Re your post which included; "... Mr Patch said he has no doubt the story is true. ''The law (and commonsense) recognise that when victims complain immediately it is very likely they are telling the truth. It is the spontaneity of the complaint, and the inability to fabricate a false allegation in a short period of time, which give it the ring of truth.'' ..."
In the article which appeared in The Age online [URL below] Mr Patch was also reported as commenting: "... ''He [Tony Abbott] was always (verbally) attacking gays and feminists and lefties. You certainly knew what he was against - the trouble was that you couldn't figure out what he was in favour of! Once again, the parallels with the way he operates today are, to those who knew him then, quite remarkable.'' ..."
Therein lies the issue! The allegation against Abbott is one thing, the comment that this parallels with how he operates today are quite remarkable is another matter altogether.
It challenges the media constructs created by Abbott's minders [stuntman, action man, can-do man, squeaky clean man, ...] and demands much greater scrutiny and analysis before Abbott again presents his case to become PM.
Abbott might start by explaining why he has been so out of the public eye since David Marr's essay was published and why he currently has so little to say during Question Time in Parliament.
Otherwise some will interpret his style as hiding from those allegations - that after all of what he has led against his former friend, Peter Slipper, the trial by Parliament run against Craig Thompson and the recent harrassment of Julia Gillard over matters dealt with in the Victorian Parliament 15 years earlier.
