Hypothetical: 'Compulsive bottom pincher'

This excerpt from the Sunday program features part of the first edition of the Hypothetical segment broadcast on 11 March 1984.

London-based, Australian-born barrister Geoffrey Robertson AO QC presents the Hypothetical through a series of complex problems put to a panel of business and community leaders. Robertson plays ringmaster, inviting them to react to a hypothetical scenario through role play.

This particular scene highlights the attitudes of the time towards sexual harrassment and misconduct. There is a lot of awkward laughter from both the panel and the studio audience and the scenario offers multiple ways for the perpatrator to be excused laughed off.

Of the 15 panellists only 2 are women and there are no people of colour, which also says a lot about representation in the Australian media in the mid-1980s.

The second part of the scenario covers discrimination in the workplace.

Aside from Robertson, this exchange features Bob Ansett – who was the managing director of Budget Rent-a-car, and Richard Walsh, who was the chief executive of Angus & Robertson.

Summary by Richard Vorobieff and Beth Taylor