SYDNEY (CNS): “Any one of us could now be accused by strangers of reprehensible behaviour and then find the weight of the nation’s structures of law, government and public opinion piled on top of us,” warned Keith Windschuttle, the author of a new book on the trial and imprisonment of George Cardinal Pell of Australia.
The former Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) board member, who is also the editor of Quadrant magazine, was speaking the launch of his book, The Persecution of George Pell, in Sydney, on December 10.
Windschuttle warned that “within the ideological imperatives that prevail today, any one of us could become a George Pell. It was as if Kafka’s The Trial had moved from the Czech Republic and relocated to Melbourne.” The 408-page book catalogues and explores a surreal pattern of inconsistencies and intrigues in the Cardinal Pell case, which him accused of sexual abuse and, despite no evidence being presented, ultimately jailed.
Cardinal Pell “was lucky to be saved at the last minute by his only remaining hope, the judges of the Australian High Court,” Windschuttle said, noting, “They retained enough independence and integrity to see the truth of the case as it was.”
However, he warned, “there are no guarantees that future members of the High Court will act as credibly as those who acquitted Pell.”
Windschuttle described the process, which included Victorian Police advertising to seek accusations against the cardinal as well as the progress of his trial, conviction and failed appeal as a reflection of decaying integrity in the lower echelons of legal structures in the Australian state of Victoria.
“The whole case was based on a fundamental overturning of traditions of law,” he said, asserting, “There wasn’t a presumption of innocence—there was a presumption of guilt. (Cardinal) Pell had to provide enough evidence to prove he was innocent.”
Meanwhile, the legal process was arguably interfered with through a “trial by media” phenomenon, with journalists believing their opinions to be above the proper processes of criminal justice, Windschuttle said.
“There wasn’t a presumption of innocence—there was a presumption of guilt. (Cardinal) Pell had to provide enough evidence to prove he was innocent.”
He said that even after the High Court unanimously declared Cardinal Pell innocent, journalists have continued to act as if its decision was of minimal importance or in error.
The author was especially critical of ABC, saying, “These ABC journalists write as if they got it right and it’s the High Court who are wrong—as if they are superior to the High Court, But if you read (its decision), the High Court decision is utterly scathing of the whole case, shaming the lawyers who went along with it.”
The former ABC board member criticised the current state of journalism in the nation.
“I am of the conclusion that the ABC is unreformable, but no foreseeable government would have the courage to initiate accountability in this area,” he said.
Windschuttle said the case was symptomatic of a far wider problem in Australian life.
“(Harmful) ideological forces now dominate our education systems, especially universities and they have also infected our news media, our police and even our defense forces,” he said.
“As the Pell case proves beyond doubt, these forces have also woven threads into our legal systems and have changed both the law itself and the assumptions of many people within the legal system,” Windschuttle said.
