Julia Gillard’s former partner ordered to pay $7,000 fine

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Julia Gillard’s former partner Tim Mathieson has avoided a jail sentence despite sexually assaulting a sleeping woman in her apartment. The court was told Mathieson initially laughed and denied doing anything wrong but now admits his guilt.

Transcript

00:00 Leaving court in disgrace.

00:04 Once dubbed Australia's first bloke, Tim Matheson is now a convicted sex offender.

00:09 Do you have anything to say to that woman?

00:11 Tim, you've already spoken.

00:12 What did you do?

00:13 Today a magistrate spared him jail time for sexually assaulting a sleeping woman last

00:19 year.

00:20 The 66-year-old ducked into a pub to avoid the cameras.

00:24 The Melbourne Magistrate's Court was told Matheson and the woman had lunch at her Brunswick

00:28 apartment.

00:29 She fell asleep and woke to find Matheson sucking her nipple and grabbing her breast.

00:34 He laughed when she told him to stop before he was kicked out of the apartment.

00:39 "Sorry, that won't happen again," Matheson told the victim, but later told police he

00:44 did nothing wrong.

00:45 Matheson now admits he assaulted the woman.

00:48 The court was told the pair struck up a friendship during lockdown and she felt betrayed by what

00:53 he'd done.

00:54 "I was in a state of confusion, anger and felt completely disrespected," she said.

01:01 Matheson was previously in the national spotlight as the partner of former PM Julia Gillard.

01:06 The pair's relationship ended about two years before Matheson assaulted the other woman.

01:12 Magistrate Belinda Franyik told Matheson his offending was a serious example of sexual

01:16 assault, but said his history of charitable work and clean criminal record were important

01:22 factors in lowering his sentence.

01:25 It's well understood that taking advantage of a sleeping victim is an aggravating and

01:29 highly culpable act.

01:31 The magistrate recorded a conviction and fined Matheson $7,000, but the blow to his reputation

01:37 is one he's unlikely to recover from.

01:40 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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