OZschwitz: PM orders anger management for violent slut MP, Belinda Neal

WHEN Kevin Rudd ordered the federal MP Belinda Neal to attend anger management counselling yesterday, he lifted the lid on one of the worst-kept secrets of the NSW Labor Party - that Ms Neal can frequently be abusive and even violent.

Ms Neal is a woman who, senior Labor sources say, keeps photographs and written names of her political enemies in her freezer. And neighbours told the Herald yesterday of police visits to Ms Neal's home at Woy Woy Bay, where she lives with her husband, the NSW Education Minister, John Della Bosca. They had often heard her swearing and screaming coming from the house.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister was forced to interrupt his tour of Japan - one of the most important international visits of his political career - to telephone Ms Neal. He ordered her to undergo anger management, and threatened to dump her from the Labor Party if she transgressed again.

Mr Rudd had reached his limit. In the past week, Ms Neal has been accused of swearing and abusing staff at Gosford's Iguanas Waterfront, and threatening she would have the club's "f---ing licence"; and yesterday it emerged that she had been suspended for kicking a rival soccer player while she was on the ground.

Mr Rudd put every Labor MP on notice, saying they were expected to uphold decent standards of behaviour.

"No one, I repeat no one, is guaranteed a future in politics and that goes for all our members of Parliament," he said in Tokyo.

After meeting the Japanese Emperor Akihito, Mr Rudd said: "I spoke to Belinda Neal today and said to her that there appears to be a pattern of unacceptable behaviour. She's indicated that as a result of our conversation that she'll actually be seeking counselling to assist in her own management of her relationships with other people."

A somewhat contrite Ms Neal confirmed this yesterday, admitting that her argument with Iguanas staff "did continue too long". But she continued to insist she had received bad service, and she denied kicking the soccer player when she was down.

But the Iguanas affair appears set now to be investigated by police. The Opposition Leader, Barry O'Farrell, wrote to the Police Commissioner, Andrew Scipione, and asked him to investigate contradictory statutory declarations of the events written by the venue's staff and Ms Neal's and Mr Della Bosca's dining companions.

It will not be the first time the police have been involved with the couple, say neighbours who spoke to the Herald yesterday. They confirmed that police had been called to the couple's home two or three times in the past decade, and it was "not uncommon" to hear Ms Neal's screams coming from the house.

"Swearing and things being thrown, I've heard it," one male neighbour said. "I've heard them arguing, fighting and throwing things. She's a mouth on her."

It has long been rumoured that Ms Neal has been abusive towards her husband. Mr Della Bosca and Ms Neal did not respond to written questions yesterday, but Mr Della Bosca's spokesman said last night: "The minister does not want to respond to untrue and hurtful muckraking other than to say he loves his wife very much and has been married for 22 years."

When Mr Della Bosca was asked by the Herald in a profile interview last August if Ms Neal had hit him on occasions, he said: "Not true". Three other neighbours in their small dead-end street spoke of Ms Neal's rages

In the Central Coast seat of Robertson, the election night dampener in November was the lurking guilt that, in our desperation to get rid of John Howard, we had sent a time bomb to Canberra. Poor Kevin 07, we sagely said. As we raised our glasses to toast Rudd's win, somebody added: "And Kevin, sorry about Belinda, mate."

"You can hear the language, you can hear the throwing," another said. "She's the one that does all the calling and the abusing."

Ms Neal's erratic behaviour is often viewed in Labor circles as the reason why her husband has not gone further in his career. As one senior Government source said: "The truth is we all know this [latest incident at Iguanas] is Belinda's doing and Della's judgment evaporates when Belinda is involved. It has been the way for 20 years."

One of Ms Neal's Labor colleagues said she publicly humiliated Mr Della Bosca at several country Labor conferences by shouting and abusing him. Another Labor source said she was so vindictive that she boasted of putting her enemies' written names or their photos in the freezer.

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Neal faces Iguanas charge

THE besieged federal Labor MP Belinda Neal could face a charge of conspiring to pervert the course of justice over her former employee's claim that the MP made her staff complete untrue statutory declarations about the Iguanas nightclub affair.

Police sources confirmed they would consider charging Ms Neal while the Prime Minister will come under pressure to expel Ms Neal from the Labor Party tonight, when her former staffer, Melissa Batten, tells Channel Nine's A Current Affair that she no longer stands by her statutory declaration about the Iguanas nightclub fracas. She wrote the statement in Ms Neal's presence.

The Herald understands she claims Ms Neal, a solicitor, instructed staff on what to put in and what to leave out of their statutory declarations about the night of June 6, when Iguanas staff alleged the MP and her husband, the NSW Education Minister, John Della Bosca, threatened and abused them.

A police source said Mrs Batten had made very similar allegations during a five-hour police interview. When asked if her allegations could result in Ms Neal facing charges of perverting the course of justice, the source said: "[Investigators] would have to be thinking along those lines."

Conspiring to pervert the course of justice carries a maximum sentence of 14 years' jail. Another option, legal experts said, would be to charge Ms Neal with being an accessory to the creation of a false statutory declaration.

Mr Rudd's office was made aware of the allegations in the program on Friday and Mr Rudd warned yesterday there would be "severe" consequences for any MPs who acted illegally.

"If anybody, anybody, breaks the law then the consequences are severe," he said after attending church in Canberra. "That is why this is subject to a police investigation. As I have said before, no-one, I repeat, nobody, is guaranteed of any future in politics."

Mr Rudd has ordered Ms Neal to undergo anger management counselling but has repeatedly deferred a further decision on her fate until police finish investigating the contradictory statutory declarations by Neal supporters and nightclub staff. While some in Labor believe Mr Rudd will move to expel Ms Neal immediately after the program tonight, others say he will await the result of the police inquiry. The Herald understands police are keen to wrap up the investigation in the next week and send a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Seven statutory declarations were prepared by Ms Neal's staff and supporters, but only four were released by the office of Mr Della Bosca, who was stood down as a minister on June 13 pending the police investigation. It is understood that A Current Affair will report all the declarations were completed at the same time in Ms Neal's office, as she watched. Mrs Batten's, her husband David's and that of another staffer, Matthew Rigby, were not released.

Reports yesterday suggested that members of Ms Neal's staff were consulting lawyers and had declined police interviews. They refused to comment to the Herald on whether Ms Neal had co-written their declarations. One, Christine Calbert, whose 50th birthday party was the setting for the Iguanas flare-up, said: "All I can say is that I stand by what I said in my statutory declaration. That it is 100 per cent true."

Channel Nine is understood to have paid Mrs Batten tens of thousands of dollars for the interview.

Josh Murray, the chief of staff to the Premier, Morris Iemma, denied yesterday that it was he who suggested to Mr Della Bosca or his office that they have the statutory declarations prepared. In what appears to be blame-shifting by Della Bosca and Iemma forces, claims of Mr Murray's involvement has been attributed to the Della Bosca camp.

But Mr Murray said: "The conversation obviously turned to, 'There are six people [Iguanas staff] saying this happened; Della and his office's view was there are plenty of people around that could say the opposite.' I think the corroboration of their story was the suggestion and that turned into statutory declarations."

Ms Neal's spokesman said she had no comment, but might later.

Ms Neal's soccer team, Umina United, beat Ourimbah FC 2-1 yesterday. After a two-week ban for allegedly kicking a rival, Ms Neal was due back but she will not play until the Iguanas affair is resolved, she has told her coach, John Payne. "I hope she plays again but I'm not too sure she will," he said.

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THE Australian Federal Police have been drawn into the Iguana affair after a former staff member of Belinda Neal said the federal Labor MP pressured her to sign and lodge a false statutory declaration.

The Federal Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, yesterday wrote to the Federal Police Commissioner, Mick Keelty, requesting that his officers join the NSW police investigation.

Their role would be to determine whether there had been any breach of federal law during the events at the Iguana waterfront complex on June 6.

In a paid interview aired last night, a tearful Melissa Batten said her now former boss pushed her to forget memories including one of Ms Neal threatening staff by saying "Do you know who I am?"

"She said, 'No, Mel. I didn't say that. I wouldn't say that'," Ms Batten said. "'No, Mel. You didn't hear that'."

Ms Batten, who quit working for the Central Coast MP last week because of the stress, has made the same allegations to police investigating the incident.

Kevin Rudd, who is understood to be keen to be rid of Ms Neal, would not comment on Ms Batten's claims last night.

But he will move for Ms Neal's expulsion or suspension from the ALP if the police inquiry leads to charges such as conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

Ms Neal declined to comment last night and will say nothing until after the police investigation.

In a direct challenge to the version of events given by Ms Neal and her husband, the NSW minister John Della Bosca, Ms Batten told Channel Nine's A Current Affair that Ms Neal was "a bit more than tipsy" but not drunk on the night of June 6.

Staff asked the birthday party of nine to continue outside so their table could be moved to make way for a nightclub.

The group moved but Ms Neal and Mr Della Bosca stayed inside to remonstrate with staff. Ms Batten said she witnessed this and was "surprised, disappointed and shocked" to hear Ms Neal say "Do you know who I am?" Ms Batten said that after the couple left she apologised to the staff.

On the Monday, with the story running in the media, Ms Batten said Ms Neal, a solicitor, spoke to her on the phone for an hour.

The next day all staff were called into Ms Neal's electoral office, given notes she had prepared and told to write a statutory declaration. The declarations essentially exonerate Ms Neal and Mr Della Bosca.

Ms Batten included her apology to staff that night but said Ms Neal made her rewrite the declaration with this removed.

"Belinda came over once I finished it. She glanced at it and she said to me, 'I don't think that needs to be included. Basically the more details in these things, loopholes can be found."'

The original declaration was shredded and Ms Batten said she knew it was wrong to write another. She said she was "physically shaking" as she lodged the declaration at the local courthouse. Last week she said she told the police "the truth, the whole truth".

A spokesman for Morris Iemma said the Premier was awaiting the results of the police inquiry before considering further action. He has already suspended Mr Della Bosca from the ministry.

Mr Della Bosca did not respond to questions yesterday about his role, if any, in the preparation of the statutory declarations, but the state Opposition Leader, Barry O'Farrell, said it was unbelievable that he would not have been aware of his wife's alleged actions.

Mr Della Bosca did not respond to written questions yesterday about his role in the preparation of the statutory declarations from any of the couple's dining companions or when he and Ms Neal would be interviewed by police.

In Parliament Mr Rudd again denied he or his office played any role in preparing statutory declarations from the couple.

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"Taking money without permission is stealing unless you work for the IRS then it's taxation. Killing people en masse is homicidal mania unless you work for the Army then it's National Defense. Spying on your neighbors is invasion of privacy unless you work for the FBI then it's National Security. Running a whorehouse makes you a pimp & poisoning people makes you a murderer unless you work for the CIA then it's counter intelligence." R. Wilson. ANCAPS Forum Headquarters, Ancapolis

Political slut Belinda Neal calls for help in nasty Iguanas twist

The embattled federal MP asks police to step in after a run-in with a TV reporter. Andrew Clennell, Dylan Welch and Mark Davis write.

UNIFORMED police marched into Belinda Neal's Gosford office yesterday. But those expecting another seismic development in the long-running Iguanas saga would have been disappointed.

Despite the clear belief of the Prime Minister that the federal MP should emulate her spouse, John Della Bosca, by agreeing to a police interrogation over the events on the night of June 6 there was no "interview".

In fact, it was Ms Neal complaining of intimidation - at the hands of the Nine Network's A Current Affair.

The embattled MP, who had been photographed entering her office with a bloodied left knuckle, had summoned police to complain about being accosted by a Nine crew when she arrived.

The public sense of letdown was also evident in Sydney. The suspended state education minister had been trailed by the media on his train journey from Gosford - apparently resulting in him hiding in the toilet for most of the hour-long trip - with expectations that he would meet his lawyers and then submit to police questioning.

After all, Mr Della Bosca had been ordered by the Premier, the previous night to abandon his ploy of providing a written statement to police but declining to answer questions from the Gosford investigating unit.

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Last edited by Nemo on Sun Jul 06, 2008 8:49 pm; edited 1 time in total

OZschwitz: Politico slut on the run disguised as a holiday

The embattled federal MP Belinda Neal arrived at Cairns Airport yesterday with her husband, the NSW MP John Della Bosca, and their two children for a holiday at an undisclosed location.

NSW police are about to conclude their investigation into an incident at Iguanas on June 6, at which Ms Neal is alleged to have abused staff and threatened to have the venue's licence suspended.

The couple succumbed to pressure and were interviewed by police.

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Scum!
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"Taking money without permission is stealing unless you work for the IRS then it's taxation. Killing people en masse is homicidal mania unless you work for the Army then it's National Defense. Spying on your neighbors is invasion of privacy unless you work for the FBI then it's National Security. Running a whorehouse makes you a pimp & poisoning people makes you a murderer unless you work for the CIA then it's counter intelligence." R. Wilson. ANCAPS Forum Headquarters, Ancapolis