They had hoped he would go away quietly, fade into anonymity. Just another ex-cop with an axe to grind. In time they thought no one would listen. It has been 46 years almost to the day since Denis Ryan’s career as a Victoria Police detective came to an end after he tried to charge a priest, Monsignor John Day, with child sex offences. All hell broke loose in the Victoria Police Force; some of its most senior men tried to bring him down. But Ryan would not be silenced and people would, eventually, listen. In this week’s Australia Day honours, he was made a Member of the Order of Australia, recognition finally for his role in child protection investigations.
Ryan’s story is no tormented parable searching for meaning. The lesson is simple: do the right thing, no matter the cost. “I was a pain in the arse to the police force and the government. There was no way I would have stopped. None. I wish others would have done the same,” he says now. But Ryan paid a high price. It cost him the job he loved and the financial security of a police pension. He has just turned 86 and lives in a rented flat in Mildura, northwest Victoria, eking out a life on the old age pension. He knew at the time his doomed investigation of Day would lead to more victims. It troubles him to this day.
Full story here.
I see Whiney Pyney from SA, Mr Insider, tells us “surprisingly” that there is a “delay” in building our new $50 billion worth of Submarines in his State. Goodness I have my bucket of rivets and hammer ready just waiting for the call. His boss the goose Turnbull has upped the ante in recent days and tells us Australia will be soon in the top ten Arms Exporters to the World, a shameful position to be in for any country imho. This Lib/Nat government just keeps getting worse with Turnbull about to record his 26th Negative Consecutive Newspoll.
Yes the delay is there is NO design as yet. Also the French continue to reduce the amount of work for Australia less than 60% something that was known prior. The Germans should have got the contract. Full build in Australia for half the price with an established design. You cons don’t do infrastructure, procurement or anything well apart from misleading the nation. No surprises..
Well Dismayed, cant blame the French. These are not canoes, they’re bloody great submarines with lots of pipes and things.
Exactly JB
Gosh, did you get to review and assess the tenders?
Just read other publications than news. Yvonne there is a lot of information available if you put down the news cool aid and open your eye.
Yvonne I see your obsession with me continues below and you are trying to bring some poor other unsuspecting person into your obsession to try and confirm your fixed false beliefs. Read this slowly. I did not ask “what you do over the wall”. I clearly stated “I don’t know what you do over the wall” that is a statement not a question. Your obsession is getting out of control and effecting whatever ‘comprehension” ability you may have once had.. No surprises.
By the shear volume of responses you write to Boa, the obsession seems to be with you genius.
Blanket coverage on the news of President Trump’s State of the Union Address. No one knows anything, but they get paid for being talking heads, so they talk. But, my predictions are nearly a dead cert:
It will be a good speech. The President has shown his oratorical skills most recently in Davos, but he’s done this before in Poland and before the UN. However, the MSM will call it “dark”, “divisive” of whatever the talking point of the day. However, it won’t reach the eloquence of what the VP just delivered in Israel.
The big question for me is who is tonight’s designated survivor? Maybe Sonny Perdue.
Honestly, these things are pure theater, and I wish one President would just stop them. All Article II, Section 3 requires is: “give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” He should tweet it and call it a day. The reaction would be priceless. Second best would be to read the Nunes memo and do a mic drop.
The NYT is predictably par for the course. “…and the economy he inherited continues to grow…”.
The inherited economy meme is always dependent on which side you lean. It is also a bit tricky on timing when you inherit an economy to when you own it.
The NYT is a poor class fish wrapper imho Milton. Cheers
If you read the commentary on WaPo, the NYTimes and CNN, it could have all been written before the speech. This hyperpartisanship is just so boring.
Goodness me. 38deg on Sunday, sheep graziers warning for snow in the midlands today! Can they give the poor sheep woolly jumpers?
The middle and upper class sheep have their own jumpers?
Tasmania, strange one day, bewildering the next.
Shorten mentions reviewing the Massive over $6 billion per year subsidy to the Private Health Insurance industry and The Australian screams “class warfare”. Abbott and Hockey destroy the automotive industry by removing the $250 million per year subsidy and the Australian hails it as great because industries must be more efficient and lower cost. That apparently does not apply to The Private health insurance industry. The coalition and its supporters continue to fail this Nation. Just as the Nation is still losing huge amounts of revenue due to the Howard Abbott and Costello show over a decade ago so too will the Nation be paying for decades to come due to the absolute disgrace of a government at present blindly supported by the news publications. No surprises.
“Private companies in Australia and around the world expect to maintain or shed staff numbers in the next 12 months despite being optimistic about their future expansion and revenue growth, a new Deloitte survey has found.” No surprises.
Talk about a stitch up. Look at these two, they look like they have been naughty.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jan/30/kristina-keneally-officially-confirmed-as-sam-dastyaris-senate-replacement
Funny, the people of Bennelong rejected her in the recent by-election, but not Bungalow Bill. “C’mon Kristina we’ll getcha in the backdoor”. Wonder if she has to give up her job on Sky?
Deja vu to Julia Gillard, couldn’t get elected in a Victorian state election, but look where she ended up.
Stitch up? How is that? Nothing untoward going on there is there?
Keneally did very well in the Bennelong election. and she will be one of the bright stars in the Senate.
Er Jean, sorry to inform you old chap, there are no silver medals in by-elections. Doesn’t matter what she did, she lost.
Have you made a list of all the $300k and $400k jobs the Looters gave to those who lost their seats at the last election..Peter Hendy, Soapy Mirabella and others
Brandis handed out something like 46 multi $100K jobs ins a matter of hours before the last election. Absolute disgrace. No surprises.
Sour grapes you missed out Dismayed, eh. But what other skills does a retired roustabout rigger have these days?
If the Bennelong campaign was an example, the thought of her jeering and yelling her way through the senate is a bit nauseating
Yvonne take a look in the mirror.
Ok i did Gary – and guess what? I’m way better looking than your Kristina . 😁
Oh goody!
As for me, as a fellow midwesterner, I’m glad she gave up her US passport.
Watch out for European wasps this summer.
I had a guy come around to treat an underground nest with pyrethrins two days ago in my back yard. The guy assured me that they’d abandon the nest after about an hour. Anyway, my natural curiosity got the better of me after work yesterday, so I visited the nest and started digging it up. Lo and behold, I got stung a couple of times – not pleasant. The wasp hotline tells me that there are record numbers of the critters in Canberra this summer. I just wish that they’d all go to Parliament House.
Oh Gawd, fancy falling for the old wasp exodus trick. Those pest control guys are a caution.
Yeah, they certainly tricked me. A couple of the buggers were still hanging around the site of their former home, yesterday.
I wonder if I could string out this particular story like an Annie firefighting travelogue?
Next time go in with a spray can of insect killer in each hand and start blazing away before they get a chance to move.
And yes you could but I doubt you or anyone else could get near the sheer romanticism.
Unless you can work a DC3, a horse, a dog and fifty rescued greyhounds into the narrative?
Great piece, Jack, and it’s good to see Denis Ryan get some recognition at last.
It’s a great pity that Ronald Mulkearns was never incarcerated, although I read that his estate will assist victims of abuse. It’s also a pity that the coppers who assisted the clergy to commit their crimes didn’t get their just desserts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbevg8lxiE0
Hallelujah praise the lord, the frigging tennis is finished at last.
Dear Mr Baptiste, wash your mouth out in soap my good man, the Australian Summer of Tennis may be over but the year of Tennis just starting. The “Holy Grail” of Wimbledon in July just fabulous. Your humble correspondent was a fairly good player in his day, the “slice serve” being my specialty. But alas Father Time catches one. Cheers good buddy hope your year an Ace already.
Playing is different altogether Henry. Gawking is a waste of valuable time and listening to people talking about it is positively depressing. These are our lives for God’s sake.
Hear hear JB, tennis and golf should be pay per view. If you want to see it pay for it do not subject the rest of the nation to that rubbish. Give em heaps JB
Quite so. Tennis is a bloody racket Dismayed. Whats the collective noun for a group of golfers? A Tedium of Golfers.
“Health Minister Greg Hunt has warned Labor would make health insurance premiums unaffordable “……what a lie from Greg Hunt. The truth? We are paying $1000 more for private health insurance than we were before the Liberals came to power. Last year private health companies made a profit of 1.8 billion dollars whilst complaints about private health are at all-time highs. DING!