Bill Shorten named himself as the suspect in the Victoria police rape investigation at 3pm on Thursday the 21st August. Just over an hour later at 4.15pm the same day ALP Vice President Tony Sheldon denied in a very aggressive manner that Bill Shorten was the suspect in the rape investigation, as the below video shows. That raises a lot of questions that Bill Shorten and the Labor Party need to answer.
How did Tony Sheldon’s lie happen or does he really expect us to believe he knew nothing? Mr Sheldon had been in the witness stand at the Trade Union Royal Commission for 2 hours and was not aware that Bill Shorten named himself. So Mr Sheldon stuck to the Labor Party strategy of lying and denying Bill Shorten was a rape suspect.
In this post we look at evidence of the cover-up by the Labor Party and Bill Shorten which has been happening for the last 10 months and which only changed at the last-minute when they knew the cover-up would not work.
Background
In September 2013 the rape allegation surfaced on Facebook and the police started investigating in October 2013. The Australian and other media reported the police investigation but did not name Shorten. They only mentioned that a “senior Labor figure” was under investigation.
The name of the “senior Labor figure” was freely available on Twitter but had not gone viral on social media. I published my first post on the matter on the 29th November 2013 titled “Bill Shorten accused of raping 16-year-old girl in 1986. Victorian police are investigating“. (Click here to read) It received a lot of traffic and other sites picked up on it. I followed up with another 6 posts on the topic between then and last week. During that time I set up a specific page for the Bill Shorten police rape investigation with all the information and links. (Click here to read) The story kept spreading on social media and was never going to go away.
The story picked up in the last week when News Corp ran a story on it which did not name Shorten but did the next best thing and basically said Google the story and you will find the name. I published a post last Sunday titled “News Corp out Labor leader Bill Shorten as suspect in rape investigation by Victoria police” (Click here to read)
The story was getting plenty of traffic and time on social media. Then on Thursday morning (21/8/14) it was reported in The Australian that the police would not charge Bill Shorten. (Click here to read)
Press Conference
Bill Shorten had a press conference at 3pm on Thursday the 21st of August 2014 and outed himself as the suspect that had been investigated for rape. The investigation started in October 2013. (Click here to read more)
The video
Tony Sheldon ducked and weaved hard and fast in the video below to my question about the rape investigation. He looked very dodgy and was clearly still in cover-up mode which the Labor Party had been in for 10 months regarding the rape allegation and police investigation.
(Click anywhere on the above video to watch)
Sheldon only changed his tune when I kept on saying Shorten had outed himself and that it was all over the internet. Sheldon would have then realised it was probably true that Shorten had named himself given that the it was in the news that morning that the police would not charge the “senior Labor figure” for rape. And Sheldon would have had to have known that is was Bill Shorten under investigation for the 10 months. To deny it as Sheldon did in the video is a joke given he is the VP of the Labor Party and everyone in the party knew as did plenty of social media users.
The video with Tony Sheldon will send a shiver down the spine of all Labor Party politicians. Because they will know that if they are asked about the rape and stuff up they will make the situation worse. They cannot all say nothing forever, to do so just undermines the credibility of the whole Labor Party each and every time one of them refuses to answer legitimate questions. Someone will let slip something somewhere and make things worse. They will all be under extreme pressure until Bill Shorten resigns or is removed. The Australian public and social media users are not stupid and will keep on asking questions until we get the answers.
Bill Shorten said in his press conference on Thursday that “The easy option would be to say nothing, but that is not who I am”. (Click here to read More) Well why didn’t he say anything for 10 months? I emailed him some questions on the 11th December 2013 and he refused to answer. (Click here to read) I also phoned and emailed his office with questions a couple of months ago and again no response.
The following day on Friday the 22nd of August 2014 Bill Shorten was in Melbourne doing a press conference and Bill Thompson asked Mr Shorten a question as per the below video.
(Click anywhere on the above video to watch)
Bill Thompson who is retired and a social media journalist previously asked Bill Shorten on video about the rape a month ago which I published in a post. (Click here to go to the post) In the above video Mr Shorten is refusing to answer questions by the mainstream media in Melbourne about the rape investigation and Mr Thompson asks Bill Shorten:
“Daniel Andrews (he leader of the Victoria Labor Party and possible Premier at the next state election at the end of this year) said he is going to have a Royal Commission into violence against women if he is elected, do you think they should look at this issue?
Bill Shorten responded: “I have said all I am going to say on the matter. The police have done their job and I intend on drawing a line under the matter.”
The Bill Shorten and Labor Party strategy
Bill Shorten is driving the strategy and the cover-up would have continued if it had not been for social media. The reason it would have continued is because Bill Shorten had success in covering up rumours that he had an affair and impregnated one of his staff members in 2012. Bill Shorten did an interview with the Herald Sun newspaper in Melbourne, denying the rumour without saying what the rumour was and that was it. No other media touched it. I wrote a post at the time titled “Has Bill Shorten gotten one of his staff members Pregnant? Shorten calls the lawyers.“ (Click here to read) So he is trying the same strategy now.
The strategy might have worked last time but Bill Shorten was only a minister then. It won’t work this time because he is running for Prime Minister and also because social media is powerful enough now to drive the story if the mainstream media do not, as it has just proven it can do.
If Bill Shorten and the Labor Party lie and cover-up the police investigation into rape which they clearly have for 10 months, would they also lie about the rape?
Shorten was not cleared of rape. That is a fact.
Bill Shorten has not been cleared of rape. The Director of Public Prosecutions in Victoria decided they did not think they would get a conviction. If Bill Shorten wants to be Prime Minister it should have gone to trial as far as I am concerned because all it has done is leave a huge question mark. He has not been cleared of anything. The DPP never said they think he is innocent, just that they do not think they will get a conviction.
Why Bill Shorten won’t survive.
Bill Shorten failed crises management 101 and can’t survive. He might be around another month or two or at best he might stay until Christmas. Then he will be forced to go after Christmas whether he likes it or not.
Why? Because even if people don’t worry about the issue much now, every voter will have to decide at the next election campaign whether or not they are prepared to vote for someone who refuses to answer questions or give a detailed account of what happened and who may be guilty of rape.
If you go to a job interview and tell the employer “I am not going to answer any questions, just make a short statement”. What are the chances of getting the job? I would say zero. Yet Bill Shorten and the Labor Party want us to give him the job of Prime Minister when he will not answer questions and only make a short statement in regards to the rape allegations.
Social Media
It is social media that has driven the reporting of this issue and if you look at the two videos above it is social media that is continuing to have the best coverage on the issue. I wrote a post on the 21th July titled “Social media rises. Bill Shorten interview regarding Vic police rape investigation” (Click here to read) and that is exactly what happened on Thursday when it came to a head. Even the ABC admitted that in part where they said:
“the police have been conducting the inquiry over the last 10 months. Now all the while, allegations have continued to swirl on social media and it has been known in political circles as well.” (Click here to read more)
People who have used social media to drive the issue and supporters of this site who have promoted the posts can take some pride in knowing that you have helped in making this issue known to all Australians. Bill Shorten has stuck his hand up to be Prime Minister and we have a right to know. Without your support and work most Australians might never have known.
Shorten and the Labor Party have to give a fully detailed explanation. Anything will cost them dearly at the next election. Refusing to give a fully detailed explanation is normally the action of guilty people, as they know that if they give a detailed account of what happened they might get caught out lying, so they are better off saying nothing.
As far as the media is concerned it is just a matter of keep asking questions. Simple questions will do. The same as I asked Tony Sheldon because their response says a lot and is very telling for the viewer. The matter will end up growing as big as the Craig Thomson matter, if not bigger. And as with Craig Thomson, it will only end when Bill Shorten leaves parliament, which will probably be sooner rather than later.
This website is independent and reliant on donations to keep publishing. If you would like to support the continuance and growth of this site it would be greatly appreciated if you make a donation. Click on the button below to donate via PayPal or go to the donations page for other donation options (Click here to go to the Donations page)
If you would like to follow this site by free email notification you can at the top right of this page and about twice a week you be notified when there is a new post on this site.
Please use the Twitter, Facebook and email etc. buttons below and help promote this post.
Thank you for your support.