?

Foxy,

Triggs being a lawyer should know that when giving evidence, no one is expected to know everything, and if one cannot remember, then one simply says so.

This is the third time that she has made a sworn statement to the senate that is not just factually incorrect, but where the "facts" were pivotal to the interpretation of the events.

Given the prominence of the case, the time that has passed, and that her latest gaffe was unsolicited, it is very difficult to let pass as simple incompetence.

Triggs has already disgraced her role, and should resign immediately or face a tribunal for contempt of senate.

I'm puzzled why the AHRC seems to have so little interest in one key aspect, one would have thought, of human rights, namely the right to freedom of expression. One would think that AHRC would have continual refresher sessions on how to balance freedom of expression with legislation such as Section 18 (c) and (d).

Surely issues touching on both would be coming up again and again at the AHRC, and conversation around the water cooler, or down in the hipster bistro would often turn on the merits and problems of different cases that are continually coming up. Surely the AHRC is employing lawyers who have focussed on human rights ? Including rights to free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, etc. ? Not just on examining narrow interpretations of existing legislation ?

No ?

Joe

It's about power . Clergy have the means to impose authority on victim kids , human rights is about the less-protected humans.

Dear Shadow Minister,

There's a few good points being made in the link
I've just come across that you and some others will undoubtedly
not accept for obvious reasons. I know that I will
undoubtedly be attacked. However I feel that the
link is worth a read simply to put forth another point
of view (especially for those who talk about freedom of
speech). To provide a balance in the perspectives being
presented.

The author points out that "Trigg's term in office as the
Human Rights Commissioner has coincided with an unprecedented
politicisation of human rights. This is due in part to
Australia's highly contentious treatment of asylum seekers and
also the possibility of amending the Racial Discrimination
Act - which is very much a concern."

We're told that "Triggs' role has been well and truly in the
firing line. She has faced a sustained campaign of public
criticism. Her integrity and professionalism has been called into
question. She has been accused of lying, playing politics, and
even had her personal life torn apart."

"And at every turn she has continued to step up and fulfil
her role. She has not backed down or packed it in. Miraculously
she has not succumb to any temptation to run away or fall apart."

"She has stepped up day after day. One foot in front of the
other. And there's a powerful lesson for all of us in that."

http://womensagenda.com.au/leadership/profiles/gillian-triggs-responds-to-malcolm-turnbull-s-attacks-on-the-hrc/

cont'd ...

I'll give it one more try:

http://www.womensagenda.com.au/leadership/profiles/gillian-triggs-responds-to-malcolm-turnbull-s-attacks-on-the-hrc/

"Trigg's term in office as the Human Rights Commissioner has coincided with an unprecedented politicisation of human rights"

Triggs politicised it herself. That is well established and confirmed yet again by the present events.

Now that Triggs is nearing the end of her appointment those who are on the gravy train and support her would very much like to see another of the same ilk replace her and the continuation of the divisive, white elephant HRC.

The drawn-out cruelties to those poor QUT students will never be forgotten, as will the quite unnecessary and divisive organisation responsible, the HRC, where all should be regarded as complicit and particularly Triggs. Some say It was 'gaslighting', from a 1938 play, which means "To manipulate someone psychologically such that they question their own sanity". Foul.

Dear Shadow Minister,

3 times?

Tell me just one.

perjury; the offence committed by a witness in judicial proceedings who, having been lawfully sworn or having affirmed, wilfully gives false evidence
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/perjury

There is no doubt that Triggs is a criminal.

She has been knowing using her position & the power that gives her in a totally inappropriate way. She has used it to punish any she can who disagree with her ideology.

She should be spending time in prison for some of her behaviour, but like Hillary & Obama, is highly unlikely to ever be brought to justice.

SR,

1. Lied to Senate about not being in contact with Labor before deferring her inquiry into children in detention after the election.

2. Lied to the senate about an interview
"Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs has ­admitted she misled parliament after her attempts to blame journalists for manufacturing quotes and citing her out of context were yesterday disproved by an audio recording."

3. lied to the Senate about not getting anything from Bill Leake or the Australian referring to section 18D.

Foxy,

Even the "women's agenda" admits that Triggs stuffed up. The author is so intent in praising Triggs for being a woman that she airbrushes over the fact that Triggs lied under oath.

Barry O'Farrell resigned over claiming under oath that he hadn't received a bottle of wine, just once, Triggs should for the first time do the honourable thing and resign.

the Liberal party have always been to gutless to drain the swamp.

Dear Shadow Minister,

Go back and read the link I cited again.

It's clearly explained what Professor Triggs
did or did not do. You are not presenting
things accurately.

Foxy,

I read through the link, and it only dealt with one of the 3 instances she mislead parliament, even then it was clear that she absolutely insisted that a journalist had lied about an interview, and only retracted her accusation when the journalist in question mentioned that she had recorded the interview.

Given her insistence, that the journalist was quoting her directly and that the interview was recent, it is clear to me that she either deliberately lied or she was delusional, in either case she is no longer fit to remain head of the AHRC.

Dear Shadow Minister,

The link explains her position quite clearly
including the vast amount of cases that have
to be dealt with on a daily basis, and the
difficulties involved in each one, including
trying to remember what was said when. Mistakes
do happen from time to time - and I accept that.

As for her position as President of the HRC and
what she should do? She has already informed the
Attorney-General that she will not be staying
after July when her term expires. I think it would
be fair to allow her to leave with some dignity
instead of turning all this into a political
witchhunt.

Triggs benefits from the positive stereotyping of women and also from her 'kindly grandmother' image.

However, from her alleged very dismissive, cruel and vindictive treatment of the young male students from QUT, she is the archetypal schoolyard to boss/boardroom bully that women especially recall from their schooldays. -Men too, who remember the 'Who will teacher/parent/authority/public believe, me or you?' princesses, who always got away with spiteful psychological game-playing and blame-shifting.

The archetype of the male footy player as the school bully is seriously flawed, missing out as it does the girl bullies and the clever teachers' pets who manipulate get others to do their dirty work.

How can anyone seriously argue that the thuggery of very senior bureaucrats who are trained in the law and used it and the authority trusted in them as a weapon against ordinary members of the public, should escape Scott Free?

Then when they themselves are asked to be accountable and are put on the spot, they threaten legal action and would expect the taxpayer (including their victims) to stump up for that as well?

Why shouldn't the head of a very powerful QUANGO, who escapes responsibility to a minister, be held accountable for her actions?

Waiting for the ABC's bullying feministas and Emily's Listers to buff up and fete this one as a model for girls, but what girls might they be, one might ask?

Foxy

Your article was essentially trying to trivialise what Triggs did. Being busy is no excuse for lying under oath.

Claiming under oath that a journalist was lying is serious allegation, and only retracting when a recording was produced is the most cynical of responses.

Triggs' term is already in disgrace, her only honourable move is to resign with some shred of dignity. While it is true that she will be gone in July, it is obviously not a matter of her choice. Turnbull will appoint a replacement, and it will not be hard to find some one more competent.

There is no way Triggs will do anything but continue to bluff it out. Then she can join Gillard in re-writing her own herstory.

The discussion should move onto the HRC as the creature of the left, Triggs just made that even more obvious, and importantly, the role of the ABC in promoting the left agenda. Chris Kenney was spot on,

"ABC, Greens, Labor conceal AHRC’s Gillian Triggs’s blunders"
December 17, 2016

The unfailing ability of Gillian Triggs to contradict herself and mislead her interrogators at parliamentary committees has to be seen to be believed. The trouble is much of the media prefers to keep this bizarre and regular spectacle from the public.

Perhaps the one thing more extraordinary than the Australian Human Rights Commission president’s capacity to frustrate these inquiries is the way other publicly funded institutions run a protection racket for her. As the unofficial patron saint of virtue signallers, Triggs has her sins ­either ignored or censored by Greens and ALP political operatives, as well as the ABC and much of Canberra’s press gallery.

Few episodes provide a clearer insight into the partisanship of our media/political class and the fact-free nature of their ideological battles. In this post-truth realm, a member of the so-called elite is given immunity from mainstream standards and the media/political class suppresses her failings because they want to share in the objectives and virtues she professes.

The ABC’s treatment of Triggs demonstrates how the public broadcaster often functions as an arm of green-left propaganda rather than as an objective public information institution. This matters because it has a profound effect on our political debate.

The ABC’s connivance helps swing the tide of national debate away from the sensible centre, luring politicians ever more towards the crowd Robert Manne calls the “permanent oppositional moral political community”.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/chris-kenny/abc-greens-labor-conceal-ahrcs-gillian-triggss-blunders/news-story/f743b16ecd7e8a8cea263eb7f3e21e89

Dear Shadow Minister,

It is her choice. She told the attorney-general ages
ago that she would be leaving in July.

I have nothing further to add - except to say that
in this discussion we can't all be anti Triggs.
Someone has to be on her side just to balance things
out and keep this discussion going.

Dearest Foxy,

With the deepest respect, that must be the weakest excuse any of us have heard yet in defence of the indefensible.

Triggs lied to a number of parliamentary committees, she held back information about the number of child refugees until the government which had created the problem was gone and the next one was well on the way to solving it.

She destroyed the careers of at least one student in her appalling support for the insupportable Ms Prior, and, as Head of the AHRC, implicitly approved of the shake-down to extort hush-money out of other students.

She didn't pull Tim Phoutsommasane into line when he touted for business over the Leak cartoon; she pursued Leak until a judge threw her case out of court.

She is a total disgrace. She has absolutely no interest in genuine human rights, i.e. in defence of the right to freedom of expression. Surely she and all of her staff would have workshopped delicate cases over and over again, they would have teased out scenarios involving just these sorts of 'border-line' cases or cases where two 'sets' of human rights were in conflict ? Wouldn't that be their bread and butter ?

In relation to Section 18 (c), surely there has to be an intent to offend, insult, humiliate, etc., as well as what a reasonable person would consider to be offensive, insulting, humiliating etc. ? Why isn't the AHRC constantly in the forefront of trying to reform the Section ?

Joe

As a sure, positive step towards the next election, the government should move to:

- replace the HRC with another body with a more suitable charter and a SUNSET CLAUSE; and

- remove the duplication between the SBS and ABC by combining both into a SINGLE ENTITY with a REVISED CHARTER that guarantees independence in programming and ensures a much better service to regional and country centres.

The last mentioned should be achieved by encouraging local reporting and programs wherever possible. More diversity through more local community programs, less centralisation (and less western Sydney Q&A pap).

The ABC could be a small central unit that allocates funding to local community stations. There would be very, very few 'national' needs that are not already being serviced by the private sector including the internet (and newbies on the block such as the changing Twitter).

Triggs? Doubtless the Emily's Listers may find something for her. Although there would be plenty of sharp elbows at work among the Listers as they jockey for better seats on the guvvy gravy train.

Dear Joe,

So glad to see that you've taken my previous post
so seriously. I wonder what your reaction would
have been if it had occurred to you that I was merely
being facetious?
Still, It has kept this discussion going as I thought
it would.

Dearest Foxy,

Ah ! You got me ! I thought your caring and forgiving nature had just gone overboard for a moment. Thank you for putting us right.

Meile,

Joe

Foxy,

As her 5 yr term expires in July, and after her outrageously partisan activity in 2013 it was made clear to her that it would not be renewed.

As an expert in alternative facts, Triggs' only redeeming feature is that she is a woman.

Excepting that most women would not see themselves as tricky, obstructive, egocentric, self-indulgent and lacking in pity and remorse.

Dear Joe,

I think you're rather special as well.

Dear Shadow Minister,

I'm not going to argue with you about Gillian Triggs
because quite frankly I don't know all the complexities
involved and I am not a lawyer nor do I know precisely
what the Human Rights Commission can or can't do and
all the legalities involved, and what precisely its
role is. I can make assumptions of course, but I
hesitate doing that and more to the point I really
don't want to make this issue a political one (which
I suppose it undoubtedly is). I just don't want to
contribute to it.

I respect your opinion - and I shall leave it at that.

Foxy,

I fail to see where all the complexities are.

Misleading the senate is a serious offense with a jail term of up to 6 months, and there is clear evidence that Triggs did so 3x.

The expectation is that in testifying under oath before the senate that a person endeavours to present correct information as far as reasonably possible.

As a lawyer, Triggs can not in any way pretend that she did not understand the gravity of her testimony and that if she was not sure, she could provide the information later.

In all three cases it stretches credibility that she "forgotten" that she had spoken to Labor before deciding to delay an inquiry, "forgotten" what she had said in an interview only a few weeks ago, and forgotten crucial details of a very high profile case.

This is the position of the paper which the commisioner had incorrectly accused of misquoting then acknowledged they were indeed correct.

“Gillian Triggs has sustained two years of abuse. Her independence has been constantly undermined. She has been harangued in senate hearings and mocked in newspapers. Government members have boasted about not reading her reports.”

“It is an appalling shame that Triggs’s mistake has overshadowed her work. It is important work, conducted by a person who is both brave and decent. It is tireless work, unthanked and unrelenting. It is work that may now be lost to a few moments of unthinking testimony and unremitting interruption.”

Compared to someone like Senator Brandis whose lies to the Senate have remain unaddressed and never been repentant of, Triggs seems like a saint.

Given what she has been put through 'brave and decent' pretty well nail it and if I were ever in need I would certainly want her in my corner.

Dear Shadow Minister,

Perhaps after reading SteeleRedux's post you may
see where the "complexities" lie - although I suspect
they may lie within your own ideologies.

Dear Steele,

Thank You and Bravo!
I fully agree with you if I was in trouble I certainly
would want Gillian Triggs in my corner.
Definitely not Brandis!

SR,

The only reason the left whingers have put up such a stout defense of Triggs is because of her accommodation and silence during labor's regime and attacks on the coalition for Labor's mess.

Her 4.5 year term has been littered with outright political bias, incompetent and shoddy work, lying to the senate and ridiculous pronouncements incl:

1 Remaining silent while the boat tragedy unfolded under Labor
2 Deferring an inquiry into children in detention by 6 months to accommodate labor in the 2013 election, then lying to the senate about discussing this with labor prior to the election,
3 Producing a subjective and emotive report into children in detention that was riddled with factual inaccuracies. (it nows appears that no children were actually interviewed)
4 Making idiotic recommendations that an asylum seeker who beat his wife to death and had his visa cancelled should compensated a vast sum, and that bank employee should be compensated for being terminated after failing to disclose that he had a conviction for armed bank robbery.
5 Changing a system for compensating victims of racism to a shake down process for disreputable lawyers,
6 Lying to the senate about an interview,
7 Lying to the senate about the QUT saga.

It is no wonder that Triggs has become a household joke.

Dear Shadow Minister,

A household joke?

In your household?

Because in mine - there's a long line led by
Barnaby Joyce, Dutton, Pyne, Morrison,
Abbott, and the list goes on.

Dearest Foxy,

I think SM is right on the button. He could have added,

* the ruining of a student's chosen career;

* the Mafia-like shakedown for hush-money from other students - pay up and we'll lay off;

* the attempt to ruin a brilliant cartoonist's career, and in the process shut down fair comment - vitally needed comment - about conditions on remote Aboriginal 'communities, where life expectancy is probably half of what it is for Indigenous people in the cities, Foxy, much of it due to all manner of violent behaviour.

Triggs used - abused - her position to cow people into not raising their heads and speaking out. She devalued their human rights in order to push her own grubby agenda.

And you want her in your corner ?

What can I say, Foxy ?

Love notwithstanding,

Joe

Dear Joe,

I certainly would not want Brandis
in my corner. And the behaviour of
these people against Triggs has been
disgraceful.

Foxy,

You forgot to include,

Gillard, Rudd, Shorten, Plibersek, Bob Brown, Hansen Young, Rhiannon, and pretty much everyone in Labor and the greens.

Dear Foxy,

Brandis ? Neither here nor there. 'Tu quoque' won't get you anywhere, dear.

Is there any truth in my little list of offenses by Triggs ? Should I be apologising ?

Love,

Joe

Dear Joe,

Apology accepted.