@wogarlb; I'd be one of those on this forum targeted a fair bit...

@wogarlb; I'd be one of those on this forum targeted a fair bit with abusive and unsubstantiated comments because of the perspectives I raise, something that often causes me to chuckle a bit because of what's revealed of themselves by those responsible.

In reality very few posters have identified themselves other than by their nic on this forum so that while being abusive / harassing etc towards other posters may be offensive and upsetting of them it's not being directed at them by proper name and home address.

HC posting rules require that we carefully address 'defamation' before submitting posts while still allowing the forum to be for 'robust debate' so that posting lies or unsubstantiated allegations about named people is indeed problematic - sources being drawn on do matter, explaining why my preference is to reference the ABC and organisations known to do their research well ... such as the ICIJ.

But all said and done, one of the major things that distinguishes Australia from the likes of China, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Iran, Russia, North Korea etc is that everyone has a right to express opinions about politicians and what they do - so long as we don't allege unsubstantiated / criminal behaviours of them.

Debates over child abuse and rape will forever be emotionally charged and so they should be. Recent well-publicised international cases are a reminder that minors are NOT adults and that the passage of time does NOT exonerate their exploitation by those who prey on their vulnerabilities.