I wonder what had sparked this off.

Robert Hughes cries: 'I am innocent'

Allegations emerged in 2010, tried and convicted in 2014, sentenced to 10 years, not eligible for release until 2020, doused in excreta on arrival at jail. Appealed in 2015, appeal rejected, but in September 2016 granted leave by a higher court to appeal, with appeal reportedly being held in December, though there don't seem to be reports on the outcome.
Wikipedia: Robert Hughes' arrest and conviction
Hey Dad! star Robert Hughes allowed to appeal against child-sex convictions, jail

There seems to have been a connection between Sarah Monahan, the main accuser and former child star of the sitcom Hughes had starred in, Hey Dad, and the "cult-like" organisation Heal for Life. The founder of Heal for Life, Liz Mullinar, and Hughes' wife, Robyn Gardiner, were apparently both involved in film casting in Australia (possible competitors?).

Liz Mullinar and Heal for Life

Celebrity agent Robyn Gardiner’s world has collapsed
"Her friendship with former casting agent Liz Mullinar was one casualty. Mullinar was called in by the Seven Network in 1994 to recast Hughes’ character in the top-rating TV show after allegations emerged he had been sexually abusing young cast members. “She (Gardiner) didn’t believe me then and obviously she’s sticking by her husband now,” Mullinar said after Hughes’ convictions."

Both Sarah Monahan and Hughes' niece, Melinda O'Donnell, who accused him too, gave interviews, according to Wikipedia, to the women's magazine Women's Day and were interviewed on TV. As can be seen in her interview on YouTube, the niece gave a strange robotic performance in a kind of duet with the interviewer feeding her leading questions. Several interviews with Sarah Monahan are also on YouTube. She has since written her autobiography, titled "Allegedly". (Rolf Harris's accuser Tonya Lee also gave TV interviews and an interview to Women's Day.)

Did he fall victim to a personal vendetta and/or to opportunists and self-dramatists out for fame and fortune?

Ah Jo; this was very solidly covered when it happened - I'm sure Hedda will provide updates and precis here.

oh yes indeed.

The exchanges between Monahan and her agent, who I have know a long time and dislike intensely, were given as evidence in court


Monahan keeps demanding more & more money for her paid magazine & TV interviews (much like the Harris case) saying she needed the money to finance a new career as a "Hollywood film producer".

Monahan attended the very creepy Liz Mullinar 'Heal4Life' retreat before she made the claims. Mulliner claims the area of NSW she is in is riddled with Satanic child abuse rings (no evidence).

Robert Hughes wife was Mulliner's partner in the theatrical agency. It wasn't an amicable split.

Mulliner & Monahan demanded her ex-partner Robyn Gardiner clients leave her. Not one single one including Cate Blanchet did.

There is a long complicated appeal underway.

# Monahan's Hollywood career never happened. Why these idiots think they can make such damaging claims and prosper is beyond me. When actor Elijah Wood made a very stupid statement in an interview that a powerful pedophile ring operated in Hollywood not only did he make himself look like an idiot (prepared to jump on the casting couch?) I know as fact his agent told him if he ever wanted to work in films again he better backtrack at a million miles an hour.

This is not because the 'pedo ring' is real : it's because agents more than anyone know how vulnerable artists are and are always being falsely accused. Why would you want anyone near films that make such outrageous claims and why would you would you even entertain employing someone who issues demands to superstars like Blanchet?

# I think someone on here praised Monahan at one stage. I've met here..didn't like her but anyone who would use the agent she used has few scruples.
## said agent's career is now non-existent..no-one will go near him.

## I saw Liz Mulliner 2 years ago at a benefit for dozens of people who had originally funded the Belvoir Street Theater in Sydney- she had the most haunted eyes I've ever seen. Heaps of names there including Geoffrey Rush..she had a sort of invisible fence around her- no-one wanted to go near her.

There also seems to have been a connection between Heal for Life and/or Liz Mullinar and the Rolf Harris case.

"Around the time the letters were sent to the Queen, a British woman contacted a victims’ charity Down Under called Heal for Life to accuse Harris of abuse."
Rolf Harris victim wrote to Queen

"Liz Mullinar, founder of child abuse charity Heal for Life, said: ‘Not naming suspects in cases like this is a disgrace. It means nobody else can come forward. It is protecting the perpetrators not the victims.’"
How Rolf's bullying lawyers cited Leveson inquiry to hide his arrest

"Liz Mullinar, who has counselled women he attacked and is the founder of the child abuse charity Heal for Life, said the lyrics gave her the ‘shudders’."
Rolf Harris victim hits back with own lyrics

Just a few months before Rolf Harris was convicted:
There are more paedophile celebrities, says former casting agent

JK, perhaps you could ask hedda if you're in contact with him to contact the private investigators if he knows anything that might be relevant to the Rolf Harris case. Their involvement is indicated in a post pinned to the top of the Support Justice for Rolf Harris Facebook page.

Your comments on this are always interesting, hedda.

Jo wrote:
JK, perhaps you could ask hedda if you're in contact with him to contact the private investigators if he knows anything that might be relevant to the Rolf Harris case. Their involvement is indicated in a post pinned to the top of the Support Justice for Rolf Harris Facebook page.

I've already been contacted by and given what little evidence I know to Hughes' appeal solicitors.

Mainly about the agent she used and has long been associated with.

Normally this is not something I would ever do but Hughes has been viciously railroaded whatever the truth and that agent has a lot of very bad karma coming his way. They did not delve far back enough in his dealings with numerous young Oz actors including many from Hey Dad,
They have now subpoenaed records going back 15 years.

There is huge disquiet in Oz legal circles over the manner of Hughes' conviction and the way in which the media was manipulated. Caught many people off-guard.

# very similar to the Oz lawyer John Marsden who was viciously pursued over claims of child sex ( we all knew John was into rough trade, never children)..John won his libel case after over 10 years of vicious fighting and an enormous payout. It killed him in the end.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Marsden_(lawyer)

much better story about Marsden who was a larger than life character
www.smh.com.au/news/national/turkey-is-a...8/1147545460777.html