Note: the following article contains graphic descriptions of torture and abuse.
The award for this week’s word of the week must surely go to “ritual”, as in “ritual sex abuse”. It’s the term used, obtusely, by Scott Morrison in 2018 in his apology to survivors of child sex abuse and now given currency among at least 750,000 Australians — that being the record viewing numbers who tuned in to Four Corners on Monday night.
It’s come a long way from 2019, when Crikey began beating the drum to our loyal subscribers. Gosh, now even Kochie’s talking about it on Sunrise.
One might have thought this was the very definition of a failed media strategy by the prime minister’s media team. And yet still there is no definitive prime ministerial answer as to how the phrase — so heaving with symbolism to QAnon fans — made it past the red pencils of the bureaucracy into the hallowed halls of Parliament, and into the history books.
Does it matter that the prime minister used the word, possibly at the behest of his QAnon family friend Tim Stewart? That it might have somehow seeped into the PM’s consciousness via the family connections who have it as an article of faith that Satan walks among us? That he might have used the word oblivious to its impact on the panting Q whack-jobs hanging off every coded message? Entirely possible. The problem is: we don’t know unless he says.
Morrison has deployed various media responses to the “ritual” question. And amid the conflicting messages coming from the PM’s office we can now reveal the strangest defence of all.
In 2019 the PMO let it be known to Crikey that the term “ritual” did not necessarily mean satanic ritual abuse — as implied by the Satan-obsessed world of QAnon — but could mean many other things.
To make its point, the office provided as its source a remarkable document called “Ritual Abuse & Torture in Australia” written in 2006 by an activist group called ASCA (Advocates for Survivors of Child Abuse). ASCA’s founder, Liz Mullinar, became a controversial figure because of her belief in recovered memories and the alleged prevalence of satanic ritual abuse in the community. (But that’s another story.)
The document lists dozens of examples of “ritual” abuse in Australia. It is what the PMO relied on to show it’s not all about the devil. The examples include:
• Violent rituals: mock-marriages, mock-funerals, fake surgery, ritualised rape
• Torture: forced to ingest filth, tied up, starvation, sleep deprivation, electric shocks, use of snakes or insects, hanging, spinning
• Organised sexual exploitation: victims prostituted, used in pornography, sex with adults, group sex, sex with animals, other children and corpses
• Props and symbols: blood, knives, altars, circles, animal parts, human parts, fire, corpses, ropes, pentagrams, urine, faeces, graves, torches, bones, coffins, insects, animal horns, razor blades
• Simulations of the death experience: live burials, near-strangulation, near-drowning, electrocution, torture into unconsciousness, drugging into unconsciousness, encouragement of self-mutilation
• Performance of the death experience: ritual murder, sacrifice of animals, ritual abortions, necrophilia, necrophagia.
The list goes on. There’s barely space here to make mention of “perpetrators wearing robes, masks, horns, costumes”. None of it, though, reflected the evidence given to the McClellan royal commission into institutional responses to child sex abuse, which provided the imperative for a national apology.
The PMO also referred Crikey to a paper published by the Australian Institute of Family Studies in 1995 that covered competing definitions of “ritual abuse”. The paper was produced at the height of the satanic panic in the 1990s, two decades before Morrison’s apology speech.
The PMO provided the information on the proviso that Crikey treat it as “background” — a media management move that might quietly influence coverage without having the PM or the office on the record. Taken together, though, it appeared the PMO might have been scrambling to reverse-engineer a validation for Morrison’s use of the term.
At the same time the PMO provided an “on the record” comment that advanced a different version of the ritual abuse story — though on checking it proved to be at least partly false.
The PMO told Crikey that the term “ritual” was “one that the prime minister heard directly from the abuse survivors and the National Apology to Victims and Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse Reference Group he met with in the lead up to the Apology, and refers not just to the ritualised way or patterns in which so many crimes were committed but also to the frequency and repetition of them”.
However, when Crikey checked with members of the national apology reference group in 2019 we got a different story. They told us that the term “ritual” had never come up in their discussions.
To prove the point, someone quietly provided Crikey with the group’s 20-page list of recommended terms and procedures to be used for the apology. We published part of it here. There is no mention of the term “ritual”. Leaking is the only resort for people on government panels who are otherwise bound to confidentiality.
This week, as Four Corners re-reported the apparently false explanation, the PMO came up with another version, reportedly pointing out that the phrase appeared in the royal commission’s papers in summaries of victims’ stories, though that reference appears to be to “ritualistic” practices, which appears to confuse terms with different meanings.
Accompanying all this, the prime minister has attacked the Four Corners program on the grounds of it being a “slur” on him and a personal attack. His office has portrayed the allegations of Stewart’s alleged influence as being “baseless conspiracy theories” coming from Twitter.
The conflicting explanations as well as the PMO’s apparent falsehood about the role of the expert panel give the impression that the PM has something to hide.
As 7.30‘s Laura Tingle articulated on Tuesday, there are parallels with Morrison’s serial evasions on whether or not he asked for Hillsong pastor Brian Houston to be invited to a state dinner with Donald Trump at the White House in 2019. Several months later he admitted he had.
Morrison famously made it clear when asked about the alleged rape of staffer Brittany Higgins that he looks to advice from his wife Jenny to really understand such matters. Getting the input of family members is part of the Morrison modus operandi and fits with a politician who does not feel bound to take public service advice.
The timing of Stewart’s behind-the-scenes moves, as told in a series of texts leading up to the day of the apology in 2018, makes a compelling case that on at least this occasion Stewart did influence his old friend Morrison. Stewart’s wife, Lynelle — best pals with Jenny — has also signalled her support for her husband’s writings on “The Great Awakening” when the world turns away from “the Dark”.
It is also theoretically possible that Morrison was influenced not by his QAnon family friend but by advocates who believe in repressed memories and satanic ritual abuse who had access to the PM outside the official sorry day framework.
Hard to know what’s worse, really.
One thing’s for sure: we haven’t heard the truth yet. But we should, and it shouldn’t be so hard.
Survivors of abuse can find support by calling Bravehearts at 1800 272 831 or the Blue Knot Foundation at 1300 657 380. The Kids Helpline is 1800 55 1800.
If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault or violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au
Clearly the Prime Minister doesn’t believe in some wacko conspiracy that leftist satanic pedophiles have corrupted governments around the world and only Donald Trump can save us. That would be insane.
The Prime Minister simply believes that the earth and all living things were created in 6 days around 6000 years ago and the world will end with the rapture and all good believers being lifted up to heaven. Nothing insane about that.
Our Pm sports a heady mix of being deluded himself and being intent on deluding others.
Clearly he has no fear that ritual lying and protection of rapists will be any barrier tonhis participation in the rapture…..
He’ll be fine. That’s how Hillsong works – you buy your way to the rapture then carry on doing what you want.
Thankfully during those 6 days, there was time to sequster loads of carbon in the earth so the LibNats could dig it up & burn it today… Geez, “He” really thought of everything!
Don’t forget the artfully placed bones of imaginary creatures, to test the minds of his new creations, a test as it were.
Weird if you think about it. After all, god/shiva/odin or whoever, she/he/they/it are all seeing, the before the now and theafter.
So what is this perverse need to test? He/she/they/it already know the outcome..
Or do He/she/they/it have doubts??
So that’s the problem – the LNP took 7 days to create and was pushed out the front door of the assembly facility missing a few essential logic circuits in order to meet a production deadline. LNP government policy programmes have all been so afflicted ever since. Take it from me, knowing the reason for some things doesn’t bring any solace just more quiet desperation.
Scummo doesn’t believe in anything except himself and money. Any suggestion by him that he believes in anything else is just a cynical lie designed to get him whatever it is he wants at the time
Do you ever wonder about the lack of variety in Morrison’s life experience? Did he ever join any protests at Uni? Has he ever done any casual jobs like taxi driving, working in hospitality, builders labourer, cleaner etc? Did he ever get his heart broken by his first love or go out with other girls before Jenny? What exactly is his real life experience? Because I think that’s from where empathy emanates and I don’t reckon Morrison has ever had any serious setbacks. Yes he was sacked twice but from the evidence available, it was warranted both times, so he has no-one else to blame, and anyway he had his network to fall back on immediately so he was never short of cash. I don’t know that he’s ever done any hard yards. Even his preselection for Cook was cooked up by Lib HQ and the Murdoch rags in their traducing of Michael Towke.
I’ve wondered this too DF. Both a lack of variety and also a lack of ongoing low stakes exposure to people not like himself. He doesn’t know how to authentically (or inauthentically) communicate (or listen, the biggie) with other cultures, sexual orientations and genders because he hasn’t had any practice at it. He doesn’t appear to be curious about the world – other people, places, Australia’s role etc.
i don’t wonder about Morrison at all. As far as I can see, he’s just a dull grey boring little man, who somehow stumbled into the PM’s job. Of course, that can’t be completely accurate, as you don’t get into that job without biting and clawing your way to the top of the shitpile, so there must be something going on in that boring little head, I guess
It is really quite extraordinary that someone could so consistently manage to fail upwards the way this bloke has.
It makes you lose confidence in the Peter Principle doesn’t it? According to Professor Peter the tendency in most organizational hierarchies is for every employee to rise in the hierarchy through promotion until they reach a level of respective incompetence. But what can be said if someone begins at the level of incompetence and keeps getting promoted? The only answer I know of is a Japanese practice, allegedly, of promoting the person to a position that has a desk and a telephone but no actual duties. So perhaps the next step could be a state Governorship or Governor-general. Or perhaps Scomo has actually reached that position already. He seemed quite confident that his absence in Hawaii during the bushfire emergency and his recent pub crawling in Cornwall while an already broken vaccine rollout completely fell apart wouldn’t actually matter. Perhaps he was right.
It is explained in detail in ‘The Peter Pyramid’.
Has the Prime Mancer failed upwards because the Pentecostal Tribe has penetrated our institutions further than we imagined?? Is he simple the HollowMan being used by others behind the scene? Is this a demonstration how an open democracy can be subverted by a determined, connected few?,
“… whatever it is he wants at the time …”
Such as a chicken coop, you mean?
Yes; the important thing about Scummo’s religious ‘beliefs’ is that he believes in having those beliefs and their triumphal power, believes in the publicly visible ‘ritual’ observance of them. But he doesn’t have the real thing and never will. He’s both vacuous and solipsistic. Just an ineffably inauthentic person. Plus, a fk’n scoundrel.
There is going to be a problem with that Rapture uptake as according to Revelation 7 and Revelation 14:1-4 KJV, there are only to be 144,000 saved… but there are Jehovahs Witnesses, Mormons Pentecostalists, of various cults, also many other Protestants, Seventh Day Adventist and Unitarians who all believe that they are the blessed 144.000.
But it might best dressed first Raptured…when Israel invaded the Lebanon, yet again, in 2006 Lebanon War, there were some reports of women in the USA from Evangelistic and Pentecostalist Cults going out to get their hair and nails done to be prepared for the possibility of The Rapture.
Is it any wonder that the DSM V finds that religion is really a delusion. but then because it is so widely held exempts religion from the psychiatric diagnosis of delusion.
However in the important respect of being an incorrect inference about external reality that is firmly sustained and one that defies credibility, religion is a delusion.
Again you have hit on a profound factor that shapes us and has become a little more developed with the advent of the internet and monopolist media, election sponsorship, advertising and marketing.
The methodology uses emotive strategies to sidestep the logical mind to gain more resonance.
Fear of alienation, fear of becoming very poor/loss of finance that will limit choice. The way in to this more vulnerable state of mind historically uses discussing great suffering of a person/people who did not deserve it.
The best way to disarm this manipulation of people is to educate so as the most people can pick the strategies used and flag them.
Proper regulatory bodies would be doing this if they functioned properly now.
Your comment has added a little piece to solving part of the puzzle of why people who don’t have an interest in mental, physical and environmental health have so much control. thank you
I like to imagine how much less waste and suffering there could be if this type of manipulation was easily identified and clear to the majority.
My above comment was in response to your comment below that discusses Chrysostom, treatise of the priesthood book 1.
Nothing is ever clear to the majority, except the imagined enemy of the moment.
The use of the word ritual to me is a way of distracting from the “banality” of the crimes. Easier to think of occult forces as perpetrating evil rather than crimes of opportunity, grooming, and power.
If you go looking for stats on child abuse they are (or at least were) pretty hard to come by. The only thing I could find with any detail was an Australian report – I was looking around the start of the Royal Commission.
It was exactly as you say – opportunity, grooming and power. Really sad stuff.
Do you mean ‘occult forces’ like Mr. Dutton?
So would it be fair to say that he is a ‘ritual’ liar?
Does not have to be a ritual to his lying, he is just adept at it, a charlatan masquerading as a true believer
In the Early Christian Church those so called Fathers of the Church, Eusebius, Clement , Jerome, John Chrysostom et al. were all adept at justifying deceit/lies for the good of the poor sinner. So do Smirko and the others in the Cohort of Pentecostalist in government see lying as necessary to guide the population on the path of “righteousness”?
John Chrysostom. John of the Golden Mouth, given the name as he was so eloquent in his preaching. He is also credited in the leading the mob which carried out the second and final destruction of the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World,
…For great is the value of deceit, provided it be not introduced with a mischievous intention. In fact action of this kind ought not to be called deceit, but rather a kind of good management, cleverness and skill, capable of finding out ways where resources fail, and making up for the defects of the mind …
…And often it is necessary to deceive, and to do the greatest benefits by means of this device, whereas he who has gone by a straight course has done great mischief to the person whom he has not deceived…
Chrysostom, Treatise On The Priesthood, Book 1.
So when we think of Spin Doctors and PR, let us recall those early ones they who set the standard, The Doctors of the Church.
“But in the case of Scott Morrison, this is not a hypothetical question. Morrison lies consistently and regularly far more than previous prime ministers, and can objectively be shown to have done so.
From the sports rorts affair, to Australia’s emissions trajectory, to statements about last summer’s bushfires, to calling Sam Dastyari “Shanghai Sam”, to lying about Labor’s costings during the last election campaign and the COVIDSafe app working like “sunscreen” and rejecting responsibility for aged care institutions in Victoria, Morrison has a record of egregious lying not merely about major issues but minor matters.
He’s no Trump, who appears to be incapable of saying something that isn’t either a blatant lie or a wild exaggeration, but the prime minister has a well-established track record of attempting to mislead Australians with his public statements in a way that is significantly at odds even with the normal low standards of our political discourse.
The record of lies is long enough for media consumers to be genuinely concerned that journalists, in merely repeating what Morrison says without analysing it, are party to the misleading of citizens. Media outlets that carry his media conferences run a similar risk. So the question about why our own media outlets aren’t actively considering how to avoid misleading audiences when they cover media conferences, or engage in verbatim reporting, is a real one”.
Just waiting for massive anti-Labor articles in the media – all preparation for the coming election. Most popular media for the masses is against the Labor Party. Scottie will romp in again.
Like his hero, the miserable loser Trump.
This seems to be a matter of hierarchy. Which wacko-nutjobbery takes precedence? Scomo’s mate who believes us all to be satanist baby munchers, or Hillsong?
Line ball call