Luke Foley allegations: Australia has to do better

We have to do better.

Generally speaking, if those in power can find a way to not take responsibility for their actions, they will.

Former NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley has declared the allegations against him are false.

If he decides to launch defamation proceedings, the onus will fall to ABC journalist Ashleigh Raper to prove her account.

And satisfying this legal standard of proof is never easy.

Often it is a long, drawn-out process.

Quite possibly it will be even more taxing on Ms Raper than the two years she suffered in silence.

And all because Corrections Minister David Elliot aired the allegations under the cover of parliamentary privilege, in a case of political point-scoring.

He has yet to comment. Or apologise.

But Ms Raper has made it clear she never wanted to make a complaint.

Perhaps because she didn't want to suffer the consequences.

That has now unravelled.

Around the world, sexual assault and harassment is being treated with both careful respect and disdain. 

In the era of #MeToo, US President Donald Trump told reporters the movement was really about persecuting men.

"I say that it's a very scary time for young men in America, when you can be guilty of something that you may not be guilty of," he said.

In some political circles, a vote for Trump became a symbolic tick of approval for going the grope to someone's private parts. 

More recently, the Brett Kavanaugh case brought the heady mix of politics, power and one woman's allegations into the spotlight. 

He denied Christine Blasey Ford's account at an emotional hearing.  

And closer to home, now there is Luke Foley.

Do you see a pattern here?

Australia must continue to in turn shun the old "boys-will-be-boys" and "drunken idiots" will be "drunken idiots" ethos.