A woman named Belle Gibson said she would deal with terminal cancer in her own way.  She developed the concept of ‘wellness’ online and became something of a cult figure.  She collected a lot of money – for charity, she said.  It was all a lie and thousands were left hurt and betrayed.  Some big names in business – Apple and Penguin – just looked inept and greedy. 

The story is very competently told by two journalists who know the implications of this shambles for their profession, Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano in the just published The Woman Who Fooled the World, The True Story of Wellness Guru Belle Gibson.  It is well worth reading for at least three reasons.

First, a retired lawyer who is nearly eighty has no experience – none – with social media.  But he has seen the impact of children living secluded in a virtual world and wonders if it is illegal to be seen in Yarraville not working an iPhone – especially if you are crossing a busy intersection.  And then there is the disaster of the pioneer of alternative facts – Donald Trump.  It is hard to say which is worse about his Gaza raving – its lunacy or savagery.  This book details how easily people are deluded.   There is more than one born every minute.  It is, frankly, terrifying.  We are losing our capacity for outrage, and being conditioned to accept obvious duplicity.

Secondly, the authors know the implications for their profession.  Journalists have professional obligations on how they report allegations against people – quite apart from the law of defamation.  Frauds like Belle Gibson take flight online where there are few if any such rules.  The role of gatekeeper just goes.  So, they release the story in two parts – the failure to pass money on to charity; then the allegation that it was all a lie anyway.  It is very unsettling to see how this unfolds before those who cannot tolerate doubt.

Thirdly, I have always had real misgivings about our criminal law, especially imprisonment as punishment – someone said that punishment is a measure of despair – but this woman was engaged in preying on people at their weakest moment and robbing them.  She brazenly set herself up in a position of trust and then cruelly betrayed that trust.  Psychiatrists have a term for the syndrome, but it is not suggested that she could plead insanity. 

Why was she not charged and, upon conviction, jailed?  The matter was dealt with by the civil service – the Department of Consumer Affairs.  In my experience, they are even more toothless than ASIC.  But the police opted out early.

……it’s understood that authorities favoured civil charges because that meant it could also hold Gibson’s publisher to account.  Consumer Affairs considers gaining industry-wide change to be a bigger win than claiming the scalp of one rogue operator.  It was a two birds one-stone scenario: Gibson would be charged, and a warning shot would be fired across the bows of the publishing industry.

In the result, Gibson did not turn up to the Federal Court, and was fined amounts which she has no capacity to pay, while she waves cheerily to her chagrined neighbours in Northcote.  You and I pick up a big tab.  And the law looks an ass.

I commend the book.