Kerre Woodham: Cross-dressing Don Quixote rejects old boys' club

Sunday July 30, 2006

Thank God there are people like Dr Rob Moodie. As the former kaftan-wearing Police Association representative, he sent shockwaves through 1970s New Zealand.

Now he's donned unorthodox gear again, this time to draw attention to what he perceives as an old boys' cabal running the judiciary.

He's so appalled at what he calls the male domination and corruption of the justice system that he's taken to wearing skirts to work in his capacity as a lawyer and demanding that officers of the court refer to him as Ms Alice.

When I spoke to him last week, he denied that cross-dressing for court was a publicity stunt. It's hard to see it as anything else; however, there's nothing self-serving about the man.

He's hoping that the furore surrounding his choice of clothes will keep the Berryman case foremost in the public mind. Keith and Margaret Berryman have been locked in a costly legal battle with the Ministry of Defence ever since an Army-built bridge on their farm collapsed, killing a local beekeeper.

I don't fully understand the legal complexities of the case, but from the outside looking in, the Berrymans appear to be victims of the machinery of government. Rob Moodie is passionate that they be vindicated. He's tilted at windmills before, and unlike Don Quixote, he's been successful in taking on giants and winning. He's determined that he'll win for the Berrymans, too.

And it's clear from this escapade that he'll do whatever he can for them.