Kate McClymont is back with her favourite sources, Bonnie and Clyde, to publicise a frivolous criminal complaint one has made against Peter Wicks and other ethical journalists. Wixxy comments.
THEY SAY a picture paints a thousand words.
Monday night’s footage on ABC Four Corners provided a living image of millions.
For more than three years I have been trying to portray to readers through words the seemingly alternate reality that Kathy Jackson and her supporters lived in. This is a place I have described as Jacksonville, and Monday night viewers of 4 Corners were given a glimpse inside the strange and delusional world these people live.
I must convey my gratitude to Caro Meldrum Hanna for appearing to have come to the conclusion that she didn't need to hand Jackson or her partner Michael Lawler a shovel in order for them to dig their own hole, just letting them talk will work.
Lawler was content to lie to the camera, claiming to have been dragged into the world of politics due to his relationship with Kathy.
Lawler met Kathy through his position at Fair Work, which was a political appointment — as was his brother John Lawler's position at the Crime Commission. Michael's father Peter Lawler's career was in politics — a political staffer during the Robert Menzies government, a politically appointed ambassador and a political lobbyist for a Catholic lobby organisation. Michael Lawler was, in fact, born into the world of politics — not dragged into it by Kathy.
However, possibly the most talked about things from the episode was the recorded phone calls and their highly questionable legality.
Lawler’s fondness for manipulating phones and recording calls prompted this tweet from the always on the ball.
‘I can give you a recording of that.’ Suddenly Thommo’s ‘my phone was cloned’ excuse makes a bit more sense. #4Corners
— Latika M Bourke (@latikambourke) October 19, 2015
However given Lawler’s comments that he’d been recording calls for a while now, I think there are some people out there who may have seen that as a threat. The kind of threat that implies: If you stop protecting Kathy and I, then I may just have our calls on my computer and make them public.
It’s a reasonable to assume that Jackson and Lawler are already regretting their stupid decision to let the world get an uncensored look at Jacksonville, but how bad did it really work out for them?
You know things are dire for the pair when we see the return of Kate McClymont to the saga.
McClymont is someone who has been described by many as Jackson and Lawler's publicist. It's no wonder, she led the charge against Craig Thomson, who ended up being found not guilty on all of the hookers and brothels her articles continually tied him to, and she won a Walkley for an article that was disproved and given that it appeared to be entirely based on Jackson's word, in the light of the Four Corners episode, it seems utterly ridiculous. Her high point, though, was publishing the sad sob story of what it was like to be Marco Bolano's long-suffering partner, as told via his partner Kylee Brehaut. Bolano is of course the wannabe union thug who attempted to physically intimidate witnesses at the Royal Commission, while receiving workers compensation payment for being incapacitated.
Encounter with the s̶a̶i̶n̶t̶l̶y̶… standover man,Marco Bolano http://t.co/e7YZWrXZFI v @independentaus #auspol #TURC pic.twitter.com/duCUxU1po5
— Julie HumanityPlease (@juliemela) June 21, 2014
He is currently under police investigation for insurance fraud.
McClymont hasn’t really covered the HSU subject for a long time — at least since evidence starting turning the story in the opposite direction to the way she was portraying it.
One wonders what it was that compelled Kate to jump back in again, but that is exactly what she has done.
Did she perhaps feel some kind of obligation to the pair — and if so why?
As for this "Exclusive" article, it was full of information that it could really only have come from one source — Michael Lawler himself.
The article went into details that it claims The Australian journalists were not allowed to cover but did, in doing so, it actually did the same thing it claims the Australian did.
Does this sound somewhat familiar to you?
As Kate condemns The Australian to a stoning for saying "Jehovah", she does the same.
One thing is for sure — someone in the mix appears to be stoned.
I am quite sure The Australian did not claim any of the information came from a guardianship hearing, so if that is indeed the case, it would appear that McClymont has actually now made it public knowledge by publishing Lawler’s accusation.
I’m no legal beagle, but I’m guessing that may possibly make McClymont liable for attracting the 12 month gaol term or $110,000 fine she speaks of.
In regards to Lawler’s threat of legal action against me, which according to McClymont’s piece is getting passed back and forth between the police and the Australian Communications and Media Authority, probably until one or the other draws the short straw, I am not wearing a face of concern. I’m happy to file it away with his last legal threat, which took three flushes to get rid of. Nevertheless, it may rate a mention in my book.
Fair Work Commissioner Michael Lawler wants journalists prosecuted https://t.co/uijlnnLKBe via @smh @kate_mcclymont
— Louise Hall (@LouiseCHall) October 20, 2015
For those who want to take a stroll down Lawler's lane, check out the dedicated Jacksonville page at Independent Australia. I can also highly recommend venturing to my HSU resource page and checking out Lawler’s sons HSU payslips, perhaps taking a peek at details of an alleged attempted hack on the HSU network by a computer bearing the name Michael Lawler, or the official complaint of Carol Glen regarding Lawler’s alleged intimidation attempts.
Whatever you do though, don’t forget to keep dropping by, because this saga ain’t over yet.
Not by a long shot.
Peter Wicks is an ALP member and former NSW State Labor candidate. You can follow Peter on Twitter @madwixxy. Read more about the Jacksonville saga HERE. Donate to Peter's Jacksonville book writing fund HERE.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
Monthly Donation
Single Donation
Fair Work Commission Prez Ross says Lawler's taping of private phone calls a 'very serious matter' https://t.co/BLI2R8ciIP #turc #ausunions
— Andrew Casey (@AndrewSCasey) October 22, 2015
Shine a light. Subscribe to IA for just $5.
