In recent days, Channel 9 finally caved in their legal battle with ex-MP Andrew Laming, withdrew all defences against Laming's defamation case, agreed to publish apologies, withdraw offending articles...and make a penalty payment in the vicinity of seven figures.

By way of background, Laming had been accused of up-skirting a female employee ie taking a 'lewd' photo from under her skirt. The claims came at the height of national gender hysteria about allegedly wronged women and Laming's claims of innocence never stood a chance of being heard.

This was especially so after the lamentable Morrison turned on his colleague and demanded his apology and resignation. Laming's career was destroyed.

Channel 9 wasn't the only culprit. Many other news and media organisations piled on, including, unsurprisingly, the despicable Louise Milligan of 'our' ABC. But when the facts finally emerged, many of those who'd wrongly reported on the case raced to offer unreserved apologies.

Channel 9 held out until this week. Laming is now utterly vindicated although his career is over and the usual haters will continue to hate. One should feel joy for his wife and daughters who stood by him throughout.

Of course, the ABC and Milligan held out and have been forced to pay Laming a reported $200,000. We can all be thankful that the ABC agreed to pick up the tab on Milligan's behalf even though she'd used a private twitter account to defame the man. So she gets off scot-free...again.

Various media awards, including Walkley awards, were given for excellence in reporting to the reporters who got things so wrong. Those awards have yet to be withdrawn and, like the Pulitzers given for the false reporting on Trump Russian collusion, probably won't be.

This should be a lesson for all concerned about rushing to judgement. But it won't be.

The deformation centred around Nine using the word "lewd" as in "lewd photo". Laming admitted to taking an unauthorised photo of the female worker, but claimed the photo was not "lewd" Nine agreed and apologised, as for settlement that is not disclosed, and any figure is speculation.

Laming was guilty of being a ratbag. Politics is bad enough without his sort. Good riddance.

Even if he did upskirt her, so what?

Taking pictures up women's dresses nowadays is hard enough as it is without these additional impediments.

Dear mhaze,

If Laming was unjustly accused which it appears to be the case then justice would seem to be served.

But you really can’t help yourself can you. While Channel 9 did indeed agree to apologise for the upskirting story it was Laming’s abusive behaviour to his constituents which rightly drew the ire of others including the PM.

He also was taken to court by the AEC for breaching rules during the 2019 election where he had created 20 bogus facebook pages that looked grass roots but were instead instigated by himself without acknowledgement.

In my opinion the bloke is a tosser, a pest, and a toxic individual who really shouldn’t be in politics.

Good riddance.

Despite legalities, what Laming did or didn’t do, he is a prime example of the highly unsuitable people who can get into politics these days. Australian politics would be improved if the choice of candidates was taken out of the hands of the party machine and given to ordinary party members of even an extra layer of public voting from a selection of candidates. We should not continue accepting the rubbish we are getting because hacks and goons are being rewarded for services to a party of one of its members already in parliament.

Guilty of being male

Here is a man that worked on NT remote Aboriginal community medical service, and spoke out against Aboriginal and Islander gang warfare in his own electorate, by suggesting they get a job for a change as a preference to bludging on welfare. No one could argue against that positive suggestion. Of course he was howled down for that one; as he was for his promotion of alcohol by performing a one handed hand stand and sculling a beer with the other, at an Australia Day celebration.

He was also forced to back down from supporting Greg Hunts bill in favour of declaring white South African farmers as refugees for immigration purposes.

Laming served some time in Afghanistan on front line medical emergency, and another working with a volunteer bomb disposal team.

There’s an old saying which says; a man will never win an argument against a woman. Laming naïvely thought he could, which was to be his eventual undoing: Even attracting the scorn of Bronwyn Bishop who as the speaker, sacked him from parliament for 24 hours over a prank on the parliamentary floor, by dribbling crude oil from a jar in protest of cruise ship discharge in a Queensland port. Not to mention his 32 anonymous face book accounts used for electioneering against the AEC rules of play.

All in all, Laming proved a too difficult a hot potato for his parliamentary mates in the liberal party, who ganged up against him and torpedoed his chances for preselection, forcing his resignation.

Some people just should not drink! Apart from that, his heart was in the “right” place…another reason for attack!?

Dan

SR,

Lamming closely resembles you.

shadowminister,

Lol.

Gout acting up my little follower?

SM

I'm sorry about your gout. Maybe you should lay off the sauce.

Seems Lamming was quite the 'shutter bug' liked to take pictures of people (women) from behind.

SM, telling yourself you've got GOUT. How's ya LIVER?

OK. He might have been obnoxious and unacceptable to swathes of people. But if that's the case, then get him for what he's done. This notion that we dislike him and his aims but can't get him for that, so we'll make up lies about him and get him that way...that is the path to disaster.

We have now seen it several times- Pell, Porter , even as far back as Theo Theophanous. It is of course, the modus operandi of the despicable Louise Milligan who has again been found out. It is now reported that her combined cost to the ABC for her fantasies is approaching $1 million. Luckily, for her, the taxpayer is picking up that bill.

Politics has always been a dirty and nasty game. It becomes increasingly so as the stakes get bigger - ie as the reach and power of government explodes.

If we are going to destroy men's (it's always men!) reputations and careers, do it for what they've done. Fabricating stories about them to "get'em" will never end well.

mhaze,

Lets not go into your defences of Pell, Porter, et al.
I'm surprised that you didn't bring Trump into it as well.
We all know of your ardent support for these people and
of course that is your right. However, I do take
exception to your claim of "it's always the men," when we
all know the history of what females had/have to put up
with in the "boy's club that is our parliament.

As for the politician that you're trying to defend here.
And making such a tirade against Ms Milligan - this man's
reputation speaks is not squeeky cleam and more than one
person has complained about him including his own staff
members. However, be that as it may - why on earth would
a married so called reputable Member of Parliament take
a photograph of a female he didn't know (nor asked for
her permission to do so) bending over stacking a fridge?

And his defence was _ the photograph was "lewd."
What was the attraction for him?

Sorry, I meant to say - his defence was that the
photograph was not "lewd."

Paul,

Coming from a party with a couple of paedophiles you should keep quiet.

Hi Foxy,

That's what I said in the first reply to mhaze. Lamming was a liability to the LNP, and Morrison had him dumped. The law suit centred around the use of the word "lewd". If Lamming had been the endorsed LNP candidate in May there would be every possibility Labor would have won the seat. As it was the LNP candidate Pike, took a 6.3% hit on the primary vote in what's a safe LNP seat.

BTW; Dutton's seat of Dickson is now the most marginal in Queensland, with a TPP margin of 1.7%, down from 4.6%. Despite far right support from Hanson, Palmer and the LD, Dutton just fell in.

shadowminister,

If you want to again name a Green's MP as a paedophile, as you once did on this nondescript forum and got away with it, feel free. Our MP's would rather deal with real issues than waste time going after the likes of you and Is Mise on a under the radar forum, so they tell me. If it came from your man Dutton and it was on 'Twitter', that might be a different story, so keep pissing in the wind to your hearts content on here.

" I do take exception to your claim of "it's always the men,"...".

I was talking about the situation where people are targeted using lies in order to get them for other perceived injustices. I noticed you couldn't identify any such women. Pell was also target by Milligan and others by what the Supreme Court found (7-0) were fantasies. His crime was being head of a hated institution but they couldn't get him for that. And Porter was likewise attacked based on fantasies which also fell apart under examination. Likewise Theo Theophanous had his career destroyed based on the fantasies of those who just wanted to get him.

Laming might be less than admirable in some eyes and if those traits are what causes his downfall then so be it. But they weren't sufficient to 'get him' so they made up other stories. If the photos he took were so bad why did those after him have to lie and make them out to be something other than what they were? Why? Because the photos weren't enough to 'get him' and getting him was the one and only aim.

Meanwhile, Milligan has all her costs covered by the ABC (read taxpayer) so has learned nothing and has no reason to change her abhorrent behaviour.

mhaze,

This may job your memory:

http://bbc.com/news/world-australia-48197145

Paul,

I was referring to the 2 senior greens convicted of paedophilia. You are fully aware of this.

PS how is the homophobic green councillor doing?

Your GOUT giving you a bad time again SM? How is that very senior Liberal who was accused of raping a 16 year old girl going these days. A-holed from parliament I believe. I name, names, 'Cry Baby' Christian Porter, the one you claimed had nothing to worry about!

Paul,

How's your dementia going? How's your ego with 2 convicted senior greens paedophiles. I see that your violent and homophobic councillor is set for trial next month.

We can certainly see where the greens values really lie.

How are your other racist MPs doing.

SM,

You said you had GOUT....

SM

I'm sorry about your gout. Maybe you should lay off the sauce.
Posted by shadowminister, Saturday, 17 September 2022 4:43:06 PM

Posting to yourself, maybe you were in a drunken stupor at the time of posting a message to yourself. I have never said I suffer from dementia.

No senior Greens have been charged or convicted of any such crimes as you claim.

Sorry Foxy but you've missed my point...(I write that so often I should create a Word macro for it!).

The point was that Laming was bought down by false accusations. That is no longer in doubt. When you find a female politician whose career was equally destroyed by false accusations, then you'll have something to discuss.

Might I also point out that most of the false accusers were female, among them Lisa Wilkinson and Sarah Hanson-(Sea Patrol *) Young. To their credit they both raced to apologise when they found out Laming could prove them wrong and intended to do so. Perhaps they were worried about how much it'd cost them if they didn't apologise, unlike Milligan who had no such worries.

* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d6Dm0kqcuc

Dear mhaze,

"Guilty of being a male"?

These facts are not in dispute.

Laming took a photo of Ms White while she was bending over restocking a fridge in a workplace.

Laming was approached by Ms White and her manager and asked to delete the image. He chose not to.

Ms White did get a brief look at the image and after some deliberation and in the face of Laming's refusal to delete it made a police report backed up by her male manager. She did not discuss it in any detail with any media.

What you would have us believe is that both people were just out to get Laming because he is a male. How utterly absurd.

Laming is regarded by some as a litigious tosser.

He went after the Australian Medical Board for not renewing his specialist registration after he had received numerous extensions on the time limit for providing the relevant documentation. Finally after nearly two years they rejected his application. So he sued them.

http://www.queenslandjudgments.com.au/caselaw/qcat/2013/102?mview=laming%7C

Your willingness to turn a blind eye to what this bloke is and to the facts just to make your point is telling.

Again SR, if the actual photos were so deplorable, why did they have to make up stories to make them seem worse?

Why did so many people then make claims which were demonstrably false such that they were forced to apologise with alacrity.

Oh and by the way, SR wrote "[when] asked to delete the image. He chose not to."

That's false. He deleted them prior to leaving the store. More falsehoods. More attempts to make things worse than they were. When others got things wrong they apologised. I doubt SR will have that much integrity.

SR,

Laming probably kept the photo as proof that he did nothing wrong. This proved fortuitous as the ABC as usual took the opportunity to defame a coalition MP. The photo proved his innocence and forced ABC to apologize and cough up $200 000 in penalties plus the costs of the court case.

The tossers would appear to be Louis (louse) Milligan and the morons that let her print lies.

Dea mhaze,

It appears I was incorrect. The twitter source I read has obviously assumed the "material" was the photo itself, which therefore incorrectly indicated he had not deleted it.

I did not research this more fully and was wrong to repeat the assumption.

It appears the photo, though upsetting to the subject, was not taken at an angle which would have seen it designated as an 'upskirting' act therefore could not be legally construed as "lewd".

So inappropriate enough to have been told to delete it but not criminally liable as it was done in a public place were there is no expectation of privacy. Also mitigating was the fact that Ms White's underwear was showing above her pants thus, as the police told her "the incident doesn't fit legislation criteria".

(2) A person who observes or visually records another person’s genital or anal region, in circumstances where a reasonable adult would expect to be afforded privacy in relation to that region—
(a) without the other person’s consent; and
(b) when the observation or visual recording is made for the purpose of observing or visually recording the other person’s genital or anal region;
commits a misdemeanour.
Penalty—
Maximum penalty—3 years imprisonment.
Example—
using a mobile phone in a public place to take photos of women’s underwear under their skirts without their consent

http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/qld/consol_act/cc189994/s227a.html

This would have been off behaviour for anyone to have engaged in much less an MP. And I think most people will take the facts of the story and make up their own minds about what his motivations for taking such an inappropriate image. But in the end he doesn't have a legal case to answer therefore free to sue whomever he pleases.

What sort of 55 year old deviant takes pictures of a young girl, a third of his age, a stranger no less, from behind when she was bending down? A Liberal National Party sicko from Queensland that's who. Should ask his wife what she thinks of her husband, poor woman. Then he's not alone, there are plenty of other sickos who have been documented in the Coalition as well.

What kind of deviant makes child porn and rapes children and gets convicted. 2 Greens candidates that's who.

What is clear is that Laming did nothing wrong. This is the same sort of bollocks that they used to throw at Abbott because he winked at a woman.

What kind of deviant would try and blow this out of proportion? Left whinge idiots in the ABC and online.

SM

Old Coalition blokes taking pic of young girls from behind is "(doing) nothing wrong" in your eyes, is it party policy? Then again "Coalition staffer sacked for alleged sex act (masturbating) on female MP's desk was longtime Liberal aide who had worked on numerous committees and had input into combating sexual harassment in parliament."

Paul,

You and other left whingers are such delicate snowflakes and easily triggered whenever non-left whingers do anything.

Your complete indifference to the convictions of Green members who committed kiddie rape speaks volumes.

Paul, demonstrating yet again that he has no actual understanding of an issue, says: "Should ask his wife what she thinks of her husband, poor woman. "

She was asked. She completely supported her husband and expressed gratitude that the truth (do you want me to define that word for you, Paul?)...that the truth had come out. Equally his to daughters, who initially suffered vilification from class-mates, were utterly vindicated.

Helping Paul to nudge a little closer to the facts (they are his kryptonite), I'd point out that the photo was of a girl going about her employment duties. Laming has said that he thought the photo could be useful in his political campaigns about youth unemployment. I don't know if that's true or not.

____________________________________________________________________

" It appears I was incorrect. "

Well done, SR. I didn't think you had it in you.

mhaze, I understand from locals here at the time (Laming's seat is next to mine), Laming had plenty of pics on his phone which he could have used for his non existent "youth unemployment" project. How would Laming react if unauthorised photos of his two daughters were secretly taken by some dirty old pervert for his pet "project".

SM, the disgusting bloke Doig, a failed Green candidate who ran against Morrison in Cook, not a 'Senior Green' as you like to make out was jailed for child abuse, and I have said several times on the Forum, rightly bloody so! The other bloke you refer to had kiddy porn on his computer, he had been a failed Green candidate at local government (council) elections some years beforehand, I don't know what the outcome of that matter was. WE don't want such people as party members, no more than we want Laming, Porter or Joyce, very very senior LNP members, in our party.

Did Morrison a-hole Laming on moral grounds, more likely on political grounds, Morrison showed himself to be morally corrupt when it came to this kind of thing, but was politically aware at the same time, Laming was a political liability for Morrison, end of story.

BTW, Christian Porter's reputation around the bars and pick joints in Canberra was legendary. While the little woman was keeping the home fires burning over in Perth, Porter was free to play in Canberra.

Paul seems to have taken on all the traits of a Victorian (era not state!) moral crusader.

In the end, Laming's career was destroyed on moral grounds for political purposes by moral hypocrites. And while fools defend it, it'll happen again...until it happens to someone on the left, whereupon the rules will change.

Gender Equality: I support a womans right to pee standing up if she so chooses.