Is it over for Rann?

[BlueRose]

I have a confession. Isobel Redmond bonked me in a paddle boat on the Torrens.

[dedja]

I have a confession. Isobel Redmond bonked me in a paddle boat on the Torrens.

Just out for a bit of Jolly then?

[dedja]

Kerry Stokes methinks ...

[Squawk]

Interesting but not a surprising strategy from the Premier. Ultimately, he has to protect himself personally and politically, and protect the party.

This strategy allows him to buy time and potentially injunct any further airing of allegations by Channel 7 (who still have 10hrs and 45 mins of footage up their sleeves). By laying a civil claim himself, he can ultimately defer resolution of the issue (one way or another) until after the election.

What he cannot control however is what happens on Dec 7 when his alleged attacker, Rick Phillips, fronts court. I imagine it is his first appearance date so it will likely get a mention only and be adjourned off - probably for some more months. What I'm not sure of is if Mr Phillips and Ms Chantellois have the same lawyer (David McLeod for Ms Chantelois), which will make things potentially very interesting if the matter goes to trial.

However, the matter may not go to trial if the Premier withdraws the charge.

Defamation cases are very hard to prove but in this case, the onus is on Channel 7 to prove their claims made by Ms Chantelois. This wont be easy as quite simply, Channel 7 and New Idea were not there themselves. By not suing Ms Chantelois, the Premier stays on the high moral ground there and leaves Ms Chantelois open to ongoing public criticism without having to level any criticism of his own (other than that already levelled in the initial statements).

What is of further interest is that he declined the opportunity to respond to the allegations on the TV program. This was on the basis of the pending court case. However, he has since responded in his own way to those allegations - outside of the program - so that is an ironic outcome of sorts.

By initiating the civil claim, the Premier can also withdraw it at any time. This ultimately leaves him with the luxury of controlling the timing of court matters as best one can, but more importantly, controlling the ability of the media to continue reporting on the issue with any further material. And even if he is unsuccessful, it will be a case of "not proven", it wont exonerate the issue and he can always continue to protest his innocence in the face of an unsatisfactory outcome - as many who are found guilty of a crime or who get a bad divorce judgement will do.

Most of all, he has the ability to contriol the timing of his exit if it comes to that. In two years time for example, any incoming Premier will have 2 more years to lead the state if Labor is re-elected in March 2010, which is a far better scenario that changing leaders 4 months out from an election. So the party is protected.

All in all, the strategy is 3 fold in terms of protecting himself personally (buys time to manage the home fires as and if needed); politically (stop the release of more footage) and the party (he can manage tiiming issues better and allow for succession if needed).

The gamble is this: A wiser person than I said to me tonight that there is one defence to defamation, and that is the truth. If the media can furnish the truth as it sees it, in their defence, then the house of cards could come crashing down.

[Gozu]

FFS you treat your preferred party like a footy team you're supporting with one eye .. All parties lie, cheat and make mistakes but you only ever praise your mob and wedge home the dagger to their opposition.

Great to have an alignment, many or most people probably do, but the way you carry on you would think Labor are mistakeless Saints and the Libs are the scum of the earth

WTF? You again? No s__t all parties lie, cheat & make mistakes but unless you hadn't noticed right-wingers far out number left-wingers on this site so forgive me for not joining in the chorus and sticking the boot into Labor (were centre-left anyway). I assume you've missed the number of times I've bagged the likes of Rann or Atkinson? I've made no bones about me disliking the Liberal Party (just about everything they stand for, WorkChoices etc) more than I like the Labor Party and I think you'll find I don't talk up the ALP as much as you might like to think.

[Gozu]

Interesting but not a surprising strategy from the Premier. Ultimately, he has to protect himself personally and politically, and protect the party.

This strategy allows him to buy time and potentially injunct any further airing of allegations by Channel 7 (who still have 10hrs and 45 mins of footage up their sleeves). By laying a civil claim himself, he can ultimately defer resolution of the issue (one way or another) until after the election.

What he cannot control however is what happens on Dec 7 when his alleged attacker, Rick Phillips, fronts court. I imagine it is his first appearance date so it will likely get a mention only and be adjourned off - probably for some more months. What I'm not sure of is if Mr Phillips and Ms Chantellois have the same lawyer (David McLeod for Ms Chantelois), which will make things potentially very interesting if the matter goes to trial.

However, the matter may not go to trial if the Premier withdraws the charge.

Defamation cases are very hard to prove but in this case, the onus is on Channel 7 to prove their claims made by Ms Chantelois. This wont be easy as quite simply, Channel 7 and New Idea were not there themselves. By not suing Ms Chantelois, the Premier stays on the high moral ground there and leaves Ms Chantelois open to ongoing public criticism without having to level any criticism of his own (other than that already levelled in the initial statements).

What is of further interest is that he declined the opportunity to respond to the allegations on the TV program. This was on the basis of the pending court case. However, he has since responded in his own way to those allegations - outside of the program - so that is an ironic outcome of sorts.

By initiating the civil claim, the Premier can also withdraw it at any time. This ultimately leaves him with the luxury of controlling the timing of court matters as best one can, but more importantly, controlling the ability of the media to continue reporting on the issue with any further material. And even if he is unsuccessful, it will be a case of "not proven", it wont exonerate the issue and he can always continue to protest his innocence in the face of an unsatisfactory outcome - as many who are found guilty of a crime or who get a bad divorce judgement will do.

Most of all, he has the ability to contriol the timing of his exit if it comes to that. In two years time for example, any incoming Premier will have 2 more years to lead the state if Labor is re-elected in March 2010, which is a far better scenario that changing leaders 4 months out from an election. So the party is protected.

All in all, the strategy is 3 fold in terms of protecting himself personally (buys time to manage the home fires as and if needed); politically (stop the release of more footage) and the party (he can manage tiiming issues better and allow for succession if needed).

The gamble is this: A wiser person than I said to me tonight that there is one defence to defamation, and that is the truth. If the media can furnish the truth as it sees it, in their defence, then the house of cards could come crashing down.

Reasonable post but it does have a feel to it that you think Rann is probably "guilty". I said earlier it was a smart move to go after Channel 7 & New Idea and not her as nothing good politically could come from going after her on the eve of an election. What strikes me in all this is the timing of it so close to the election.

It's hard not to think a few forces have put their heads together and set off a chain of events which started with that precision assualt. Channel 7's involvement is interesting as supposedly they were advised by both the PM & Premier not to go ahead with airing these allegations and also the fact Rudd spent a bit of time with Kerry Stokes recently. If it all goes ahead I'm not sure how Channel 7 will be able to get out of this one.

[Gozu]

Pretty disappointing effort from Hendrik Gout I thought but keep in mind it was obviously written Monday morning before Rann had made his denial of having sex with her but none the less a few interesting comments especially from Monday night:

http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/11/23/mik ... -his-life/

[dedja]

I thought that was a reasonable piece by Gout ...

[Rik E Boy]

LOL, Humphrey B. Bear (even with his current problems) could win the next election for the government, so I don't think there's any concern for Labor at the moment.

Good anology. Humphrey can't keep his pants on either and isn't saying anything.

regards,

REB

[JK]

FFS you treat your preferred party like a footy team you're supporting with one eye .. All parties lie, cheat and make mistakes but you only ever praise your mob and wedge home the dagger to their opposition.

Great to have an alignment, many or most people probably do, but the way you carry on you would think Labor are mistakeless Saints and the Libs are the scum of the earth

WTF? You again? No s__t all parties lie, cheat & make mistakes but unless you hadn't noticed right-wingers far out number left-wingers on this site so forgive me for not joining in the chorus and sticking the boot into Labor (were centre-left anyway). I assume you've missed the number of times I've bagged the likes of Rann or Atkinson? I've made no bones about me disliking the Liberal Party (just about everything they stand for, WorkChoices etc) more than I like the Labor Party and I think you'll find I don't talk up the ALP as much as you might like to think.

Yeah I probably have missed it ... Given I used to enjoy this forum for the amount of open minded debate and discussion that took place it now gets a wide berth with the amount of one sided BS you incessantly spew forth.

Knock yourself out champ.

[topsywaldron]

...I used to enjoy this forum for the amount of open minded debate and discussion that took place

Me and Mick shouting at one another?

[mick]

...I used to enjoy this forum for the amount of open minded debate and discussion that took place

Me and Mick shouting at one another?

I don't think we ever shouted it was robust discussion

[Bum Crack]

Any truth to the rumour that a minister in the Labor Government was also slipping this chick a length.

[A Mum]

Didn't think it would be long before the old 'lie detector test' came into it.

[silicone skyline]

Any truth to the rumour that a minister in the Labor Government was also slipping this chick a length.

Political three-way.

[dedja]

LOL, Humphrey B. Bear (even with his current problems) could win the next election for the government, so I don't think there's any concern for Labor at the moment.

Good anology. Humphrey can't keep his pants on either and isn't saying anything.

regards,

REB

LOL, I'm not going to ask about Fat Cat then ... especially how he got the name.

[Gozu]

FFS you treat your preferred party like a footy team you're supporting with one eye .. All parties lie, cheat and make mistakes but you only ever praise your mob and wedge home the dagger to their opposition.

Great to have an alignment, many or most people probably do, but the way you carry on you would think Labor are mistakeless Saints and the Libs are the scum of the earth

WTF? You again? No s__t all parties lie, cheat & make mistakes but unless you hadn't noticed right-wingers far out number left-wingers on this site so forgive me for not joining in the chorus and sticking the boot into Labor (were centre-left anyway). I assume you've missed the number of times I've bagged the likes of Rann or Atkinson? I've made no bones about me disliking the Liberal Party (just about everything they stand for, WorkChoices etc) more than I like the Labor Party and I think you'll find I don't talk up the ALP as much as you might like to think.

Yeah I probably have missed it ... Given I used to enjoy this forum for the amount of open minded debate and discussion that took place it now gets a wide berth with the amount of one sided BS you incessantly spew forth.

Knock yourself out champ.

I accept your apology. Next time you might want to avail yourself of the facts before making a fool of yourself, champ.

[Gozu]

If only The Advertiser had more journalists like Tory Shepherd:

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/stor ... 01,00.html

[silicone skyline]

If only The Advertiser had more journalists like Tory Shepherd:

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/stor ... 01,00.html

Was a great editorial. One of the best I have read.

[Dogwatcher]

I enjoyed that editorial.