Imagine in this age of instant gratification, having to wait for something, anything for 45 years. Then think what it must be like to have to wait so long for something as fundamental as the truth.
Former Victoria Police detective, Denis Ryan, turned 86 last month.
In 1972, he was forced out of the Victoria Police Force after trying to bring the pedophile priest, Monsignor John Day, to justice.
Forty years later, Denis came to my home and together we wrote the book of that appalling story, Unholy Trinity: The Hunt for the Pedophile Priest Monsignor John Day”.
At the time I cautioned Denis about setting his expectations too high. The subject material of the book was so disturbing I doubted it would be a bestseller. To publisher Allen & Unwin’s credit they published anyway.
Full; column published here.
The $2.5billion Turnbull has spent on consultants (The Terror) is an outright rort when public servants could have done the job much cheaper. Where did most of that money go? To Liberal mates. This is reminiscent of the $2billion Howard spent on advertising to prmote himself mainly. N o wonder they have tripled the deficit.
The man is doing his job. Transferring the wealth from the workers to the looters.
Give ’em heaps BASSMAN.
Lots iwf public servants down here, JB.
From my observations amongst acquaintances they make someone redundant (and this was happening when Labor/Greens were in power too) and then rehire the same person as a consultant. So money going to the same person, but more of it!! Of course, the person involved thinks it’s a great idea.
The only thing I could think of was that they were trying to make the wages section of the P&L, and B/Sheet leave accrual. look better and hide the expense elsewhere
Been going on for years Bassy. That’s how the place operates. Often these people are public servants who took a package and have to be rehired on contract. Or sometimes they’re me. Keeps the APS numbers looking low too.
I admit Labot do it but the never come near the Looters in expenditure. Just look at all of those who lost their seat at the last election. Tbull has given most of them $300k gigs. Soapy Mirabella, Peter Hendy etc
They all do it Bassy. Take the blinkers off
over 45 appointments in the hours before going into caretaker mode before the last election all on massive $ money.
75% increase in cost of consultants since coalition elected. J
You either employ Public Servants or consultants. It’s a smoke and mirrors game. Australians cannot have it both ways. The Liberals believe private enterprise is the answer, Labor a larger Public Service. The answer, as usual, is somewhere in the middle.
75% increase. That is no where near the middle ground. the coalition are NOT better economic managers. Stop lying to yourselves and the Australian people.
Did you actually read my post idiot? Or did you just assume once again?
You should probably read your own comments they were “The answer, as usual, is somewhere in the middle.” My response 75% more is NOT middle of the road. Once again you have to use vitriolic attacks ” idiot” when you are proven to be wrong. Talk about a “little” issue. HAHAHAHA. No Surprises.
Anyone watch that program on SBS Sunday night about exploring the pyramids using muography?
Holy smoke, fascinating. The equipment was impressive. How can anyone be that brainy to work it all out? Even more confusing than the current unmentionable 😱
They think they may have discovered a big secret chamber. How exciting that will be – if it hasn’t been looted.!
cant live up to that…sorry
If it has, B’MAN will find a way to blame it on the Liberals.
U need to listen to Mathias and Dutts. When asked a question by Fran the other morning he mentioned “Bill Shorten” 6 times in just a couple of sentences. No one blames like the blamers.
Bliss! Fran is on holiday and we have Hamish McDonald filling in.
A much better interviewer and so much easier to listen to
Oops must have been PK
Yet another mantra from the verbal three-word slogan kings; “It’s Labors fault.”
The sun rises in he east….it’s Labors fault….😩
That’s funny, TBLS!
Find a way? It will be sticking out like dog’s balls.
Ahem! On Bella’s topic. I saw a piece on it and they think that there may be no entrance to the space. Whatever, it’s just a case of good ole geophysics.
Was my topic Triv. I thought they had found the entry higher up the pyramid?
When I was in public service I did a little work in a peripheral role supporting Queensland Police Taskforce Argos. Argos is a direct and emphatic repudiation of the culture of Victoria Police in the 1960’s and ’70’s, as detailed by Jack and Denis in Unholy Trinity.
When you read about international paedophile investigations it is truly amazing how often Argos and Queensland Police get a mention in playing a role – often a leading role – in busting these criminal groups. It is an example of how police can, as the Vicpol motto tells it, ‘Uphold the Right’.
I have an immense amount of admiration for these folks. They look at things daily that you and I wouldn’t want to look at ever in our lives.
There was a very interesting story, quite recently, TBLS, of those in the task force who have to go undercover, sometimes for years to catch those at the top of these paedophilia networks.
It takes a huge emotional toll on these people – and also raises the question of whether working with these criminals, thereby possibly harming more victims in order to get into the network, is ethical. That, of course, makes it all the more stressful. It was a very interesting report.
If you can steer me towards that report I’d love to read it.
There was a fellow from the AFP I worked alongside for about a year who did a posting with the FBI, working on online paedophilia. It certainly was a grim time for him.
As I recall it was a feature article in the Weekend Australian Magazine, TBLS.
But this was some while ago.
I’ll see what I can sleuth out!
all i got
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/oct/07/australian-police-sting-brings-down-paedophile-forum-on-dark-web
Link up above TBLS. May be about the same guy you refer to. I’m sure read it more recently than 2008 (but time does fly) – they may have republished it
But it’s the one I was thinking of for sure
i couldnt do it … no hope
The way Turnbullbull is carrying on with China the whole thing resembles a reversion to Menzies Yellow Peril and is very foolish-of course the BIG SCARE never happened and was never gonna happen but it was good for conning the people into Menzian election wins. Turnbull is sabre rattling to solve his domestic political problems more than anything else and to divert attention from the shocking job he has done on unemployment and the economy…what would he do if China turned off the money tap in retaliation? The economy would go into recession and domestically he too would be stuffed.This bloke lacks political nouse. We should be VERY kind as we feed from Chinas rice bowl Bald….amazed no hack has written a column along these lines yet. No, we really shouldn’t be pulling faces at China. I think the Looters inflated sense of importance, comes into play here. We’re really just a mouse playing near the feet of a bloody big lion.
Of much more concern than Dystari’s aside is the fact that Turnbull has let the Chinese take over the port of Darwin for yonks. The Americans were totally against this. Then there is the Chinese Telco Enice which has its antennas on the top of thousands of buildings all over the country. Much more scope for eavesdropping and surveillance than an overheard conversation with Dasty. By the way, it looks like the Americans are plugging into our phone conversations. They often brag they can.
I grinned observing the Looters hugging and kissing each other after charging us over $100million for something we already knew the answer to as if it was all their work when actually they were dragged kicking ad screaming to the table. No, in 2015 Shorten put up a Bill for SSM but no Looters turned up. Those across the other side did not turn up for work like Abbott and his gutless mates the other day.
Way too long, Bassman
Oh come on Bassy.
Labor had the chance to bring in SSM when they were in power. Even Ms Wong was against it then.
Shorten did everything he could to sabotage it – and is now doing the good old victory lap. True to form. Even brown-nosing the nay sayers.
$100mill is nothing in the grand scheme of things. Petty cash really.
Dastyari is a worry. Needs to go.
No Boa,you really do need to do more research on this….oh and btw that is not being patronising, it’s just asking you to read further into it than just NewsCorp….OK? Have a look at what your Turnbull did when all this came into play.
Come on Penny.
NewsCorp is not that biased.
I have to agree with Boa on this one.
HAHAHAHA JS your echo chamber is showing again
”Your Turnbull”? Not ”my” Turnbull Penny. Sorry. I don’t support either side of politics. These days I merely observe
and comment…
Well yes, of course, smoke.
Yvonne you have some serious short term memory issues.
Penny, Gillard had the opportunity and squibbed it. The facts are the facts. Simple reason is old Joe De Bruyn, head of the shoppies Union was dead set against it and Julia needed his support to survive. Gillard, Wong and the whole lot of them played politics. Their recent stance considering the opportunity they had is dreadful. It took a Coalition government to get SSM in. Just like the end to the White Australia policy, Australia’s first Aboriginal Federal Politician, Australia’s first female Federal cabinet member and the list goes on. The so called progressives aren’t really that progressive.
Australians can thank Abbott that we have ssm. 6 yrs under Rudd/Gillard and nothing. Labor did all it could to scupper the plebiscite (which it did) and malign the postal survey. Due to the nature of the postal survey (and it may have been the same via a plebiscite) those who in favour of ssm had a truly historic occasion to celebrate and clearly assert that the Australian voter was as one with their rights. I suggest the same euphoria would not have been achieved by a sterile act of parliament.
And yes, the hypocrisy of Shorten/Plibersek in photo grabs and sound bites due to the result is shameless.
The postal survey turned out to be a huge success Milton. Much to Shorten’s dismay I would imagine. The people got involved – and loved it.
Most importantly, a lot of young people signed up to the voters roll – which is a good thing – they learnt how powerful their vote could be instead of just not bothering.
It was interesting, after the event, to watch Shorten try to take ownership of something he ranted against from beginning to end!
$100 million for something that should have been done in 5 minutes on the floor of parliament. you begrudge the poorest getting every cent and claim this expensive divisive farce to calm the right wing freaks in the coalition is a success? You need help
If it could have been done in 5 minutes why didn’t Gillard do it?
The Looters have appointed the new head of the National Regulator of Charities & he’s a proven anti-charity campaigner who has said in the past that governments “should punish environmental campaigners”.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-07/governments-new-charity-commissioner-will-silence-the-sector/9237432
This is a badly disguised attempt to thwart & silence movements like Get-Up, the Unions & other environmental organisations.
What a vile dictator-style government we’re lumped with.
Frack off Turnbull I say.
Churches, Unions and charities who have paid administrators should all be taxed.
Sometime in the not too distant future Bassy, this country will be tested.
The economic screws will be put on by China and we then will have a choice – roll over and gradually watch our freedom as an independent country and then individual freedoms be eroded or stand up and take an economic hit.
By the way, China put the screws on South Korea last year = South Korea did not budge and China quietly lifted them a little while back.
I saw the end of being a British Colony, lived through the rather benign US supremacy and I will be damned if my grandchildren will live in a Chinese vassal state.
China is a totalitarian state that regularly suppresses the freedoms that you take for granted Bassman – I suggest you think it through without your anti-US bias.
Paranoid bollocks.
Why wouldn’t the Chinese be the same benign supremacist as you claim the US has been. We’ve been belly up and obsequiously obliging to the carpetbaggers since the European invasion.
Why would the Chinese need to change anything?
Having said that, I must congratulate you on your heroic declaration vis a vis your grandchildren!
The Communists will be nervously reconsidering their planned strategy for relationships with Australia this morning I reckon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxa3mNrEmkY
Crap JB!
Typical of the colonial attitude that has been rampant in this country for the last 200 years.
Your argument is based on the spurious technique that this is the way it has always been so therefore it must be right.
The use of “European Invasion” says a lot about your affinity with the country and the society that you live in.
There are lots of reasons why the Chinese will be different to the US – for one they are a totalitarian government without the checks and balances of the western democracies – that system of government that allows you to criticize anything – well it use to before PC became rampant.
Meanwhile in the real world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_military_operations
https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Few-Michael-Parenti/dp/0495911267
To have a desirable “affinity” with this nation requires sanitizing history does it?
I’ll pass on the “affinity” if that’s the case.
JS get of the gear your paranoia is laughable.
It’s an interesting fact that when the Left is cornered on a subject they resort to words like Paranoia.
There is absolutely nothing in it for the government to restrict China and other countries from peddling influence in this country for pure political reasons.
After all, they are only copying Chinese legislation. – why should you object unless you see something in it for the Left.
I think it is the Left that is playing politics with this subject Dismal.
JS you are delusional.
Please Dismayed, another f in off.
offff? Whats offf?
Groan! When will you get it.The Looters govern via fear…fear of China, fear of refugees, fear of debt (which they have new records for), fear of terrorism, fear of war….yet they promote all of the fear themselves.Their elections are always fear-based, kids oboard, depicting hapless refugees as terrorists and carriers of disease.The Looters are not into nation building….never have been.It is always about ‘the next election’.Their greatest fear is themselves as they tear themselves to pieces feeding off their own hate and hypocrisy.
Freakin’ fabulous post Bassy.
Sums that self-serving lot up perfectly.
This girl’s impressed to bits…😏
Stop pulling out all those red herrings from the Menzies period Bassy.
It is nothing to do with fear of China – it is a realistic assessment of our part of the world and what big powers do to little powers if the latter is not nimble enough.
The reason why Labor supporters are so anti is that one of their elected members has been caught out big time with his hand in the till and the Libs are making hay while the sun shines.
You guys should be more careful with your selection process.
You are singing to the choir again my son
im scared of fear…jes can’t touch it
Hahaha smoke. I’ve got a mental picture of you as MC Hammer..Can’t Touch This…😁
Ah the good old days BASSMAN. Interminable rants from the PM and minions warning us against the evils of communism. Be afraid , be very afraid, be very very afraid and give no succour, not a whit of sustenance to them.
Now please Mr Mao sir, please buy our wheat. Lots of our wheat, please pretty please sir?
Bassman, Jean Baptiste etc – too true. Forget the old commie paranoia and be very afraid stuff peoples, that’s outdated, Climate Change is the new Red!
Yes, but the difference is that climate change is not confected, it is very real. We should be terrified but we are stupefied instead.
It’s all over bar the wailing. Unless some clever clogs comes up with a geo engineering miracle, we are dead.
The uber rich will live longer, they know what is happening, have done for two decades and they gather thee spondulicks while they may, for living on the planet is about to become very very expensive.
https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change-tipping-point-2170296371.html
What a superb series on SBS at present, Mr Insider, on the Vietnam War, directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. A disaster from go to woe it is sad so many lives were lost on all sides. I myself was called up for National Service in 1972 but Whitlam came in, cancelled Conscription and I never served a day but am humbled and grateful for all who did.
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/program/the-vietnam-war
It looks very good. Plan to watch it in demand tonight.
Yes really good HB. I particularly enjoyed the first episode on the past history leading up to the war.
It clashed with my current favourite series viz: Victoria on ABC – thank goodness for SBS on Demand!
Pity Henry. Might have knocked some sense into you.
dunno….. rooted everyone I know
And that’s for sure – they all paid a heavy price.
Triv – What!!! I was not in Australia at the time but it must have been traumatic for those Australians whose date of birth got them involved in somone else’s war. Many of the vets are still suffering.
They sure are Boadicea and sadly I know a few. Trivy hasn’t been any further than Manly so can be ignored. Bless all the Nashos . Cheers
Chortle, snigger. Very funny Trivalve, but a task as challenging for the Australian Army as succeeding in a blitzkrieg taking Moscow from a bridgehead in Vladivostok!
Give ’em heaps.
🙂
Your best post EVER Trivy buddy you have come a long way almost a full sentence your henry is proud of you. Cheers
Went over a couple of heads didn’t it Hazza.
We all should be grateful for those who did go to Vietnam. The people I know that did go came back totally different people. I have mentioned before a friend of mine the late Bill Nagle who write the book “The Odd Angry Shot” that was made into a movie starring Graeme Kennedy etc. Realistic, moving and straight to the point….you were fortunate Henry to have dodged the bullet, so to speak…
It’s interesting how that conflict affected different people. Our current GG was a rifleman in Vietnam who saw some very close action and appears to be a very functional person. I know a couple of vets, including one who won the Military Medal for his role in leading a successful action, and they are very impressive and together individuals. The same man who won the MM worked for Legacy for years and I asked him once why some men came out of combat deeply traumatised and others not. His answer was, we still don’t know. It’s a really interesting area of study. A mate who’s a psychologist once had a job offer to work on a study of PTSD and I think it was a real shame he passed it up.
we don’t know….ask them..they’ll tell ya
It was a horror time Henry. I remember that my parents were prepared to ‘shove this effing place, and go home’, if “they” (Australian gov) thought for one minute my brother was going to ‘piss-fart around in a chinky war’* We were only leasing the hotel at the time, is was exactly on the cards if ‘his ball came up’. Conscription is a disgusting thing, especially when its a political American war.
Lucky for me it didnt happen. I was allowed by fate to grow up in Australia. Life and death decided by bingo balls.
.
*quoting my Dad, if he offends any of y’all, bloody good job.
“Life and death decided by bingo balls”.
By the sound of it that’s exactly how it was wraith & I do wonder how many politicians then, if any, gave up their own sons to conscription if their dates were drawn.
blue Hanley copped it…naturalised…drafted…
One of the “regulars” down at my favourite coffee shop here, HB was a very well known cameraman who went along with Mike Willesee and the news crew and was right in the thick of things in the war – dropping out of helicopters and all that. Pretty heroic stuff. He’s been awarded an AOM for that and other important news reporting since.
I was chatting to him this morning. He has promised me he will sit down with me and give me the rundown. Agrees that the SBS program is very good. I am looking forward to hearing his stories in conjunction with the series. I’m sure it will be fascinating. He met many of the hierarchy on both sides – and pulled out a pic on his phone of himself with one of the Vietnam generals this morning!
selfies r aw sum
David Brill is a very nice person, smoke.
Modest. No selfies. In fact I have been chatting to him for years not knowing who he was – and he never broached the subject.
It was only after watching the Australian Story about Willesee that I saw my coffee friend feature prominently and asked him about it. He then offered to tell me his story, which will be very interesting, for sure
The ”selfie” you refer to is actually a press photograph taken at the time.
One hell of an Aussie Sporting Moment, Mr Insider, the year 2002 and Steven Bradbury wins Gold for Australia in the Ice Skating, proving the Underdog does have his or her day. You magnificent bastard Steven!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQpogZiN_R0
Well, yairs Henry to a point. The underdog will have it’s day, provided the favourite goes arse over kettle.
Mr Denis Ryan sacrificed his career for something far more important.
Certainly he’s a good man, a hero in my eyes and he should receive the maximum restitution with his full police pension restored.
JTI you are another good man for the crucial role you undertook.
That’s a good point too, Bella. There have been many reasonable comments about Denis deserving a gong of some kind but you’d have to say that Jack pushed that book out at a critical moment and added an important body of evidence to the Royal Commission. Unholy Trinity showed that the malfeasance went beyond those institutions whose members were directly responsible for child abuse and into a body whose members ideally would have been the first that victims should have been able to rely upon.
I’m glad that Graham Ashton has bitten the bullet and personally apologised to Denis and that Mick Miller is behind him, too. It restores a little faith. I recall that the occasion of the first official apology excluded all – including Jack – but a reporter from The Age. It would be gracious if Ashton would acknowledge Jack’s role, too.
Yes Bella indeed. You dont often trip over another human being that you can say “I am honoured and privileged to have come across you in life”. It is genuinely how I feel about our “Jack”. I also fully endorse your call for a full restitution of monies owed to Mr Denis Ryan, and a plaque, big bronzy and prominent, on how he fought for the truth to be out.
A big bronze plaque is the least they can do for Denis Ryan but how good would that be to forever honour his dedication to the many children he fought to save, no matter what forces conspired to stop him.
This is only going to get worse. That thing we can no longer talk about? The CBOE will start trading its derivatives. Aiyiyi!
Very volatile it seems, Dwight. I watched videos, read articles, listened to interviews with those in the know – and I still don’t get it 🙁
Tulips boa tulips! Go look it up on wiki. Its about to go ‘tulips up’.
Wish I understood it Wraith! One person I heard being interviewed reckons it may be mysterious to many now, but a bit like how the internet puzzled us all in the beginning, it will all be crystal clear one day.
Okay then, I’ll wait and see….
corzine must be chundering splinters
Derivatives? Daffodils?
Tulip Bulbs?
I tried to find out more about the 16th century ‘Tulipmania’. The tulip was a horticultural ‘invention’ not of the Dutch but of the Turks. They were the original breeders of the plant. Dutch spice traders brought the first examples into Holland, and this previously unseen plant began to attract attention. As with anything, rarity increases the price, so up went the value of the bulbs. As Dutch horticulturalists began breeding the bulbs they discovered they were onto a nice little earner, and the value of the bulbs crept up. Soon the bulbs were being traded as a commodity in themselves and traded for profit not for growing. Originally a horticultural oddity they became a commodity worth more than gold. But as more horticulturalists bred more bulbs, those already in circulation began to lose value, and after a particularly good season the market flooded and they became valueless. happened in Australia with the Wollemi Pine. Originally quite expensive to buy, and with breeding supposedly limited to Government laboratories, a black market soon emerged and now you can buy them at flea markets for loose change.
I’ll get around to reading the book Jack. I have so many I’m trying to get to. Too much time reading blogs and other stuff on the internet.
It must be very satisfying to achieve this outcome, although there must be a tremendous sense of loss and frustration for Denis as well. Congratulations to both of you.
Is the last blog still going? I don’t want to throw any of my usual random splatter into this one.
I wouldn’t worry too much about that. The old subjects don’t get shut down. You can always comment in them but it wouldn’t bother me if you made a general or off topic comment on this one.
Only 41 comments over the wall Jack. Considering the subject matter I thought it would be 1041. Final report of the RC will be a good read, I hope. Very gutsy effort from DR & yourself Jack, a subject where angels would fear to tread.
I noticed that too MtK. But given the usual tone of the comments over there I guess this topic isn’t one where they can indulge in political rants against all the usual suspects!
Too hard to incorporate an anti-lefty rant. Although they usually manage it regardless of the topic. I saw one the other day where ESPN was nominated as a lefty outfit.