In not the first time that the ABC‘s political panel show has made a somewhat questionable decision about who to feature on one of their panels, Q&A has opted to include barrister Charles Waterstreet, who was accused of sexual harassment in October this year, on their ‘#MeToo‘ panel.
Waterstreet, who served as the inspiration for the TV show Rake, was accused by Tina Huang (at the time, his paralegal / personal assistant) of showing her unsolicited sexually explicit materials and consistently making sexually inappropriate remarks to her both in person and over email. Waterstreet denied all allegations but was nonetheless banned from posting ads to Sydney University‘s jobs board, on which Huang saw the job listed. Others with similar stories to Huang’s came forward following the publication of the original allegations.
Waterstreet is slated to appear on February 5 alongside actress Rachel Griffiths, lawyer Josh Bornstein, and gender studies professor Catharine Lumby, in addition to another as-yet-unnamed panellist.
https://twitter.com/geotk_/status/955684559110025216
The response to the decision on Twitter has not been particularly warm:
https://twitter.com/laureningram/status/955690719955402752
https://twitter.com/mdixonsmith/status/955690119977037824
Wowee, special guest star on next #METOO #qanda Charles Waterstreet should be really something 🤔 https://t.co/IZ4XL3kdk3
— Samantha Maiden (@samanthamaiden) January 23, 2018
Still, Charles Waterstreet could be seen as being ideal for the panel because [REDACTED IN CONSIDERATION OF AUSTRALIA’S TOUGH DEFAMATION LAWS].
— Stilgherrian (@stilgherrian) January 23, 2018
https://twitter.com/laureningram/status/955689098475270144
https://twitter.com/sharnatweets/status/955692953111949312
It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out for them.
