Critical incident analysis and the semiosphere : the curious case of the spitting butterfly

In January 2007, media outlets across Australia reported the outcome of a local court decision, Police v Rose (hereinafter Rose). Two security officers employed by RailCorp, then a state‐owned corporation, had accused Garry Rose of assault for allegedly spitting and 'throwing punches' at them outside Redfern railway station in Sydney. The allegation was referred to the New South Wales Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and came before Magistrate Pat O'Shane. Her Honour found that the offences were not proved and the matter was dismissed. This seemingly trivial event sparked a chain of consequences that culminated in legislative changes to the make‐up of the Judicial Commission, the body responsible for the oversight of judges in New South Wales. In the course of the controversy, key players in government failed to observe a cornerstone of Western democracies, the doctrine of the separation of powers.