Peter Faris writes:

Oddly enough, I support Belinda Neal.

What has she done wrong? Well, she had a few drinks at a restaurant and behaved rudely. From that we now have Federal and NSW police investigations.

Neal’s ex-staffer Melissa Batten has said in a TV interview that she “crumbled” under pressure from Neal and made a false statutory declaration about the events at the restaurant.

Rudd’s Attorney-General Robert McClelland has asked the AFP to investigate. This is a shocking and cynical gesture by the Rudd Government in an attempt to distance itself from any fall-out. Neal has committed no federal offence and it is quite wrong of the Government to suggest that she may have done. This gesture from Rudd — the master of “gesture politics” — is both cruel and cynical.

From the perspective of NSW law, the worst she may have done is to procure the making of a false statutory declaration. But the only proof of the procuring is from Batten who is now a publicly self-confessed liar who has made a false declaration. Basically, Batten says she lied because Neal made her do it. Batten’s evidence carries little weight unless she is corroborated, which is probably unlikely to occur.

Batten should now be charged but there is not sufficient evidence to charge Neal.

Rudd has behaved badly here, as he did in the Henson p-rnography debate. He and his Government should not condemn people simply because of short-term political gain, particularly when the condemnation suggests by implication that there has been criminal conduct (by Henson or Neal). Here, the Government has decided to make a gesture to show the public that they really, really do not support Neal. So much for loyalty.

I would have thought the better gesture was to stand up for her rights, to state that she is presumed innocent and leave it to the NSW police. Federal intervention is quite unnecessary.

Federal backbenchers must be wondering when it will be their turn.

Greg Barns writes:

So where to from here for embattled Labor MP Belinda Neal with her former staffer Melissa Batten telling Channel 9 in a paid interview last night that she felt pressured by Ms Neal into changing a statutory declaration about the Iguana Joe’s incident?

Ms Batten took a risk in telling all. She has potentially exposed herself to being prosecuted under the New South Wales Crimes Act for making a false statement.

But there is a long way to go in this saga. It may be that Ms Batten is given immunity from prosecution, in exchange for giving evidence in any criminal proceedings against Ms Neal.

So what sort of witness would Ms Batten be for the prosecution? Not a very strong one, in my view.

Who advised Ms Batten to accept money from Channel 9 to tell her story? Whoever it was, they did not give enough consideration to the ramifications of accepting money to tell your story when you might be a witness down the track.

A witness who has been paid to tell her story is inherently vulnerable because those cross-examining the witness can paint her as someone who has a vested interest – namely money – in s-xing up their story for the media. Coupled with the point that Peter makes about Ms Batten being a witness who admits she told a lie in her statement, and the AFP and New South Wales Police would have to think long and hard about Ms Batten’s usefulness to them in any prosecution of Ms Neal.

And what of Mr McClelland’s actions?

Faris says he was wrong to refer the Neal/Batten matter to the AFP. But politically he had no choice.

McClelland has to be seen to be behaving in a way that brings credit on the office he holds – that of first law officer of the Commonwealth. When Ms Batten made her allegations last night he did what any responsible Attorney-General would do, and asked the AFP to look into Ms Batten’s allegations. If Mr McClelland sat on his hands and did nothing about Ms Batten’s interview then he would be rightly accused of putting political interests – namely the protection of the Rudd government and one of its MPs – above that of his duty to ensure due process.

Peter Faris and Greg Barns host Conflict of Interest on Melbourne’s Channel 31 every Wednesday at 10pm.