Cliches from the Deep

The al-Askari Mosque

Fluttering shapes from deep down, disturbed consciousness, ratbag elements; he didn't know where it was all leading. The ex just rang; I have to go and pick up Sammy from where he has been at a camp at the University of NSW all week; the day is bright, warm for winter; and I'm back at work tomorrow. Busy! Sheeeeesssshhhhh!!!!

THE STORY CONTINUES:

Though not a sexual thing, he missed some of the dizzy drunken madness of the gay scene. Preparations for Mardi Gras were well underway. Although it was decidedly easier being heterosexual, just in the way people treated him as a normal person and not a performing clown, it was if, nothing else, odd not to have that gay identity any more. It was so much a part of you, how could you turn your back on it all, Martin had asked. Easily, he thought.

He hadn't twisted his sexuality into politically correct shapes, hadn't come to it through a bourgeois desire for experimentation, difference. For him sex with men had never been a statement of rejection of middle-class norms, it had been born of emotional chaos.


THE BIGGER STORY:
SMH:

High-profile Brimble coroner heading back to the magistrates' bench
Email Print Normal font Large font Geesche Jacobsen
July 14, 2007


Shift … Ms Milledge yesterday.
Photo: Lisa Wiltse

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AdvertisementTHE senior deputy state coroner Jacqueline Milledge will leave the court after criticism of her running of several high-profile cases, particularly the Dianne Brimble inquest.

The Herald has learnt that Ms Milledge, 55, will return to work as a local court magistrate early next year after seven years as deputy coroner.

While admired by the public for her caring and no-nonsense style, sources said her handling of inquests has been unpopular in some legal circles and with superiors. She has been criticised for letting inquests drag on and for the publicity focused on her cases.

Almost five years after Dianne Brimble died on a P&O cruise, 16 months after the inquest started and after about 50 days of hearings, it still has another two weeks of evidence left. This week, highly personal details of Ms Brimble's sexual medical history were revealed in court, adding to her family's distress.

In a dramatic move yesterday following a Herald request to comment on the criticism, counsel assisting the inquest, Ron Hoenig, launched an impassioned defence of the inquiry, saying it had been conducted "without fear or favour, affection or ill will".

Ms Milledge had a statutory obligation to hold the inquest and "to ensure that the investigation into the manner and cause of death have been properly conducted", he said in court.

No one aware of the "length and breadth" of the evidence or adequacy of the police investigation would conclude that the inquest was poorly run, he said.

Ms Brimble died of toxic levels of alcohol and the drug gamma hydroxybutyrate on the cruise ship. The inquest has heard criticism of the police investigation and the way P&O handled the tragedy. The inquest had already achieved a reform of the cruise industry, Mr Hoenig said.

He said the only criticism he had heard came from the persons of interest in the case, who had called for Ms Milledge to be removed during taped phone conversations, to be played to court next week. Eight men have been named as the persons of interest.

"No criticism will deter your honour from proceeding in the way your honour has," Mr Hoenig said. In a statement issued through the Attorney-General's Department, Ms Milledge said her contract expired in January and "the Chief Magistrate has approved my request to return to the general bench of the local courts".

"I have enjoyed my tenure as Senior Deputy State Coroner but I do not wish to be defined by the jurisdiction and am looking forward to broadening my experience. I have expressed an interest in returning to the coronial jurisdiction later in my career." Ms Milledge, a former police officer and police prosecutor, has run other high-profile inquests into the deaths of Janet Campbell and Arron Light. She is often feted by the media and was recently compared with the Crown prosecutor Margaret Cunneen, who has been highly praised by victims but frowned upon by sections of the legal fraternity. Last week the family of Janet Campbell, who plunged from a cliff in the Royal National Park, praised Ms Milledge. The Defence Minister, Brendan Nelson, reportedly wanted Ms Milledge nominated for Australian of the Year last year.

Two months ago, Ms Milledge missed out on the top job when the former retired deputy chief magistrate, Mary Jerram, was appointed state coroner. Ms Jerram is understood to be focused on improving the court's efficiency and to ensure inquests are concluded earlier.

Delays are difficult for the families and sometimes prevent heirs from applying for probate.