ISSTD 3 - Fiona Barnett on ISSTD's Michael Salter
Introduction
Fiona Barnett Exposes Michael Salter
Fiona Barnett, ritual abuse survivor, rang Michael Salter on 11 Apr 2018. She was prompted to do this because in 2015 Salter had stated that the Australian government was not part of organised ritual abuse and that his studies concluded this type of abuse was non-existent in Australia. Fiona however had personal experience of being a victim of exactly that abuse.
In 2018, when Fiona spoke to Salter, he was on the ISSTD Board of Directors, and Associate Editor of Child Abuse Review, the Journal of the British Association for the Study and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. He had also been Chair of the ISSTD’s Ritual Abuse / Mind Control Organized Abuse (RAMCOA) special interest group [15]. Salter would later become ISSTD President in 2023 [70].
Fiona wrote about Salter and the phone call in her book Eyes Wide Open Lockdown Edition. Pdf downloads here [122s] [122w] and those parts of her book about Salter are reproduced below in screenshot and in text form in Appendix 1. Discussion follows the screenshots.
Excerpts on Salter from Fiona Barnett’s book Eyes Wide Open Lockdown Edition.
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Discussion
I will just pick out some items for discussion.
Survivors Speaking Out on Social Media
Salter said that survivors posting on social media is pointless and that proving anything from 30 years ago is almost impossible.
Salter: ‘Saying there is a criminal hierarchy, or that the CIA was here, and posting it all over websites and YouTube, is pointless. Proving anything from thirty years ago is almost impossible.’..
For survivors who try to go through the Police and then the Court system it is not only tremendously stressful and triggering but an extremely lengthy process, totally out of their control, unlikely to achieve justice and survivors often receive blowback or revenge from the authorities. Often the process breaks survivors and destroys their relationships, their family, their job and their life.
One of the only methods open to survivors and probably the method that most achieves the goals of survivors is to tell their story on social media. They can say what they want, when they want and as they want to, and anonymously if needed. That disclosure, which often by itself lifts a burden from survivors is a step on the way as part of their healing. I know because I have helped tell survivors stories for ten years and that is what they have said.
For Salter to say that it is pointless for a survivor to do this is not only denying those survivors a voice, but reveals a worrying lack of understanding about survivors. Does he not care about survivors, does he not know what will help them? Salter is meant to be an expert in ritual abuse and DID, yet he says things like this? Is his view representative of ISSTD? Salter’s view is surely indicative of the ISSTD view as he is a high profile member.
Fiona disagreed with Salter from her own experience. She had famously drawn pictures, made videos, done interviews and achieved many breakthoughs in helping and inspiring other survivors, bringing attention and helping the public understand child abuse and ritual abuse, as well as putting pressure on authorities to investigate one example being Daruk. In my view Fiona moved the Overton windown on ritual abuse after her first disclosures in pictures in 2015, My Story Fiona Barnett – “Hang on for the Ride” [214], and her method of campaigning.
The Trauma Industry
Salter used a strange phrase - the “trauma industry”, which he claimed had suffered from survivors going public and not being able to prove their claims.
The trauma industry has suffered from people going public and making public claims about people and organisations which they couldn’t prove. There is a need for evidence more than survivor testimony.’
The “trauma industry” is not a phrase I have heard before, nor one I like, but it seems that Salter is willing to speak on behalf of the “trauma industry” but not survivors. Is Salter part of “Big Trauma”? Is Salter willing to protect the interests of “Big Trauma” rather than survivors or patients? A revealing phrase. In my view survivors should not be considering the “trauma industry” when deciding what is best for them.
Esoteric v Exoteric
Salter based his views on exoteric assessments such as that Whitlam and Kerr Australian politicians were political enemies. He used this to deny that they could be in a homosexual relationship. Fiona not only gave evidence of how this was untrue exoterically but also said their public facades do not relate to how they behave in private. Put another way the exoteric story is different to the esoteric one. Salter should know this if he is an expert in ritual abuse, so to even to make those trivial arguments looks suspicious, that he is trying to cover something up. He must know that for anyone on the cult, their allegiance to the cult far surpassess any political or public allegiances. It looks as though Salter is trying to keep a lid on ritual abuse and mind control disclosures.
Blue Knot
Fiona mentioned in the book that Salter had previously sat on the Board of Directors of Blue Knot Foundation, an organisation that Tim Roy, survivor had told her sabotaged his case against VIP perpetrators by refusing to hand police copies of his evidence. For information on Tim Roy see Tim Roy Australian Survivor [121]
Colin Ross
Salter says ‘Colin Ross is a weird dude! He’s just weird! . Colin Ross is high level ISSTD therapist.
Science
Salter appeared to have cherry picked the survivors that he believed to achieve the narrative he wanted. That is not science. I am not sure if Salter has published that research but as Fiona pointed out Salter changed the numbers involved from 40 to 50 but she said that she knew hundreds of survivors involved in ritual abuse.
ISSTD
In 2023 Michael Salter, despite of or because of his views, became the President of ISSTD.
Does the position of the ISSTD in the “trauma industry” allow them the ability to offer survivors and patients good therapy?
Are the interests of the survivor or patient subordinate to the interests of the ISSTD and the trauma industry?
Michael Salter and Fiona Barnett
Previous Posts on ISSTD
Links
[2] ISSTD website https://www.isst-d.org/public-resources-home/
[11] ISSTD Michael Salter https://web.archive.org/web/20220817033051/https://news.isst-d.org/spotlight-on-volunteers-michael-salter/
[12] Welcome to our Newly Elected Officers and Board Members! https://web.archive.org/web/20231226194903/https://news.isst-d.org/welcome-to-our-newly-elected-officers-and-board-members-2/
[13] Delphi Centre Salter https://web.archive.org/web/20231103212727/https://delphicentre.com.au/presenters/assoc-prof-michael-salter/
[14] Linked In Salter https://web.archive.org/web/20240101131150/https://hr.linkedin.com/posts/michael-salter-335330161_2022-melbourne-regional-conference-isstd-activity-6982458262222757888-oo-w
[15] Grey Faction Salter 1 https://greyfaction.org/resources/proponents/salter-michael-i/
[70] 2023 ISSTD Board of Directors https://web.archive.org/web/20230417030538/https://www.isst-d.org/about-isstd/board-of-directors/ Salter President
[121] 2024 Feb 13 thefoxblog3 Tim Roy Australian Survivor https://foxyfox.substack.com/p/tim-roy-australian-survivor #TimRoy #survivor #australia #fionabarnett #stevemcmurray #ritualabuse
[122s] Fiona Barnett - Eyes Wide Open Lockdown Edition substack https://foxyfox.substack.com/api/v1/file/f41a2377-b023-48e8-acff-78970851410b.pdf
[122w] Fiona Barnett - Eyes Wide Open Lockdown Edition wordpress https://cathyfox.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/fionaeyesewo_june2020_lockdownedition.pdf
[124] 2024 Feb 14 foxblog3 ISSTD 2 - The Search for Satan (1995) https://foxyfox.substack.com/p/isstd-2-the-search-for-satan-1995 #frontline #TheSearchForSatan #ISSTD #BigPharma #DID #mindcontrol #mkultra
[214] 2015 Nov 30 My Story Fiona Barnett – “Hang on for the Ride” https://cathyfox.wordpress.com/2015/11/30/my-story-fiona-barnett-hang-on-for-the-ride/
[fb3IS1] 2021 Feb 10 thefoxblog3 ISSTD 1 - Introduction to ISSTD https://foxyfox.substack.com/p/isstd-1-introduction-to-isstd #isstd #mindcontrol #programming #cabal #therapists #foxblog
[fb3IS2] 2024 Feb 14 foxblog3 ISSTD 2 - The Search for Satan (1995) https://foxyfox.substack.com/p/isstd-2-the-search-for-satan-1995 #frontline #TheSearchForSatan #ISSTD #BigPharma #DID #mindcontrol #mkultra
Appendix 1 - Text Copy of Salter Extracts from Fiona Barnett’s book Eyes Wide Open Lockdown Edition
‘Do you know Michael Salter,’ the Alaskan therapists questioned me following my presentation.
‘Never heard of him before the Seattle conference,’ I responded.
The Tacoma Police social worker had shown me some texts between her and Salter that I found irritating. Fellow Australian Michael Salter presented on DID in Seattle and Alaska in 2015 and said the opposite to what I said: that the Australian government has never been involved in organised child abuse, ritual abuse or mind control, and that his studies concluded this type of abuse was non-existent.
‘I will deal with Michael Salter when I return to Australia.’
Michael Salter describes himself as an ‘expert’ in ‘complex trauma,’ ‘organised child abuse,’ and ‘complex forms of victimisation including organised abuse and technologicallyfacilitated abuse.’ Salter wrote articles with titles like, ‘Why does it take victims of child sex abuse so long to speak up?’ and co-authored an article on DID with Warrick Middleton (who said ritual abuse is a ‘metaphor for incest’). Michael Salter sits on the ISSTD (International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation) Board of Directors, and he is an Associate Editor of Child Abuse Review (journal of the British Association for the Study and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect). He previously sat on the Blue Knot Foundation Board of Directors (the organisation Tim Roy says sabotaged his case against VIP perpetrators by refusing to hand police copies of his evidence.)
I phoned Michael Salter on 11 April 2018, and introduced myself, ‘Hi Michael, this is Fiona Barnett. I’m writing a book and I called you to clarify something. I spoke on trauma and dissociation in America, and the therapists I spoke with in Seattle and Alaska said they heard you speak previously, and that you told them there was no government involvement in ritual abuse and mind control in Australia. Is that right?’
Salter: ‘I think they’re referring to 2015 when I spoke on organised and ritual abuse. I talked about my research with forty or so survivors who, when describing electro-shock and other methods, did not do so in connection to the Australian military. It’s a different situation to the US where there have been credible, consistent reports. Colin Ross has obtained evidence under FOI. We always have a challenge when allegations are not documented, when we go public with some things we think we know but can’t prove. The trauma industry has suffered from people going public and making public claims about people and organisations which they couldn’t prove. There is a need for evidence more than survivor testimony.’
Me: ‘You say there’s no evidence of CIA mind control in Australia. What about MKULTRA Subproject 84 that was conducted at Sydney University in 1960 under the supervision of Martin Orne? Orne and Evans subsequently published an article about that research in a major journal. MK-ULTRA research was conducted at every major Australian university.’
Salter: ‘A few subproject names thrown about. That’s just hearsay. That proves nothing.’
Me: ‘In their published articles, these people acknowledge that their research was financed by the Human Ecology Fund - which was a CIA cut-out for funding MK-ULTRA research, as recorded in the US Library of Congress. That’s called a paper trail! I’m in contact with James Rothstein who was appointed to the first taskforce in the US to investigate organised pedophilia. He discovered a VIP pedophile ring that went all the way to the Whitehouse. He said Watergate solely concerned trying to obtain VIP pedophile records being held at Democratic headquarters. He said they discovered an identical pedophile ring in Australia that involved Australian prime ministers, and he is placing me in touch with Australians who worked on this same ring. He said that every time he got somewhere, arrested or charged a VIP, it was shut down under national security. He said every cop who took this above street level was shut down. The same thing happens in Australia. That’s exactly what happened to Reina Michaelson when she tried to expose this in Victoria.’
Salter raised his voice, ‘I had a lot to do with that case and that is not what happened.’
Me: ‘I know all about that case too. Reina told me that she was placed under something she called a D-notice, and when I saw her in Sydney, she said she was under surveillance by ASIO.’
Salter: ‘This is an area that puts people under a lot of pressure, causing them to become paranoid. Reina talked about electronic weapons and people following her...’
Me: ‘You mentioned Colin Ross. I spoke at his conference, only I didn’t know it was his conference because that was hidden. When I was there, a therapist approached me and told me her client suspiciously died in Colin Ross’ clinic. Then a retired detective told me he researched Colin Ross and found out he had a dubious background including being fired from a hospital for ethical breaches and having a disproportionate number of patients die in his care. Then victims complained to me that Ross mocked them during his conference presentation.’
Salter: ‘Colin Ross is a weird dude! He’s just weird! A lot of paranoia often arises in this field. Everybody currently working in this field is accused of being a perpetrator. That’s the first accusation made. I’ve even been accused. Avoid exaggeration. We must be careful what we take public, what we can’t prove.’
Me: ‘What constitutes evidence?’
Salter: ‘What are we proving? We can use victim testimony to prove that people are using electrodes.’
Me: ‘So, you say you interviewed forty victims and concluded solely from their witness testimony that ritual abuse and mind control exist. Yet you dismiss the testimonies of victims who witnessed government organised child trafficking. What’s the difference? How can you believe one witness testimony but not another?’
Salter: ‘It’s a big jump from making general claims to saying agencies are involved. Stepping forward with the VIP story gets us nowhere without the evidence. One reason perpetrators get away with it is because the public don’t know the basics. The basic process of education is needed because people are stuck in a conspiracy mindset. Ninety-nine percent of professionals are good people. Most of my students want to become police officers. Police need to be trained in how to interview DID victims.’
Me: ‘That’s not the problem.’
Salter: ‘Yes, it is! Police need to recognise what to do when a victim starts switching mid-interview.’
Me: ‘I attended police interviews after I had integrated. The cop who took my statements was clean. But I was cold called by a lawyer who told me the cop above the one who took my statements, the one in charge of my investigation, was involved in the child trafficking network. Sure enough, she stopped my case. A lack of training may be a contributing factor, and it may be a tactic employed to prevent victims being helped, but the main problem is getting police to take our statements in the first place. Victims like me never get anywhere in the first place.’
Salter: ‘I interviewed fifty survivors of severe abuse including ritual abuse, and many of them made statements and some saw their perpetrators convicted.’
Me: Oh, fifty now? ‘You must be dealing with a different population. During the past few years, I’ve met hundreds of victims of government child trafficking, and not one of them had any success with the police or courts. What typically happens with us is, we make a complaint, the cops raid our home at five am and drag us off to prison for something that was dealt with twenty years ago.’
Salter: ‘Saying there is a criminal hierarchy, or that the CIA was here, and posting it all over websites and YouTube, is pointless. Proving anything from thirty years ago is almost impossible.’
Me: ‘That reminds me of the Royal Commission who told me to my face that they had no intention of helping current victims, that they exist to help future victims. My response to that is - current victims are the future.’
Salter: ‘There is no organised child trafficking network. It’s like drugs, lots of people and small groups all over the place deal in drugs; it’s the same with pedophiles. There is no organised criminal hierarchy trafficking children.’
Me: ‘There is a hierarchy - because I witnessed it. So, you’re saying victims shouldn’t bother reporting historical crimes?’
Salter: ‘I’m not advising anyone to do anything.’
Me: ‘I put in a historical complaint to the health board against Antony Kidman. He was dead within a month of my notification. His security team told the press that he was immediately placed on suicide watch following my complaint. See, I was not the first to complain about him.’
Salter: ‘That’s great!’
Me: ‘The Daruk boys’ home is currently under investigation because of my efforts. I pursued that matter, publicised it and harassed the police until they had to investigate.’
Salter: ‘That’s great!’
Me: ‘My winning tactic was to come from a position of experience where I knew that I was dealing with a criminal hierarchy. And I achieved that outcome through what I published on my websites and YouTube. You say victims of organised pedophilia should not make police statements and should not publish our witness testimonies online. So, what you are effectively saying is - victims like me should not have a voice. I went and made police witness statements knowing they would go nowhere, because it was healing. Ask any genuine victim and they will tell you the most important thing to them is justice. All victims have a right to justice.’
Salter: ‘We have a different standard regarding the public domain and publishing what you are unable to prove. Like, saying that you have different brain structure, reduces your credibility.’
Me: ‘Sorry?’ I asked incredulously, ‘Are you talking about the scientific research published in peer edited journals in which functional MRi scans show that both brain hemispheres light up when high IQ people perform cognitive tasks, as opposed to when someone with an average IQ performs the same tasks, only the left hemisphere is activated?’
Salter snidely repeated, ‘Saying that you have different brain structure reduces your credibility.’
Me: ‘Are you familiar with the work of Linda Silverman, with the research I studied in gifted education and psychology?’
Salter: ‘When you say something that contradicts history, you lose credibility. When you say Whitlam and Kerr, who were arch enemies, were in a homosexual relationship, you lose credibility.’
Me: ‘Firstly, a mainstream journalist wrote an article saying exactly that.’
Salter: ‘A dodgy journalist.’
Me: ‘Secondly, I witnessed them having sex at a pedophile orgy at Parliament House, along with many other men from opposing political parties. Their public façades have nothing to with how these politicians act behind closed doors. And, who appointed John Kerr to the position of Governor General in the first place? Gough Whitlam did, against the better judgement of his party. So, Whitlam and Kerr certainly were not enemies at that time, were they? I spoke with a journalist who wrote favourable articles about me. He said he once spoke to a couple of spooks who told him that all senior politicians are pedophiles because that is how they are controlled, and he asked me if that was my experience. Do you know David Donovan who edits the Independent Australia journal that I wrote articles for?’
Salter: ‘I know of him.’
Me: ‘There’s a reason he believed my story. Do you know the film Muriel’s Wedding?’
Salter: ‘Yes.’
Me: ‘That film is mostly based on a true story that occurred in my local area. The character in the movie called Diedre Chambers is based on a real-life woman who ran a local post office with her husband; they had twin boys. David Donovan met one of the twins when he came to pest-control his house. When he realised David was a journalist, he said he had a story for him. When this twin was young, local mayor Tom Hogan (film-maker P.J. Hogan’s father) took him to pedophile parties attended by politicians at Terranora Lakes Country Club, and on an helicopter with Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Opposition Leader Andrew Peacock who sat and got drunk together like they were old mates… Michael, I just think that when you tell people at conferences that you interviewed forty or fifty victims, and because they didn’t say anything about government involvement you conclude there’s no evidence of government involvement - I think you’re better off saying nothing at all, otherwise you are only discrediting victims like me.’
Pause.
Salter: ‘Sorry to cut this short, but I have to get some work done. And sorry things got a little heated at the end.’
Me: ‘That’s okay. This has been a very productive conversation. You have just shown me the weaknesses in my story that I must address. You have shown me the exact direction in which I need to take my book. Thank you for that, Michael.’
Salter: ‘Oh, err…okay. Goodbye.’
‘Bye.’
I phoned the USA to bitch about Mr Salter with David Shurter who concluded, ‘You’ve been triggered because he just spoke to you the way our perpetrators did.’
Then I bitched to James Shanahan who told me Salter was a gay lawyer, and that he was one of the ‘40 to 50’ victims Salter interviewed for his PhD. James concluded, ‘He’s used people like me to advance himself. The fact he’s arguing with you and criticising you tells you what side he’s on.’
I spent my last embers of anger phoning Dr. Reina Michaelson who asked me whether Salter had mentioned that he worked for a NSW Labor Party politician prior to entering the child abuse industry.
No, Michael Salter had not told me he previously worked for the pedophile political party that I was sex trafficked to and by as a child, just before he sprung out of nowhere to steer the narrative and advise therapists concerning ‘complex trauma and organised sexual abuse’ with zero relevant mental health qualifications or clinical experience.
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I worked in civil and criminal courts for 22 years. The testimony of an eye-witness is the most credible form of evidence. Anyone claiming it isn't is on the dark side.
I’ve been saying this for years. Unfortunately no one has ever believed me.