THE HOUNDING OF BISHOP PETER

I have forborne from commenting on the latest media circus about Australia’s Governor General because of its sheer absurdity but I suppose I should devote a few words to it. What has just happened is that he has been forced to take leave of absence because some woman identified him in a group photograph as the man who raped her 50 years ago. Not only is the claim an unsubstantiated allegation which any woman could have made against any man for any reason but it now emerges that he was not even in the photo she identified! The earlier charges against him were equally flimsy. From the very moment that John Howard recommended the appointment of an archbishop to such a senior governmental role the media sensed a “story” in it and were out to get him -- despite his outstanding and lifelong devotion to charitable works.

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