Greed and Justice Make Bad Bedfellows

While the widely discussed first saint from the Great Southern Land doesn’t quite align to MediaDawg’s content, now is a good moment to return to Australia’s biggest sexual harassment scandal and court case and gaze upon through a few sets of eyes.

Winner?

It seems that not only sexual harassment doesn’t pay, neither does an over-the-top harassment lawsuit. While Mark McInnes lost his job and reputation, Kristy Fraser-Kirk‘s $37m greed did not go down very well, the parties settling for an apparent $850k.

The Australian/news.com.au story marks the efforts of both parties as a “failure”, the $37m claim “absurdly high” and “wrecking” to Fraser-Kirk’s career. It seems fair given that even people that have been through serious, life-limiting accidents get severely less payout.

Loser?

On the other hand, partner publication Herald Sun’s story rings with F-K’s triumph, as she “emerged smiling” following the proceedings. The accompanying photos tell a much different story to the first one, with one side clearly the victor.

Elsewhere, the Daily Telegraph laughs at Fraser-Kirk as, given the low payout, she reversed her previous decision to donate the ‘winnings’ to charity. The story has a collaged photo of confounded McInnes and a stupidly-smiling F-K, suggesting the case has deservedly become a media circus, especially given her questionable ‘stress-relief’ holidays.

???

Rival smh.com.au provides a less accusive look, with a commentary video that explains why the money will not be donated (a matter of awarding much lower ‘general damages’ instead of ‘punitive damages’) and that perhaps the case was blown out of proportion by F-K’s lawyers and the media.