The One
Who Tastes
Knows:
An
Exclusive
Interview
With Rabia
Siddique
Kate Matheson
The first thing you notice about Rabia Siddique
when you meet her is - well, her. There is no
hesitation in her manner, no sense that there will
be any obstacle or challenge that could possibly lie
ahead with the ability to defeat her, or any person
who will stop her from doing what she needs to do.
From a friendly business meeting to a minefieldworthy courtroom battle, whatever she intends to
see as an outcome, that will be the outcome.
The second thing?
That this perception is absolutely correct. The
third thing is that she will do it with a warmth and
humanity which both disarms and makes one
understand just why she is so influential.
When given the opportunity to interview Rabia, I
had literally - and I do mean literally - just finished
reading her memoir, Equal Justice, which my sister
in law had lent me (and yes, I did admit to her that
I had not bought the book myself. She cheerfully
signed said book for Dayle, which gained me some
serious kudos, so many thanks Rabia). I think I
possibly grabbed the person who had offered the
interview by the throat and said ‘Make. It. Happen.’
- or something hopefully less threatening and
more bribe-orientated - because I was fascinated
by her. This was an Australian woman, a Muslim of
‘Anglo-Indian descent’, as she would have once
been referred to (and still was in one of the British
newspaper accounts I read regarding Basra), who
had served as an Commissioned Legal Officer in
the British Army not just with distinction, but with
extraordinary courage. She had survived the horror
of being held hostage in Iraq whilst negotiating
the release of two Special Forces soldiers, and the
subsequent investigation she demanded into the
event and misconceptions of her role in it.
The youngest ever Federal Prosecutor in Western
Australian History. An international Human Rights
lawyer. Able to speak four languages fluently. A
panellist on Q&A. Named one of the 100 most
influential women in Australia by the AFR in 2014.
I think you can see my point. This was the equivalent
of interviewing Wonder Woman. So I threw on the
Lois Lane persona which is my key to a pretence of
confidence, and ventured forth.
As it turned out, the need for the Lois Lane persona
soon disappeared because of that aforementioned
warmth and humanity, and because we were too
busy talking (with much mutual wild gesticulating) to
worry about things like that.