Robert Dean gave the media a piece of his mind on Monday morning when he unexpectedly arrived at Parliament House, the scene of the Liberal’s post-election party meeting.

Robert Dean, the former Liberal shadow treasurer who was taken off the roll by the VEC, gave the press an almighty bucketing over five minutes at Parliament House on Monday morning.

The bloke is a bitter whinger, but some of what he said does have merit and deserves examination and we probably won’t get this from the jackals who slaughtered the bloke day after day.

For instance, where did this suggestion come from that Dr Dean cheated on his travel allowance? Neil Mitchell started the rumour on 3AW and The Age ran with it when Dr Dean says it is completely groundless. Did either outlet apologise for creating a slur that was completely groundless. Similarly, Dr Dean is right when he says that he never signed a false declaration yet the media gave this a big run too.

And the media kept on saying that he failed to enroll. This is not correct. He was taken off the roll by the Victorian Electoral Commission without his knowledge after the Liberals had seen his name on the roll before nominations went in.

To constantly label him as the “disgraced former Treasury spokesman” is very harsh when the bloke has simply made an unfortunate mistake that destroyed his career and his party’s electoral prospects.

Let’s start a list prominent people who have been labelled “disgraced” by the media and assess whether they are all fair. Afterall, Crikey stuffed his nomination when trying to run in 1999 and no-one called me “disgraced former journalist”.

Here is an extract of Dean’s tirade:

ROBERT DEAN: I think that they’ve shown no humanity at all. I think that making allegations in relation to signing false declarations which are so ludicrous has been a disgraceful thing to do. I think a particular paper has done that, probably intentionally.

It’s been very upsetting, it’s hurt my wife, it’s hurt myself. It’s as if one person can make a mistake in this world and other people can’t, and I think the press have to look pretty closely at themselves, at the way they…they’ve been knocking on my door, ringing, 6 o’clock in the morning pounding on my front door, they’ve been leaving cigarette butts all around the front of my place, they’ve stolen one of my statues, they’ve broken into my home, they’ve followed me in cars.

It is a disgraceful thing to do, and I think it’s about time, since this whole thing started, and I think that the allegations that have been made in relation to making false declarations and so forth were stupid and silly, and other allegations that even the Speaker is very upset about.

And I think it’s time for the press to get a grip on itself and realise that there are private individuals who deserve some privacy, and not only that, there’s a bit of humanity to be expressed. We’re all people, as well as our jobs and what we do, and if you destroy someone’s life, upset their wife, and the family…

Do you know that there were people coming up to my house, I know you’re enjoying this because you’re getting a good cut so don’t look quite so shocked about it, and actually questioned my 88 year-old father and my mother at my home. They drove up the drive and started questioning dad, who is incredibly frail at this stage, and it was just a disgraceful thing to do, and the press…

ABC TV reporter, Michael Magazanik: How do you know the press stole your statue, seriously?

ROBERT DEAN: Well, they were the only people in my yard there for two days, and when I came back, my neighbours came in, they cleaned up all the cigarette butts, they cleaned up the containers of drink that had been left there, they told me that people had been all over the lawns, and one of the statues is gone. Now, it could have been someone else, but you put two and two together.