Peter Ridd Wins Court Case
By Paul Homewood
Great news from down under from Peter Ridd!
Peter Ridd Legal Action Fund
Dear All,
Excellent news.
My lawyers have told me that the judge handed down his decision and we seem to have won on all counts.
It all happened very quickly and we had no warning , and because I live almost a thousand miles from the court, I was not able to be there. I have still not seen the written judgement and will update you all when I have that information.
Needless to say, I have to thank all 2500 of you, and all the bloggers, and the IPA and my legal team who donated much of their time free for this success. But mostly I want to thank my dearest Cheryl, who quite by chance has been my bestest friend for exactly 40 years today. It just shows what a team effort can achieve.
The next chapter of this saga must now be written by the JCU Council which is the governing body of JCU. What will they do about the VC and SDVC who were responsible for bringing the university into disrepute, not just in North Queensland, but also around the world. JCU crushed dissent, crushed academic freedom and tried to crush my spirit with their appalling behaviour. They only failed because I had your support. But if the JCU council does not act, they will be complicit in this disgraceful episode.
Attention must now focus on the JCU council.
I will update you shortly when I have more information, but for now I certainly have a spring in my step.
kind regards
Peter
Help spread the word!
https://www.gofundme.com/peter-ridd-legal-action-fund
Jennifer Marohasy has more detail:
Peter Ridd was a professor at James Cook University who dared to question claims that the Great Barrier Reef is facing imminent catastrophe from climate change – eventually being sacked for not backing down.
With your support he has insisted:
1. That the university undertake some quality assurance of its research, and
2. Refused to be censored, for continuing to speak out.
The case has dragged on with a three-day hearing in the Federal Court in Brisbane just last month. When the hearing wrapped up the presiding Judge Salvadore Vasta said he hoped to have a judgement before Easter.
We were expecting some notice before this judgement was read in court. There was no notice, it happened this morning – and Peter Ridd has won on all counts!
The Court ordered that:
1. The 17 findings made by the University, the two speech directions, the five confidentiality directions, the no satire direction, the censure and the final censure given by the University and the termination of employment of Professor Ridd by the University were all unlawful.
2. The issue of the making of declarations and penalty are adjourned to a date to be fixed.
It is very significant that he has won on the issue of academic freedom: that he did have a right to ignore the university administrators and continuing to speak out about the lack of quality assurance and also against the disciplinary process he was being unfairly subjected to.
This is important news!
The university may have already spent over $1 million in legal fees attempting to silence Peter.
They have assumed that sooner or later he would run out of money … and courage. But not Peter, with his legal team and your support he has kept going.
I have known several good professors lose their will to fight once they are isolated, and risk bankruptcy.
Taking this fight to the Federal Court would not have been possible were it not for Peter Ridd deciding to take a stand in defense of the truth, to not back down regardless of the consequences.
Cheryl Ridd has been a rock, in support of Peter and the ugliness that goes with such court cases, including the unfair and untrue affaidavids.
John Roskam from the IPA found Peter the very best legal counsel in Stuart Wood QC.
We then went into fundraising mode – twice. The first time to fight the censure, and the second time for Peter to get his job back.
Bloggers Anthony Watts, Joanne Nova, and also Benny Peiser were terrific. Together we raised $260,000 from 2,405 people.
Today’s judgement is only that Peter Ridd was wrongly sacked from his position as professor at the university. He has not yet got his job back. There has been no ruling yet on remedies and restitutions. Further, the university may yet appeal.
Thank you for your support – so far.
https://jennifermarohasy.com/2019/04/peter-ridd-has-won-because-of-you/
Comments are closed.
This is really good news both for free speech and academic independence and integrity. It will be interesting to see how JCU reacts. Will this decision get much publicity in the MSM? I hope Peter Ridd gets a huge compensation package.
It’s a good job we have gofundme to make this possible.
Only 10 years ago funding righting this wrong would have been virtually impossible.
Will the university double down and appeal. The fact that the Judgement is so early and so unequivocal would indicate that this would be a silly move. So, we are now waiting for the appeal. I do hope the Universityu sues its own administrators!
silly move?
pfff…..
eyes roll upwards, shake head – talk about deniers ….. what an utter shower the JCU academics are.
The offended dignity and obvious spite from these precious twerps speaks volumes about where they are coming from
Oh my, are they sour!
I think we’ve not heard the last of it ….. how very dare he impugn their exalted status!
One thinks of Professor Bob Carter and also https://www.thegwpf.com/roger-pielke-jr-my-unhappy-life-as-a-climate-heretic/
Thankfully Peter Ridd has stuck to his guns and has been ably assisted and supported.
Excellent news.
I wonder if the university accounts will be public on this?
i wonder if the university accounts will be public? i.e. how much has this cost them
Reblogged this on Tallbloke's Talkshop and commented:
As the judge rightly said: “The university has ‘played the man and not the ball’”. One report says ‘the University is considering its legal options’.
Reblogged this on Wolsten and commented:
This is the best news I have heard in a long time. Well done to Peter and everyone who supported him. I have never contributed towards someone’s legal fund before but this was an easy decision. The university needs to understand very clearly that should it decide to take this to appeal, that we are ready and willing to continue supporting the fight.
Reasonably balanced coverage by ABC (the BBC down-under):
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-16/jcu-scientist-peter-ridd-sacking-unlawful-federal-court-judgment/11021554
Descendants of James Cook should be seeking a name change for the Uni, now that would be a fun court case.
No they gave the Uni guy the last word and he has doubled down
I have just made a new page on BH
and presented a few quotes from the new and old ABC stories
http://bishophill.squarespace.com/discussion/post/2738358
The school should fire all those that caused this mess.
The school should pay Peter bigly. Then, hire him as VP of academics.
The school should lose many students, and much money. {happened in Washington
State when Evergreen State College went pc}
Murdoch Australia have Andrew Bolt to speak up against libmob groupthink
https://www.jcu.edu.au/news/releases/2019/april/response-to-federal-circuit-court-judgement
The full JCU statement as mentioned by the ABC
It ends by quoting a different judge from last year.
From their statement sounds like JCU are doubling down and will appeal. I hope that the staff at JCU are made to pay for the appeal and not the poor taxpayers who are taken for a ride yet again by a corrupt University. Fat chance! There are alot of corrupt universities in all countries by the way!!! Those who can do, those who cant become academics and tell lies. Wasnt always this way.
Yippeeeee!
Paul Homewood posted: “By Paul Homewood Great news from down under from Peter Ridd! Peter Ridd Legal Action Fund Dear All, Excellent news. My lawyers have told me that the judge handed down his decision and we seem to have won on all c”
This is excellent news on so many levels. Congratulations to Peter Ridd. It is conversely so sad to see the erosion of scientific integrity displayed by once academically revered institutions such as AIMS and JCU.
In addition to Ridd being offered his job back and receiving a sizable award, all of those in the university who participated in these unethical – now illegal – acts should be sentenced to serving one year in a facility where the only access to the outside world they have is to Climate Depot – and all of it’s regular contributors – and they shall be required to read every story, referenced report, and view offered during their incarceration (er . . rehabilitation).
PS – NewsBusters, as well.
Brilliant news – if all else fails, try honesty!
OK …
legal costs next ?
The directors of the obvious campaign should get their collars felt for misconduct in public office, malfeasance or whatever the Australian *criminal* code has on offer.
The gits at JCU very obviously believed the could act with impunity and at little personal risk ganging up on one of their colleagues – at a minimum they should be looking at similar consequences for their actions as they sought to impose on Dr. Ridd.
one for the archives
JCU statement
I wonder what adefamation specialist might make of that?
These university administrators do not believe in free speech. What is the world coming to? What a bloody mess.
Alan Wilson
If this blog does nothing else, it points out the value of United States’ Founding Father James Madison’s insistence on the Bill of Rights (1st 10 Amendments) to the United States Constitution which became law in December, 1791 some 4 years following the Constitution. The First Amendment spells out in no uncertain terms (except for those on the left who don’t like freedom for others) the terms of “free speech” and religious liberty.
This episode with Dr. Ridd, points out beautifully what happens when you have no First Amendment and “colleagues” do not want to entertain an opinion other than theirs. It certainly means there is no such thing as “academic freedom.”