This long running and embarrassing saga has finally drawn to a close. At last Jeannie can move on with her life. I understand that she has put massive energy into getting this squashed, so congrats to her and her remaining family.


http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-n ... 6245189915

Do you think this is the end of it?

Judge Paul Brereton

What a whore.

I won't be defending Richard Pratt simply because of his positive involvement with Carlton. As good a businessman as he was (or wasn't depending on how you view things), his extra-marital affairs have left a stain on the mans legacy far greater than the likes of Graeme Samuel ever could. So I wouldn't say it's great news for the Pratt family. Merely a reminder that long after you are dead, your actions while in the living can do monumental damage to those left behind.

I always thought that he and his wife had an arrangement. Not sure if true but I always had the impression that is just how it was.

That he kept a mistress was well known. That he had a child with her was well known too....that he had more than a few on the go at the same time was less known - but the shock value in all this is how can a seemingly intelligent man leave such loose ends behind, knowing when the end would be? Arrangement with wife or not, his last few years has one positive and many large, unsavory negatives. Great man? Debatable.

During a week-long trial last year, the NSW Supreme Court heard stories about three-in-a-bed romps, trained assassins working as body guards, slush funds, drugs and a bitter feud between Ashton and another Pratt mistress, Shari-Lea Hitchcock.

That he kept a mistress was well known. That he had a child with her was well known too....that he had more than a few on the go at the same time was less known - but the shock value in all this is how can a seemingly intelligent man leave such loose ends behind, knowing when the end would be? Arrangement with wife or not, his last few years has one positive and many large, unsavory negatives. Great man? Debatable.

I think there's a very real difference between 'great' and 'good'.

Just because someone's personal moral code doesn't gel with yours, doesn't diminish their achievements. Personally, I think JFK was a deeply flawed person with a very questionable personal moral code. I also think he was a great man.

That doesn't make him a good husband, or a good role model on how best to conduct your personal life. Same goes for Richard Pratt, quite possibly.

Many men achieve greatness, without necessarily maintaining goodness. For me at least, they're entirely different concepts.

Pratt was no angel, but he did achieve a measure of greatness.

I wonder what your responses would have been had our laws of the time meant he served lengthy jail time and tougher penalties on his business? In essence, failed businessman, failed husband...(without discussing the philanthropic generosity because those funds are tainted). His achievements are severely diminished, and my opinions are no longer clouded by Carlton parochialism. Like Ned Kelly whom some consider a hero and others a cold-blooded murderer, Pratts legacy will forever have two opposing points of view.