Leaked: How Swinburne is Protecting Aimee Stanton

Описание: In a previous video, we saw that in 2017, Australian celebrity (?) Aimee Stanton admitted on national television that she groped TV presenter Tommy Little after a comedy show without his consent—in her words, by touching his “downstairs region.” This resulted in her being removed by security and him blocking her on social media.

To be fair to Ms. Stanton, she did the right thing by admitting to it—even if the act itself was a gross violation of someone’s physical autonomy. However, I suspect she only confessed because she knew it would be laughed off by the panel, which indeed it was. Sexual assault is no laughing matter—unless, apparently, the perpetrator is a woman and the victim is a man.

In this follow-up, my issue isn’t just with the admission; it’s with Swinburne University of Technology. Despite their public stance on safety to all students, staff, and visitors, and their “zero-tolerance” stance against sexual assault and harassment, they continue to use Ms. Stanton as a featured “pioneer for women” across their website and social media.

As a plumbing graduate who happens to be female and somewhat famous, she is the perfect marketing material for an Australian university that prides itself on the adage that ‘women can do anything.’ Indeed, as we’ve seen on national television, they can also commit sexual assault—although the punishment doesn’t seem to be the same as it would be for a man, in that there is no punishment.

Swinburne fiercely promotes its Gender Equality Action Plan, with Vice-Chancellor and President Pascale Quester noting: “We know that gender equality and the freedom for all to pursue opportunities unhindered by prejudice is critically important for a successful workplace, society and economy”.

The irony here is that the university claims to strive for a workplace where everyone is “welcome, safe and free from sexual harassment”. Yet, they continue to feature a ‘pioneer’ whose most famous public admission is exactly that. It seems Swinburne wants the ‘equality’ photo ops and diversity awards, but they’ll pass on the part where women are held to the same ‘zero-tolerance’ standards as men.

This Facebook post from September is essentially free marketing for both parties. Swinburne notes: “Aimee is reshaping the trades industry with her two businesses, Zadie Workwear for women, and Tiny Stays, a unique off-grid accommodation experience.” Not only does the university get their photo op, but Ms. Stanton gets a free PR boost.

Interestingly, the post shows five comments in the metadata, yet not a single one is visible to the public. Hmm, I wonder why?

An insider from Swinburne reached out to me recently, confirming that staff and/or students have indeed tried to raise these concerns internally. They’ve provided me with the email trail as proof. While obviously I won’t be revealing their identity—as the university’s commitment to a ‘safe environment’ evidently doesn’t always extend to whistleblowers—they have given me permission to share the university’s official response.

As you can see, the sentiment from inside the university is one of frustration at what they describe as ‘arrogant indifference’ from the administration. The official response featured in this trail came from Lucy Rollinson—the Vice-Chancellor’s Chief of Staff and, apparently, the university’s primary gatekeeper for inconvenient truths.

The response from Lucy Rollinson was a masterclass in bureaucratic deflection. Sent on 7 October from the Vice-Chancellor’s office, it was filled with the obligatory PR fluff you’d expect.

Then comes the classic non-apology. She states: “We have no current plans to use Aimee Stanton in future campaigns.” But when asked to remove the existing articles that act as free advertising for Stanton’s businesses, the administration went silent. They simply replied with a digital shrug: “Thank you for email… if you remain unsatisfied with the response, please follow our formal complaints process.”

Clearly, having a current associate of Swinburne admit to sexual assault on national television isn’t ‘formal’ enough to move the needle. Apparently, their ‘zero-tolerance’ policy only applies if you fill out the correct paperwork, in the correct portal, on the correct Tuesday. Swinburne is happy to take the ‘equality’ photo ops, but they’ve developed a sudden case of ‘arrogant indifference’ when asked to actually live up to their own safety standards.

It turns out that at Swinburne, being a ‘Pioneer’ means you can admit to sexual assault and still keep your free advertising—as long as the administration can continue burying the truth behind ‘wrong number’ technicalities and bureaucratic loopholes in a ‘formal complaints process’ that never actually ends.

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