The Victorian police are currently investigating ALP Leader Bill Shorten for raping a 16-year-old girl in 1986. The mainstream media reported earlier this month that a “Senior ALP figure” was being investigated for rape but failed to name Bill Shorten although there is nothing to stop them from doing so.
Given Mr Shorten’s position as a potential Prime Minister every Australian has a right to know about the police investigation and we should expect a fully detailed explanation from Mr Shorten immediately. Failing that he should resign. His current tactics of hiding behind a lawyer and barrister will not do.
The average person can and do get named by the media all the time when serious allegations are made against them and even more so when the police are investigating. So what makes Bill Shorten so special?
Background
The alleged victim started looking for help online in about mid-September which seems to have started on Kevin Rudd’s Facebook page where she wrote the below:
(Click here to see it on Kevin Rudd’s site. Screen grab)
I have not named the alleged victim as I do not feel there is any need to, not because of any legal restrictions. From what I can tell she went online looking for help and has decided to stop talking to the media and to leave it in the hands of the Victorian police after making a formal complaint.
On November the 14th 2013 The Australian broke the story in an article titled “ALP figure faces 80s rape claim” which said:
“A SENIOR Labor figure is under investigation by Victoria Police after it was alleged he raped a teenager at an event organised by the party’s youth wing in the 1980s.”
“The alleged victim, who cannot be named, claims the assault took place during an overnight camp organised by the “Vanguard” movement of the state’s Young Labor party and held in Portarlington, near Geelong.”
“The woman, a community nurse who now lives on the NSW central coast, last month made a formal complaint to Victoria Police. The complaint was assessed before the decision was made to launch an investigation.”
“Lawyers for the man said last night the “unsubstantiated claims date back almost 30 years and they have never previously been raised with him”.” (Click here to read more)
Other media that day ran with same story and referenced The Australian. The Australian wrote a follow-up article the next day titled “Tanya Plibersek backs full 80s rape probe” which starts off:
“THE deputy leader of the federal Labor Party, Tanya Plibersek, has said she fully supports the police investigation of a senior party figure after it was alleged the man raped a teenager at a holiday complex during the 1980s.” and “Tony Abbott has also said he supports the police investigation. “If something has happened, let it be looked into and treated as it should be by the relevant authorities,” the Prime Minister told Melbourne radio station 3AW yesterday.” (Click here to read more)
While the Australian did not name Shorten they did drop a very big hint. They pointed out in one article that it was not Kevin Rudd being investigated and they asked the Deputy Leader of the ALP, Tanya Plibersek, her viewpoint and PM Tony Abbott his opinion, but not the ALP leader Bill Shorten. It is not that hard for the reader to work out that The Australian is pointing the finger at Bill Shorten.
The alleged victim did make a number of other comments on Facebook such as the one below:
The allegations are detailed, so at the very least the alleged victim does seem to know Bill Shorten and Bill Shorten has not denied knowing the victim. Bill Shorten has also not denied having sex with the victim.
Bill Shorten
Bill Shorten and his advisors have and are working overtime behind the scenes to close this story down and I know because Shorten has form on the board for doing exactly that. In May 2012 Mr Shorten moved to close down a rumour that was spreading widely in Canberra and on the Internet and I wrote a post titled “Has Bill Shorten gotten one of his staff members Pregnant? Shorten calls the lawyers.” which starts off:
“The rumour mill has spread all over the net in the last few days that federal MP Bill Shorten has gotten one of his staff members pregnant. Bill Shorten says he has taken legal advice.” (Click here to read more) Bill Shorten and his wife Chloe Bryce did an interview to deny the rumour but never said what the rumour was. It was a big talking point in the media about how stupid it was because how can you deny something if you do not say what you are denying. The net effect is Mr Shorten did not deny anything. It was clearly designed to close down other media reports by the implied threat that Mr Shorten has called his lawyer.
I think Bill Shorten’s career is over. It is just a matter of time. He has handled this very poorly and had no option but to call a press conference when the allegations first surfaced and deal with them openly. To do what he has done seems like the actions of a guilty person in the same way that Rolf Harris tried to close down the media and he ended up looking guilty.
I could write a novel on Bill Shorten and his corrupt ways and have written plenty before (click here) but I will keep this post short and focused and do a follow-up post or two in the very near future.
Media
Everyone who has followed the story closely knows that it is Bill Shorten that is being investigated. The problem being that is has not received a lot of media coverage.
This is very much like the Rolf Harris media issue that this site covered back in March 2013. The story was all over Twitter that Rolf Harris had been arrested and interviewed by the British police but all the mainstream media would only say that it was an “82-year-old Australian entertainer” who was “from Berkshire”. (Click here to read the three posts that I wrote on the topic) There was no legal reason not to name Rolf Harris although some media said there was. After the story was far and wide on the Internet the British paper The Sun announced the “World Exclusive” and named Rolf Harris and other media around the world followed.
There is no legal reason not to name Bill Shorten and if the story takes the same course as Rolf Harris and spreads far and wide on the net then the mainstream media will have no option but to name Mr Shorten. Because every day they fail to name Mr Shorten they look dumber and dumber in front of their own readers.
Update: I have published two follow-up articles in relation to the above post which are:
“Bill Shorten refuses to answer media questions regarding alleged rape of 16-year-old girl” on the 11th December 2013 (Click here to read the article)
and “Bill Shorten and the Victoria Police rape investigation. Do we have a right to know?” on the 9th February 2014 (Click here to read the article)
I have contacted the Victoria police again and as of the 20th May 2014 they are still investigating. Their exact response is: “Police are investigating a report of an alleged historical sexual assault. As the matter is subject to an ongoing investigation, it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
I have set up a dedicated page for the police investigation with further information. It is titled: “Bill Shorten – Vic Police rape investigation” (Click here to go to the page)
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Categories: Bill Shorten, Tanya Plibersek
Please keep comments on topic of the above post. Thank You.
Hi Shane
Any further news on this matter?
As of 3 weeks ago the police said they were still investigating.
Thanks Shane,
I am very appreciative of you writing the above. I am so sick and tired of these people in high positions, thinking they can do whatever they like without consequences.
Hopefully, VicPol will come up with something soon, not as the other case we know, which has taken years and so far no consequences.
In this case, the victim has had to live with this for many years, I hate to think , if it was one of my daughters, it is cruel.
In this case
It is interesting to read your posts – so much information which, seemingly, only you uncover. There is another more serious side to this – what happened to our free press? There is apparently more media censorship going on in Australia today than there ever was in Soviet Russia!
As a citizen, and one who has put his life on the line to defend this country and its then principles, I am angry. All the so-called independent enquiries, committees, investigations etc spend much taxpayer money and even more time (of course at great rates of remuneration) to do virtually nothing other than quietly bury anything smelly in the “mates club” – particularly with the politicians.
We need to return full investigations to the various police forces AND provide set terms for Commissioners so that they will have the courage to resist political interference.
I feel so badly for this girl who has had to watch Shorten rise to power all the while keeping this very sad secret, being ignored when she has reached out for help and knowing the type of man he really is. Predators usually choose girls/women who they know they can intimidate into keeping quiet using the power of their position or circumstance. Now a mature aged woman I went through a similar thing when about the same age as this girl and to this day have only told 3 other people, my friend at the time who had to pick gravel out of my back and back of my head with tweezers that night, a boyfriend of 23 years and only recently my husband of 22 years. When I have thought back over that night I realise that other people (friends of his) were aware of the type of person he was and was capable of but instead of warning me kept quiet and I imagine this could well be the case here. I don’t doubt if the story about the staff member becoming pregnant is true there would have been much pressure and intimidation applied to do what was asked to cover. Men like tis think they are above the law not just legally but the law of what is acceptable behaviour in life. It is a huge Power trip for them.
No, nothing should be too old to bring up!
Look at the Catholics, school teachers, scout masters, they are being brought to justice years and year after the events some go back 50 yrs many good lives ruined, so why not the Unions and Politicians, but perhaps they were “young and naive”….tongue in cheek.
Well, what can I say, seems Billy boy has some serious skeletons to deal with, nothing new for a corrupt politician I guess.
We need to make sure we share KCA posts on social media. Not only is it informing people of what’s really going on. It’s not controlled by politicians and people in power. Having been through the the Gallagher Union days, I know the origins of a lot of ALP politicians. Back then I was a staunch labour voter. Haven’t been, since the mid 80s.
An ideal ALP (caucus) choice for leader it would appear.
I may be cynical, but I believe the political power and influence of Shorten himself, his union mates, but more importantly his mother in law will never see this poor excuse of a man take responsibility for his retrograde and disgusting behaviour. He will no doubt use the Julia Gillard defence that it ” happened so many years ago” as she was want to express constantly when questioned about the AWU affair.
I urge this lady to maintain the rage, to be strong and see this matter through to a conclusion, and to know there are decent men and women out there who abhor this predatory behaviour.
It will be interesting to observe whether Tanya Plibersek is a woman of her word and sees that the truth emerges and that justice be served if her colleague is guilty.
Excellent, may I say you have taken the words right out of my mouth. Regards Eric Shepherd
Thank you, Shane – as usual you’ve put us in the loop! Repeating what other posters have said on the subject – why has this not been seen on MSM? I’m sure we don’t all read “The Australian”, and if there weren’t so many hypocrites in the media these days, we should have heard plenty about it! This little chappie has dodged the bullet too many times already, so I hope the Vic police can put the little worm back under his stone! He’s certainly no leader – just a cardboard cutout with lying lips!
Thanks Shane, for keeping us informed of news that is blocked by Leftist media. It’s time the justice dept. , media and police got their act together with all the “alleged” Labor corruption that allows the ALP to keep criminals in their party.
They are detailed allegations aren’t they. Not something so easily made up as regards locations, times etc. The uncorroborate-able parts could be made up though, and Shorten was no doubt a target for revenge among some inside the “broad church” that is the ALP so a disinformation type attack is possible.
On balance, she has no witness to the actual events, no possibility of an admission from Bill and a lot of time having elapsed. I don’t like her chances, even though she may well be speaking the truth. Labor certainly has form for enabling these kinds of individuals, as we’ve seen this last few years, but its going to be hard for her to gain any traction on this. They’ll probably just ignore her, at least for now.
Paul, In my previous post I said this in relation to Father Finian Egan “Mr Egan was found guilty this month (4/11/13) of rape and indecent assault of three girls from 1961 to 1987.”
So while you do make some valid points and cases that do date back 10 or 20 years or longer are hard to prove, it can happen. As Finian Egan has found out and will find out further next month at his sentencing. So I think Bill Shorten does have plenty to worry about if he is guilty.
THERE IS SOMETHING SINISTER GOING ON WITH THE MAJORITY OF THE AUSTRALIAN MEDIA.
TONY ABBOTT CANNOT MOVE WITHOUT THE MEDIA SCREAMING BLUE MURDER.
One just has to remember the furore from the leftist press and the A(LP)BC over Abbott’s (alleged) punching if a wall. Obviously far more serious than rape.
This is unbelievable Shane. The Australian media yet again doing another “Rolf Harris”. Why are they protecting these “big names” when lesser known people are always named in any type of crime?. Geez if this is all true about what Bill Shorten did in 1986 (I believe it is), Shorten is worse than a grub. I hope that Mr Shorten will never be prime minister ever, full stop.
Bill Shorten should not be allowed to work with children until he is cleared of any wrong doing
PAUL,THE POLICE WOULD NOT INVESTIGATE UNLESS THEY WERE SATISFIED THERE WAS SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE TO DO SO.
I think they are required these days to look into every claim of rape, regardless of the quality of the available immediate evidence. Years of advocacy and activism on behalf of victims has led to this being how they do things these days. Previously Police & the Law were forever accused of not taking rape seriously and of blaming the victim. If this is a political op against Shorten then the presence of the accusation is all that’s needed, and if its a true allegation then its still going to be hard to prove. I wish her luck either way.
Actually, the Police investigate to gather evidence (if it exists). If they believe that they have sufficient evidence to mount a case, they consult the Director of Public Prosecutions, who then decides whether charges will be laid. Police are duty bound to investigate all allegations of rape. Your inference that the Police believe that Shorten has raped this woman and are therefore investigating him, is wrong.
In this case, as a previous submitter stated, there is no physical evidence, no corroborative evidence and Shorten will deny involvement. Unless the complainant has a smoking gun, it is very unlikely that anything will come of this. Finally, there is always the possibility that this is a vexacious, politically motivated complaint, a la Ashbygate, and is something that the investigating officers will be mindful of.
Why doesn’t this surprise me?? Shorten is a turncoat grub and always has been..
I think for the victims sake she has the right to stay anonymous until she is ready to declare herself. Please do not name victims, it just puts her in danger of Labor heavies retribution bullying and threats.
Slowly but surely small pieces are being revealed about the sort of people who hijacked our country.
And slowly but surely the main stream media are also exposing themselves as part of this criminal, corrupt, slimy and secretive bunch.
When is an honest authority going to bring the Sword of Damoclese down on the heads of Shorten and his ilk. Thieving, lying and feral people. I had a small business in construction in Victoria during the era of the Gallagher Mob and never did succumb to their union bully-boy tactics and threats to me and my family. I was hoping that one day the truth would arise, thanks Shane for your exposing articles on the destroyers of honest, hard-working individuals.
See “Bill Shorten Wikipedia”. They are deleting any reference to this allegation. He must have a staffer as one of the wikipedia controllers
Brilliant find Adrian.
The more we discover and document their cover-ups, the more we expose about their corrupt activities and eventually turn the tide against them.
Here we go with “short willy” again. He’s always been a keen pants man and the ultimate power seeker/broker. The media in this country are pathetic and time and again we only get half-truths and garbage.
Interesting isn’t it how these grubs always end up in the Labor party, what we have here is a creep who covered up the AWU scandal,got Gillard off the hook with other big Labor names, and now we have a grub who could be the prime minister with a possible rape charge on the horizon, what a pleasant out look in our political system keep up the good work Shane, you will make a few enemies but a lot of friends. Allan from MyalupWA.
I totally agree with “Disgusted”….Abbott cannot move in any direction without most of the media giving him a hard time. (Moderator: Rest deleted as off topic)
Hi Shane, Not a good article to run I believe. Naming,shaming and calling for his resignation before the police investigation is disgraceful. As much as I don’t think much of Shorten this allegation sounds a bit dodgy to me. I also don’t think the media is being censored here just being responsible.
Sorry but don’t agree. If it’s good enough for others, it’s good enough for Shorten to be actually named, in my opinion. He’s got so many “dodgy” strikes against his name it’s not funny …and why should he be protected just because he’s the opposition leader. You can bet your bottom dollar that if it had been Abbott, the press would have had a field day already…I guarantee it!
Rape is said to be a crime of power rather than a sex crime and we know what lengths Shorten will go to for power and so do a couple of people with knife wounds in their backs!
Well said Warren. Can’t stand the grub, but the MSM is just acting responsibly given the current weight of evidence.
So Jock, what you are saying is that if the police are investigating that is not good enough for the media to report it. From what you say, that firstly the media need to look at the evidence and decide if they believe there is a prima facie case before they report it. If that was the case there “Jock” I do not think any crimes would be reported as most journalists are not lawyers and would not want to take the risk. And we wonder why there is so much corruption out there.
Warren and Jock, Shane is not making allegations he’s stating the facts – that Shorten is under investigation. Abbott was vilified for a couple of weeks for the allegation of hitting a wall as a 19 yr old uni student, although there were no witnesses. Assorted MSM ran this day in and day out ‘in the public interest’ even though there was nothing in it.
In contrast, what’s the bigger story? Unsubstaniated allegation by a Labor left female of an opposition leader hitting a wall many years ago?
Or allegation by a Labor left female of an opposition leader raping a 16 year old many years ago? In this case the young female teenager confided at the time to a friend namimg Shorten. The then-friend has confirmed this to police.
The other point of difference is the allegaed wall-hitter was not the subject of a police investigation. The allegaed rapist is under investigation.
That makes it news worthy and ‘in the public interest’.
Precisely! Seems nobody in the MSM has the courage to report factual information – great on speculation though! Once upon a time they’d have been seen to be “convenient idiots”!
No wonder he looks so miserable all the time with all these skeletons coming out of the cupboard. I wonder too if he’ll try to use the “It was all so long ago so how is this relevant now” approach like Julia Gillard and the AWU scandal.
It goes to show you can run, but you can’t hide and your past eventually catches up with you….
People are saying, “why wait so long?” But stop for a moment and look at the ladies profession. A nurse, more likely than not a member of the HSU. And therefore under the gaze of Bill’s buddy Michael. Perhaps now that the HSU has been exposed ripping off the members she finally got the courage to come forward without fear of the union coming after her.
A rhetorical question, why no mention of this in the main stream media? Other posters are correct if this was Tony Abbott it would be splashed everywhere.
Shane you seem to have a few people in your readership who think the MSM have a responsible streak, that’s a laugh they are just scared they will upset the Labor mob. The latest releases from the Guardian and ABC does not imply a responsible trend. I hope the cop’s are not too scared to proceed with the Shorten allegations both AWU and the young labor members rape allegations. Allan from Myalup WA
If this is true Shorten has No empathy. Ivan Milat committed Rape and evolved into a killer. If Shorten committed rape in 1986 what has he evolved too – Hitler?
The Australian Bill Clinton?
Wow. I find it incredible that the vast majority of you think an accusation amounts to someone being guilty. There is also the hypocrisy of the author thinking they are being respectful by naming the accused but not the accuser. If all it takes is an accusation then we are living in a terrible society.
One tends to have a rather jaded opinion re social justice after seeing so much hypocrisy displayed by the rich and “famous” in recent years! Smoke = fire? Walks like a duck?
I wonder if the police will search his house like the UK police has just done with Sir Cliff Richards (allegation only so far). Rolf Harris might have to council little willy
Cliff Richard, no evidence only accusations but all over the World’s media. Bill Shorten? And by the way he’s saying nothing!
Where there’s smoke there’s fire. This story is on the news right now 21 Aug 2014. So i guess it won’t go away.
I don’t like little Billy, but allegation of rape over thirty years ago?? Give us a break!
Doesn’t matter if it was thirty years ago or yesterday, it would seem investigations have been a bit light on, and is his word enough to justify no further action? Why should the little grub be enabled in the manner he always seems to be! He’s never responsible for anything that even sniffs of being criminal, and according to news just in he’s talked his way out of yet ANOTHER scandal!
I cannot abide that grub Shorten…how does he get away with it Shane??
Let’s hope the lady involved who must be in her mid 40’s will have the strength to come forward and state her case. It would be just wonderful if we could put this creep behind bars for a long time!….I am praying very hard!!
The elapse of 30 odd years didn’t help Rolf Harris much, did it?
I see in the media the police have decided there is no case to answer. Your thoughts?
Loved Bill Shorten’s comment – to paraphrase – I could keep quiet about this but that is not me. How blankety blank long has he sat back and just hoped it would go away? It also amused me that he made the big announcement that he is, in fact, the senior labor figure….as if the world didn’t know! He will get away with this – unless the poor girl involved refuses to quit but nevertheless, mud sticks.
Not “no case to answer’ but ‘unlikely to get conviction’
Isnt that the result ?
Yes and it does not mean it did not happen. It will be interesting to see what the victim does now and if she has another witness and declares this now that Shorten denies the allegation. If this happened it could get messy.
first julia taking union cash now bill is a rapist, oh sorry, allegedly
I do NOT support Abbott and will NOT vote for him. I will NOT vote LNP.
The reason for me contacting you:
I cannot vote for Bill Shorten because of the rape question. I have NO faith in the police.
Labor NEEDS a new leader. Bill Shorten was always too weak and now this rape question will destroy Labor.
Agree with you. But the next leader of the Labor Party has to be in the mold of Ben Chifley a “WORKING CLASS MAN” & not a lawyer or academic & most important an “INCORRUPTIBLE” man!
This should be a warning to parents about allowing children to attend so called youth camps with people who have not had police checks. Does the ALP still hold youth camps I wonder and is the victim still a member of the ALP?
I would say, with reservation. YES to both questions!
Despite your weak statement on TV yesterday Mr Shorten I don’t think that this matter will go away. The facts are that everyone knows about the allegation now and not just KCA readers. Interesting that KCA was not mention in the TV news only the words “social media” were used.
I can’t be the only person who finds it strange that this woman would go to social media first rather than the police.
A lot of victims of abuse by priests and others do not say anything for 10, 20 or 30 years because they are too scared. That does not mean they are lying, they just need the right time and support before they do come forward as the Royal Commission into child abuse and recent court cases have shown. So nothing strange about using social media at all. Just looks like she was looking for support before she went to the police which she did do.
Did anyone ever think the Police would lay charges. If he had of been Tony Abbott or a member of the Liberal Party it would have been all over the media. They would have been charged and ordered to resign and no doubt get a prison term. Should be an enquiry as why it was dropped.
I certainly agree with that comment. Tony Abbott only has to wink, and the media want to crucify him.
And Australians should be very angry that the media have stated that Shorten has been cleared. He has NOT been cleared by anyone and that is a fact.
Let us be quite clear what the Victorian Police said about the Shorten rape investigation. They have said that because there is no reasonable prospect of conviction the case would not proceed. They did not say that Shorten had been cleared which is a different thing entirely.
Precisely. How many guilty people get off serious charges in this modern age, when smart lawyers challenge past evidence of an offence allegedly committed many years ago. The fact that no reasonable prospect of conviction is the reason for not proceeding, and the likelihood of the charge against him not being proven beyond all reasonable doubt, is something that the intelligent voter will consider when making their own judgement as to what young “Billy Boy” got up to way back when, and will still be enough for most people to decide what type of a person Bill Shorten really is. Especially whenever he continues to bag Tony Abbott with total disrespect at every opportunity.
Rape victim Kathy was on Ch 10 News tonight
Shorten deceptively said that the Victorian Police had cleared him. This was a lie, all they said that at the moment they did not have enough evidence to convict.
This young woman has made a serious claim against Bill shorten She has every right to have her claim tested in a court of law……………..not to have it overlooked because ‘it would be difficult to resolve’