Speaker 1: Once a high flying minister, now a broken man.
Speaker 2: It was a significant error of judgment on my put
Speaker 2: but it was an honester.
Speaker 3: In two thousand and nine, he was found guilty of
Speaker 3: corruptly receiving secret commissions and jailed for seven years. In
Speaker 3: twenty ten, he was found guilty on five charges of
Speaker 3: official corruption and five charges of perjury and jailed for
Speaker 3: an additional seven years.
Speaker 4: There's a lot of things that I had no idea
Speaker 4: about and shocked me.
Speaker 5: I'm glad that dad had the chance to tell his story.
Speaker 2: I want to go to an Irish pub and I
Speaker 2: want to drink Guinness, and I want to sing.
Speaker 6: My name is Gordon.
Speaker 2: Nuttle, and this is my story.
Speaker 3: The Man behind the Rose. Episode six. Hello, my name's
Speaker 3: Patrick Contren. Thanks for your patience and understanding around the
Speaker 3: delayed publication of this chapter. In this final episode, Gordon
Speaker 3: and his kids Andrew and Lisa look to the future,
Speaker 3: a future they sometimes had trouble glimpsing during their father's
Speaker 3: fourteen year sentence and more recently his diagnosis of stage
Speaker 3: four kidney cancer. For all their trials and tribulations, some
Speaker 3: self inflicted, some not, the Nuttles have remained stubbornly positive.
Speaker 3: They've had plenty of opportunities to say stuff it and
Speaker 3: stuff the lot of you and just give up, but
Speaker 3: they haven't. One of the most telling insights from this
Speaker 3: episode is the revelations that various family members had while
Speaker 3: listening to the podcast. Gordon Nuttle has not been paid
Speaker 3: for taking part in this podcast. The final leg of
Speaker 3: our journey starts in Woodgate, the sleepy beachside village about
Speaker 3: four hours drive north of Brisbane. If you're ever in
Speaker 3: the vicinity, tried the apple turnover at the local bakery.
Speaker 3: It'll transport you back to school touch shops of the
Speaker 3: sixties and seventies. Gordon and I recorded the first part
Speaker 3: of this episode at the end of a long day.
Speaker 3: He'd had his second cancer treatment the day before and
Speaker 3: his parole had ended at midnight.
Speaker 2: What's the future hole, I think I've got twelve grandkids.
Speaker 2: I think that's finished. So that's helpful.
Speaker 6: Look, I hope for me.
Speaker 2: That now that I've been able to tell the world
Speaker 2: my side of things, that I can rest more easy
Speaker 2: in my mind. That at least people can make their
Speaker 2: own judgment, but you make it based on information on
Speaker 2: both sides.
Speaker 1: Why was it important for you to tell your.
Speaker 2: Story because I because I haven't been allowed to. I
Speaker 2: haven't been allowed to for fourteen years. I haven't been
Speaker 2: able to say to the people of Queensland, this is
Speaker 2: what really happened, and this is what you need to
Speaker 2: hear in terms of how I was treated, how it
Speaker 2: was done, and for what purpose? You know, I just ill.
Speaker 2: I still it still beggars me to I don't understand
Speaker 2: why and for what purpose, you know, other than people's
Speaker 2: own egos and to enhance their own careers and reputations.
Speaker 2: I've tried really hard since I've come home to not
Speaker 2: let it eat me up.
Speaker 1: Has it eaten you up?
Speaker 2: I don't think it has. I won't say I haven't
Speaker 2: been angry about it, but it certainly hasn't eaten me up.
Speaker 2: I have embraced life, I'd like to think, to the fullest.
Speaker 2: Since I've come home. I've had some lapses where, you know,
Speaker 2: I've kind of found things a little bit tough, but.
Speaker 1: In what way.
Speaker 2: Well, the struggle I had with the parole Board, the
Speaker 2: struggle I had with the Public Trustee. You think you
Speaker 2: finished jail, but you come home and I've got these
Speaker 2: other battles you know, And so I had to get
Speaker 2: through them as well. And then I had to fight
Speaker 2: regarding my superinnuation. You know, there was a few battles
Speaker 2: I still had to overcome when I got home. So,
Speaker 2: but all those battles are one and done.
Speaker 6: I finished.
Speaker 1: Is the future Rose? Is the future bright? From your perspective?
Speaker 6: Yeah, it is very much so.
Speaker 2: Even though even though I'm not well, as I said,
Speaker 2: I have a full life.
Speaker 1: What does that entail?
Speaker 2: Well, entails well, certainly entail. My balls were fairly large.
Speaker 6: I love my lawn balls. I think people already know
Speaker 6: that by now.
Speaker 2: But you know, I've got Jane in my life, and
Speaker 2: I've got my kids, and I've got my grandchildren, you know.
Speaker 2: And the other thing is I have some very very
Speaker 2: close friends. And through all of this I distinguished very
Speaker 2: much between friends and mates and acquaintances, because when you
Speaker 2: go through something like this, you find that that old
Speaker 2: attitage you can count your friends on one hand as
Speaker 2: a truism. And there were people who I thought were
Speaker 2: really close to me deserted me as quick as anything.
Speaker 2: The fact that I know who my real real friends are,
Speaker 2: the fact that I know who my mates are, the
Speaker 2: fact that I've got that in the scheme of life,
Speaker 2: I want for nothing.
Speaker 1: How would you.
Speaker 3: Encapsulate the journey that you've been on. It would have
Speaker 3: started in two thousand and set up a chart.
Speaker 2: Yeah, challenging is probably an understatement. I don't like using
Speaker 2: the word character building. I don't think it's character building
Speaker 2: at all. It was hard and difficult, and at times
Speaker 2: I felt it was insurmountable, but you managed to overcome it,
Speaker 2: and you managed to overcome it because of the people
Speaker 2: in your life and people around you, and the strength
Speaker 2: that they give you to overcome that. I've got box
Speaker 2: in that shed in there, probably two three hundred, maybe more, cards,
Speaker 2: even from people I don't know, didn't know those sort
Speaker 2: of every every time I was away.
Speaker 6: And I'd get a card or a letter. It kind
Speaker 6: of just put a bit.
Speaker 2: More petrol in the tank to keep going. Just come on,
Speaker 2: you can get there.
Speaker 6: You can get there, you know, because.
Speaker 2: Unless you've been in there, unless you've lived it. Despite
Speaker 2: how I've described it to you, you can't imagine it.
Speaker 2: You can get a bit of a picture, but it's even.
Speaker 1: Worse than that.
Speaker 6: You know, it's horrible.
Speaker 1: It's horrible.
Speaker 2: And so when you get these letters and when you
Speaker 2: get these visits and when you get these cards, the
Speaker 2: littlest thing taste gives you that strength to take the
Speaker 2: next step forward.
Speaker 1: How important has your family been for this.
Speaker 2: Gen enormously everything everything. I married very very young. I
Speaker 2: was only about twenty to shy at twenty one, so
Speaker 2: by the time I was forty, my youngest was fourteen.
Speaker 2: So I've grown up with them very young.
Speaker 6: And I have.
Speaker 2: Loved being a dad, loved being a granddad, and loved
Speaker 2: the fact that as a family were all close and
Speaker 2: we've all worked that day. You know, we've worked at it.
Speaker 2: It's easy not to but we worked at it. So
Speaker 2: you know, as I said, my life is full. It's
Speaker 2: a saying in their happiness is knowing that you have
Speaker 2: everything already or something like that. But I do, and
Speaker 2: I sit here and I think, well, what else do
Speaker 2: I need in life? You know, I'm in the best
Speaker 2: of despite my challenges with my health, I'm in the
Speaker 2: best of care. We are the best people caring for me.
Speaker 2: So I can't ask for any more than that.
Speaker 3: And of course, on that note, you were the health
Speaker 3: minister around Giant Patel at the Bunderberg Hospital and you're
Speaker 3: getting you're not at the same hospital, but you're getting
Speaker 3: treated for your cancer.
Speaker 7: An irony that and there's another irony as well, you know,
Speaker 7: your views on the judicial system and the bowls Club,
Speaker 7: your beloved Bowls Club is on Kangaroo Court.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's an irony, isn't it there? But look, you know,
Speaker 2: our balls club here in Woodgate is kind of the
Speaker 2: hub of the community here, so we get lots of people.
Speaker 2: You know, at the moment, we've got many many people
Speaker 2: up from down south escaping the window. You know, the
Speaker 2: place is full. That's why there's so many people around,
Speaker 2: because they're escaping the window. But they come here because
Speaker 2: it's such a place of beauty. And I can't overemphasize
Speaker 2: how this place, because of its beauty, both in people
Speaker 2: and nature, have helped me heal, you know, and help
Speaker 2: me not to be bitter and twisted about what has happened.
Speaker 1: And you're not bitter and twisted, No, not at all.
Speaker 2: As I said, I yes, I get angry and upset
Speaker 2: about what's happened. But if you get bitter and twisted
Speaker 2: at each other inside, and then you forget what's what's
Speaker 2: around you and what you've got and the beauty that
Speaker 2: is there, you know.
Speaker 1: So what is your day entailed? You get up and
Speaker 1: go for a walk along the beach. I mean now
Speaker 1: that you're now that you're a free man.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I don't have to report in anymore. I have
Speaker 6: out the back beautiful.
Speaker 2: I've got a lovely garden at the back, and I
Speaker 2: like to sit out there and have a couple and.
Speaker 6: Look at my birds.
Speaker 2: There's I've got a bird feeder and a bird bath,
Speaker 2: and you sit there and look at nature. So out
Speaker 2: the back is a bit like the bush, and out
Speaker 2: the front the beach, you know. So I've got it all.
Speaker 2: And so in summer it will be a swim. I
Speaker 2: always go for a swim on the first day of spring.
Speaker 2: The water's fresh, mind you, Yeah, like my day in tails,
Speaker 2: the fact that it's peaceful.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 2: You get up, have my Kappa and go for a
Speaker 2: walk or a bit of a workout in the gym
Speaker 2: and balls is probably four days week. But I do
Speaker 2: want to know that I'm able to and free. I
Speaker 2: do want to travel. I haven't been able to go
Speaker 2: into state without permission, so that process was just ridiculous.
Speaker 2: So I didn't even try to apply for that. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I kind of like to do a bit of travel
Speaker 2: now that I can.
Speaker 1: And you're the local Bowls champion, I believe.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've been fortunate enough to win it a couple
Speaker 2: of times, and I think I can hold my own
Speaker 2: on the green from time to time. But those people
Speaker 2: in the bowling fraternity, in the region that I live in,
Speaker 2: Bunderberg region or the Wide Bay region, I've just been
Speaker 2: so wonderful people.
Speaker 6: As I said, it's always surprised me.
Speaker 2: People I don't even know who come up to me
Speaker 2: and just say it's lovely to see you here, or
Speaker 2: isn't it good to be home, and all that sort
Speaker 2: of stuff, and it just feels the heart and feel
Speaker 2: the heart. So yeah, I feel very blessed to be
Speaker 2: where I am and have what I have in my life.
Speaker 3: A lot of people in your position would be bitter
Speaker 3: and twisted. They would be more angry than you are.
Speaker 1: What does that say.
Speaker 2: I'd like to think that I have a stronger character
Speaker 2: than that, and that having come through what I've come through,
Speaker 2: i am.
Speaker 6: I'm more round it. As a person.
Speaker 2: I would have to say that I've had a fairly
Speaker 2: eventful life if you kind of look at it, I
Speaker 2: always felt my career in politics finished too early, and
Speaker 2: there is so much more I would like to have tried.
Speaker 6: To have done.
Speaker 2: And I'm really proud of what I did achieve while
Speaker 2: I was in there. We were the first state in
Speaker 2: the country the band smoking in pubs and restaurants and
Speaker 2: clubs and out on the footpath.
Speaker 6: We led the.
Speaker 2: Way and I'm really proud of that. I'm really proud
Speaker 2: of the fact that while I was a Health minister
Speaker 2: we introduced the fact that every baby has to have
Speaker 2: a hearing test. I know they're not big things in
Speaker 2: the world, but they are important to people. And that
Speaker 2: was the beauty of the health portfolio, that there are
Speaker 2: a lot of good things you could do.
Speaker 1: What was the highlight of your time in politics?
Speaker 2: I think being pointed to the health minister it was
Speaker 2: a big deal because I knew it was an opportunity
Speaker 2: to do some really good stuff. There's a lot of
Speaker 2: a lot of people get in there and they get
Speaker 2: the folio and they get gun shy. They get gunshy
Speaker 2: and they're frightened to do anything because they're worried about
Speaker 2: what the media might say, or what the premier.
Speaker 6: Might say or whatever.
Speaker 2: There's a few couple of things that I perhaps would
Speaker 2: have done differently.
Speaker 1: Not organized alone with Ken Tellbam.
Speaker 2: Oh, well, that was definitely one of That was the
Speaker 2: low point. But that wasn't about politics. That was the
Speaker 2: whole thing. The whole thing about all of this is
Speaker 2: none of that was about politics, you know, it was
Speaker 2: about personal family stuff. Yeah, And I think people generally
Speaker 2: need to understand that. You know, when you're a minister
Speaker 2: of the crown, you're not perfect. You're going to make
Speaker 2: mistakes and you're going to get things wrong. But you're
Speaker 2: only going to do that if you're doing something. But
Speaker 2: if you're sit around and do nothing, which is really easy,
Speaker 2: and just take all the advice, take all the advice
Speaker 2: and bureaucrats sign all the letters, what are you achieving there?
Speaker 2: I couldn't see that the point of just sitting there
Speaker 2: and doing nothing as a minister.
Speaker 1: Do you feel better?
Speaker 6: Feel better? Now? It's been.
Speaker 2: To be able to tell my story and tell people
Speaker 2: what really happened.
Speaker 6: People will make their own judgments about that.
Speaker 1: Do you care what people think?
Speaker 6: No?
Speaker 2: I don't, because in my heart of hearts, I know
Speaker 2: who I am, and I know that what I've told
Speaker 2: you today and over the last few days that that's
Speaker 2: exactly what happened.
Speaker 6: So if people.
Speaker 2: Choose not to believe that, that's up to them. But
Speaker 2: I have to say that's not the experience I've had
Speaker 2: from the wide in general public. They've been outstanding, outstanding.
Speaker 2: Just in closing, I'll tell you one funny story.
Speaker 1: I'll decide if it's funny.
Speaker 6: Yes, you can decide if it's funny.
Speaker 2: I mean, and this is not a plug for Woollies,
Speaker 2: but I've in Willies. I'm doing my grocery shop. This
Speaker 2: old fellow, Hey, hey, he's a farmer, you know, mate, mate.
Speaker 2: And he comes right he said, you're you Gordon Addle?
Speaker 2: And I said yeah, And he says, Mom, come over here,
Speaker 2: come over here, Mom a top of his voice and
Speaker 2: he's yelling.
Speaker 6: Everyone's looking around. You know this quake is you know?
Speaker 6: This is this Gordon Noddle.
Speaker 2: They put him in jail.
Speaker 6: He didn't need to go to jarl.
Speaker 1: He's a real good lake.
Speaker 6: And everyone's looking.
Speaker 2: But but the purpose of saying that story is that
Speaker 2: that how wonderful and beautiful people were towards me. No
Speaker 2: one has ever come up to me and said you're
Speaker 2: a tossa for what you did. You know, they've been
Speaker 2: nothing but kind and generous in giving of good wishes
Speaker 2: to me. And I found that he put my faith.
Speaker 1: Back in into people.
Speaker 6: But what it choses. People aren't stupid.
Speaker 2: They know when someone's been stitched up, they know when
Speaker 2: someone's been taken.
Speaker 6: For a life.
Speaker 2: People aren't silly, and they know they can see through
Speaker 2: all that they know. And that's what gave me heart.
Speaker 2: It's a lot of heart, you know, because I thought,
Speaker 2: what if I'm not accepted, what what do I do?
Speaker 2: And I thought, well, put my toe on the water
Speaker 2: and see what happens. And there's been nothing but wonderful.
Speaker 3: Surely, after we finished that interview, Gordon had a bad
Speaker 3: response to his latest cancer treatment and our plans for
Speaker 3: catching up with two of his kids, Lisa and Andrew
Speaker 3: had to be put on hold for a couple of weeks,
Speaker 3: but as you'll hear, he's bounced back. Both Lisa and
Speaker 3: Andrew say they've been surprised at the public's response to
Speaker 3: their father's story, as well as their own reactions.
Speaker 5: I'm glad that Dad had the chance to tell his
Speaker 5: story and I think it just gave hopefully gave people
Speaker 5: a bit of an insight into some of the things
Speaker 5: that went on and some of the like the other
Speaker 5: side of the story, because obviously we only ever see
Speaker 5: the one side on the news, the biased side. So yeah,
Speaker 5: it was good for Dad to be able to speak openly, yeah,
Speaker 5: and tell those truths.
Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely, just glad that he got to get off
Speaker 4: his chest. Really, I think you were holding in a
Speaker 4: lot for a long time, and now that you've was,
Speaker 4: and now that you've it's almost like a therapy session
Speaker 4: for you. But it is serious because there's a lot
Speaker 4: of things that I didn't that I've listened to that
Speaker 4: I didn't know about, I had no idea about, and
Speaker 4: shocked me. And yeah, no, I'm just glad that you
Speaker 4: got it out there. And even different people have said
Speaker 4: to me, you know, how good it is and how
Speaker 4: Hagrid is to hear that side of it. Yes, it
Speaker 4: was the other thing. For example, lady at work, her
Speaker 4: husband he is. I always thought he was a grub,
Speaker 4: you know. I always just heard what was on the
Speaker 4: TV and what was in the papers. But now he's
Speaker 4: a bloody legend. You I want to shake his hands.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 4: But that sort of thing like that's sort of I'm
Speaker 4: glad that's been able to get out there and people
Speaker 4: have been able to hear and sit, yeah, what actually
Speaker 4: or your side of it as we say, Yeah.
Speaker 2: I probably didn't even realize myself about getting it off
Speaker 2: my chest like that. And I've been able to talk
Speaker 2: about it, you know, as it went on, you know,
Speaker 2: on and on and on with the podcast. It was
Speaker 2: hard because I had to relive it. But but the
Speaker 2: fact that I've been able to do that and tell
Speaker 2: my story is I really feel a lot of weight
Speaker 2: off my shoulders, to be honest. And as you know,
Speaker 2: out in the shed, I've got a dozen box plastic
Speaker 2: boxes of all the material and all the stuff that's there.
Speaker 2: We're going to bondfire. We're going to get all the
Speaker 2: family to get out. We're out someone's place. It's got
Speaker 2: a bit of acreage. Thro it all on the fire
Speaker 2: and have a drink and say goodbye to yesterday.
Speaker 4: And that was it.
Speaker 2: You know, that was a chapter in our lives that's
Speaker 2: gone now. And for all of us as a family,
Speaker 2: just to burn the bloody thing and let it go
Speaker 2: and move on, you know, that's I think that's going
Speaker 2: to be really important for us and have a bit
Speaker 2: of fun and have a bit of fun with it.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I mean when this was first spoken about, it
Speaker 4: was I was very skeptical, and I because basically, I mean,
Speaker 4: we'd all that enough and it's been going on for
Speaker 4: so long and the parah was like, yes, finally finished
Speaker 4: and then this. But it has come across really good,
Speaker 4: and I'm glad that we've done it for your sake,
Speaker 4: for your mental well being too, because you were you're
Speaker 4: holding into a lot of anger still. Now that that's
Speaker 4: we've slorad of got it out, It's you can tell
Speaker 4: even just talking to you, you seem a bit more
Speaker 4: relaxed about things. And so I'm just glad that, Yeah,
Speaker 4: it's good for you, very good.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 5: But I think too, like Andrew said, those boxes have
Speaker 5: been sitting there for a long time, and you've wanted
Speaker 5: to go through them, and you would start and you
Speaker 5: had to put it down, you put it away, you know,
Speaker 5: And I feel like this was probably the best much
Speaker 5: like more. I don't know. I just think it's more
Speaker 5: cathartic that way because you can just talk through things.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I just think it was a really good way to
Speaker 5: do it.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 6: Do you think it for it, Yeah, very much so.
Speaker 6: But more than I thought, to be honest, Pat, I
Speaker 6: I didn't realize.
Speaker 2: That there was so much kind of bottled up inside
Speaker 2: and to be able to now that I've told it,
Speaker 2: I don't kind of have to repeat it all the
Speaker 2: time and tell people what was it like?
Speaker 6: And I go and listen to the podcast That's what
Speaker 6: it was like. But the fact that I've done.
Speaker 2: It opens this door for me to do all these
Speaker 2: other things I wanted to do. You know, I've always
Speaker 2: wanted to go to over to England and what's the
Speaker 2: Wallabies play England, Scotland Island and Wales. It's always been
Speaker 2: a dream of mine. I want I want to go
Speaker 2: to an Irish pub and I want to drink guinness,
Speaker 2: and I want to sing, and I want to go
Speaker 2: to those games and listen to how the English sing,
Speaker 2: you know, and be part feel part of that. I've
Speaker 2: always wanted to do that.
Speaker 5: We're not confined by your parole or.
Speaker 2: I'm excited about the prospect of doing it, to be honest,
Speaker 2: and I think there's a window of opportunity. You know,
Speaker 2: I turned seventy this year, so between the age of
Speaker 2: seventy and eighty, while you've still got a fair bit
Speaker 2: of get up and go in.
Speaker 6: You I want to get up.
Speaker 4: And you need to make it quicker than that. Ye
Speaker 4: set yourself a go up in a couple of years time.
Speaker 4: It don't wait because because it won.
Speaker 2: Well, I started the journey because I went to a
Speaker 2: passport application and the guy said, he said to.
Speaker 6: Me, he said, oh, where's your passport?
Speaker 2: And I said, mate, I haven't got a clue. He said, oh,
Speaker 2: well you're going to have to start from scratch. And
Speaker 2: I said, all right, well what have I got to do?
Speaker 2: You know? He said, well, you need your birth certificate,
Speaker 2: and you need your driver's license, you need this, and
Speaker 2: you need photos.
Speaker 6: But I was excited about it.
Speaker 2: You know the fact that I was going to after
Speaker 2: fifteen twenty years, I'm going to.
Speaker 6: Get a pasport. And that's that's.
Speaker 2: It's quite funny that I'm going to get a passport.
Speaker 2: So so yeah, so I really want to do those
Speaker 2: two trips.
Speaker 6: So I really want to go.
Speaker 1: And is that because you told your story now?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, it's done, it's finished, and and people people
Speaker 2: will make their own judgments about that. But I know
Speaker 2: who I am, and I know I'm a good person. Yep,
Speaker 2: And I tripped along the way. But I'm not a
Speaker 2: bad person, and that's the key for me.
Speaker 3: You Know, one of the things that's come back to
Speaker 3: me from folk is, you know that they felt listening
Speaker 3: to the podcast, that you've done the wrong thing, that
Speaker 3: you were caught courts the wrong word, that you were caught,
Speaker 3: and but that the five and five and a bit
Speaker 3: years in maximum security was the thing that universally people
Speaker 3: said was a poor.
Speaker 6: Well you've got it. You've got to let it go.
Speaker 2: Now we've done it, and I don't want to look
Speaker 2: back on that anymore. Given that we've done the podcast
Speaker 2: and we've told the story, people can see it for
Speaker 2: what it is and we'll make their own judgments on that.
Speaker 6: I really, really really want.
Speaker 2: To spend whatever whatever time the Good Lord's given me
Speaker 2: on this earth to enjoy every moment of that every day.
Speaker 2: And that's that's my goal now, to grab it to watch.
Speaker 2: I'm watching my grandkids grow, you know, they're all coming
Speaker 2: out of childhood into younger.
Speaker 5: Young, getting taller than.
Speaker 6: You, Yeah, young adults.
Speaker 2: And the fun that granddad has with that, not so
Speaker 2: much Mum and dad, but the fun granddad.
Speaker 6: Has with that.
Speaker 2: But it's lovely to watch that part of my life
Speaker 2: now unfold and to see that and to see I've
Speaker 2: also got little grandchildren, so I've got them at both
Speaker 2: ends of the spectrum.
Speaker 6: And and so.
Speaker 2: I've got all that to look forward to. And it's
Speaker 2: quite you know, it's it's exciting because all the other
Speaker 2: stuff's done, dusted, put to bed, finished, and we've got
Speaker 2: all this in front of us, and that's for me,
Speaker 2: that's the.
Speaker 6: Exciting part of my life that lies ahead for me.
Speaker 4: We look forward to that too, especially with I mean
Speaker 4: with their two little girls and four ones to go on.
Speaker 4: Onely the four year old. She always asked about green Dad,
Speaker 4: when we see Grendad, when we go to the beach,
Speaker 4: you know, all those things, and that for me is yeah,
Speaker 4: it's so nice to hear because I don't have to
Speaker 4: sit and say he's not around, he's he's somewhere. He's
Speaker 4: in it. And a place said farm. Yeah, as we
Speaker 4: would say at the farm, that sort of thing like
Speaker 4: you're home, and that's yeah, that's something.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 5: Well with my kids, I we did, even my dad
Speaker 5: was in maximum security, we told them it was a
Speaker 5: farm and that's what they thought. They have no memory
Speaker 5: of that time. Thankfully because they were so little. They
Speaker 5: do remember going to Palen Creek, my older one does,
Speaker 5: but that was a much better environment. So yes, I
Speaker 5: did have to have that conversation. But I'm really happy
Speaker 5: that my kids are very close to Dad. They're very
Speaker 5: very close, and they all have their special relationship with Dad,
Speaker 5: and they have their little things in common, and it's
Speaker 5: nice to watch that. And my kids are all teenagers,
Speaker 5: but they still look forward to going to Woodgate, which
Speaker 5: could be very boring for them as teenagers, but they
Speaker 5: like to go up and see Granddad and their cousins
Speaker 5: and it's nice, Like I love just when my sister
Speaker 5: comes down with her kids from Childers and then we're
Speaker 5: all just sitting there and the kids are all running
Speaker 5: around on Dad's lawn and Dad's just watch it. And
Speaker 5: it's really a nice thing to see Dad just sitting
Speaker 5: back and enjoying that. And those are really special memories.
Speaker 5: Like we had an amazing Christmas, didn't we last.
Speaker 2: Christmaster Everyone came together to my place. It was so
Speaker 2: it was fantastic.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And it was just nice to see, like they're
Speaker 5: the things that you want to enjoy, especially when the
Speaker 5: kids are growing up so quick.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 5: But like you said, Dad, you've got are the little
Speaker 5: ones that you've still got all of that to look
Speaker 5: forward to.
Speaker 2: The thrill for me with when your grandkids become teenagers
Speaker 2: around at fifteen, sixteen, seventeen mark, they're forging their own mates,
Speaker 2: in their own friends. They kind of don't want to
Speaker 2: be hanging around old people, but they actually want to
Speaker 2: come and see me. And I get a real kick
Speaker 2: out of that, the fact that they want to come
Speaker 2: and see Granddad, even even the older ones Summers twenty
Speaker 2: one and Josh is n twenty two's Josh is twenty
Speaker 2: twenty one, and yet they want to come and see Granddad.
Speaker 3: Are they heightened by the fact that there was a
Speaker 3: time when you didn't know that you would ever enjoy
Speaker 3: something like that.
Speaker 2: Again without a doubt because I missed so much because
Speaker 2: I was away, And so that you you because now
Speaker 2: you do have that opportunity. But I think they grasp
Speaker 2: it too. But not just for the grandkids, but my
Speaker 2: children as well, and you know son in Laura and.
Speaker 6: My daughter and Laura and all of them. You know, like.
Speaker 2: We when when a different area any other family. We
Speaker 2: have ups and we have our downs. But I have
Speaker 2: to say, the whole experience brought us really close, and
Speaker 2: we've and we've grasped that and hung on to it.
Speaker 1: You would argue that there could be other ways to
Speaker 1: bring your favor closer.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, well you do make a point. You don't
Speaker 6: make a point.
Speaker 2: But it's nice. It's nice to be able to share.
Speaker 2: Like when I was white, I couldn't share the good
Speaker 2: moments and the happy moments, and now I can share that, and.
Speaker 6: It it just.
Speaker 2: It just changes you to this to the joy of
Speaker 2: seeing that. And I think I enjoy it more than
Speaker 2: ever because I did miss so much and now that
Speaker 2: I can.
Speaker 6: Share it and see it and be.
Speaker 2: Part of it. It's just that Christmas last year, there
Speaker 2: was many a time where I just sit back in
Speaker 2: my chair and watch everybody and it was just the
Speaker 2: most beautiful time, you know. And and Lisa's right, I
Speaker 2: don't know if all bad stuff hadn't happened, whether I
Speaker 2: would have appreciated it as.
Speaker 6: Much as I do.
Speaker 2: And so when you think about now and the future
Speaker 2: and so much to look forward to, there was so
Speaker 2: much Patrick that in the past, you probably wouldn't have
Speaker 2: looked forward to it as much, but you do now
Speaker 2: you look forward to that, you know, I just I
Speaker 2: just I kind of grasp life a lot more. And
Speaker 2: so if you want to look for positives, there are
Speaker 2: the positives, you know, and that's what we have to do.
Speaker 6: It's really important to me.
Speaker 2: And the kids have done that too, Lisa and Kim
Speaker 2: and Andrew, they've all done that. You know, we've all
Speaker 2: made an effort.
Speaker 3: It strikes me that you're all very positive and given
Speaker 3: the experience that you've all been through over the last
Speaker 3: fourteen years, particularly well longer than that sixteen years, when
Speaker 3: you consider the lead up.
Speaker 1: To it, how do you stay so possible?
Speaker 4: Anything's got to be better to what we had back then,
Speaker 4: those those last sixteen eighteen years, So how can you
Speaker 4: not be positive as well? Oh, look at that. We
Speaker 4: went through so much gloom and just in the trenches basically,
Speaker 4: and now we're out in the Sun's there, the surfs, there,
Speaker 4: the ocean. What's there not to be positive about? And
Speaker 4: there's lawn bars of course, and you're trying to get
Speaker 4: retribution on yet. No, it's right.
Speaker 5: I used to say to Dad when he was away.
Speaker 5: I used to say, one day we will all sit
Speaker 5: around and just you know, on the deck or whatever
Speaker 5: and just say, can you believe that happened? Like that's
Speaker 5: it seems like a dream, and while of course it's
Speaker 5: when you really think about it, and I guess the
Speaker 5: podcast has really made you go back there, but you
Speaker 5: do think like that. And I think a dad always
Speaker 5: used to say when he was away, there's people with
Speaker 5: it harder than me. People have sick kids, people, you know,
Speaker 5: even just looking at the people in there and what
Speaker 5: they'd faced in their lives and that sort of thing.
Speaker 5: Dad would always say, there's always someone worse off. And
Speaker 5: I think that's what kept.
Speaker 4: Us big time.
Speaker 5: Yes, because she goes now, yes.
Speaker 4: Things happened, so it's okay, there are people a lot
Speaker 4: worse off.
Speaker 5: Yes, that's right.
Speaker 4: You never lost sight of that there was an end though.
Speaker 4: You would always every converse would have on those great
Speaker 4: eight minute phone calls would have six minutes, the would
Speaker 4: always be that this will end. Son, It's okay, this
Speaker 4: will end. You know, the visits, this will end.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: You always said that, so you're always so that was
Speaker 4: instilled in well for myself, in me, and so you
Speaker 4: always knew there was going to be an end to it.
Speaker 4: So that that was a huge relief, you know, like
Speaker 4: not relief, I don't know what the word is there.
Speaker 4: It helped a lot to have you there being that
Speaker 4: positive person towards it, where you could have been negative
Speaker 4: all you know, down down down, But no you weren't.
Speaker 4: There were times, of course, but just to hear those
Speaker 4: words there was an end, Son, there is an end
Speaker 4: to this. That meant a lot to us.
Speaker 1: Yeah, tell us about your cancer trick. It's late. We've
Speaker 1: had to delay this because you adversion.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I don't want to dwell on the bad stuff for that.
Speaker 2: Suffice to say, I've got a really good team around
Speaker 2: me in terms of medical professionals, and I've had several
Speaker 2: treatments now, had a bit of a wobbly a couple
Speaker 2: of weeks ago, but the oncologists and the team have
Speaker 2: got me back on track, and.
Speaker 6: Probably the last.
Speaker 2: Two or three days of the best I've felt in
Speaker 2: about a month. And that's because they've got me back
Speaker 2: on track.
Speaker 5: With and the oncologist thinks that the medication and all
Speaker 5: the lumps have shrunk.
Speaker 2: We're really optimistic that that the the.
Speaker 6: Plan that they put us on is working.
Speaker 2: You know, despite the fact that there's some wobblies, and
Speaker 2: that the next step is some scans and then hopefully
Speaker 2: they're going to come up all right and then u
Speaker 2: once every four weeks for a couple of years. That's
Speaker 2: the plan. But the interesting, the interesting thing that both
Speaker 2: my doctor and the oncologist said to me, we can
Speaker 2: only give you so much. The medication can only do
Speaker 2: so much. The rest is up to you. So it's
Speaker 2: a mindset and.
Speaker 5: Staying healthy and what being healthy like you're looking after.
Speaker 2: It's the mindset about wanting to do that. So there's
Speaker 2: another reason to to work really hard at being positive.
Speaker 2: And as I've often said, the glass are full scenario.
Speaker 1: So what do you do to stay positive in that?
Speaker 6: Enjoy life?
Speaker 2: Mate? I like appreciate it. As I said to you,
Speaker 2: you know, I got up this morning, what's the sunrise?
Speaker 2: I probably wouldn't have done that six months ago. I
Speaker 2: probably would have rolled over and slept in. But but
Speaker 2: but you want to you want to grab it and
Speaker 2: you want to enjoy it. And the fact that that
Speaker 2: people have rallied round the way they have has really
Speaker 2: given me lifted my spirits in that regard. And you know,
Speaker 2: I want to see I want to see my grand
Speaker 2: children turn into adults, and I want to share that
Speaker 2: with them, and I want to see I want to
Speaker 2: see my kids all turn fifty plus and I want
Speaker 2: to enjoy those things. And as I said, I've got
Speaker 2: a couple of things on my bucket list I want
Speaker 2: to achieve.
Speaker 6: So there's it.
Speaker 5: Cans to look forward to having hope is what I
Speaker 5: think very much.
Speaker 2: And so I kind of as much as I can,
Speaker 2: don't like to dwell on it. There's my tablets having
Speaker 2: me tablets can't have my treatment. Bang, get on with
Speaker 2: it as much as I can.
Speaker 5: And not lie around feeling sorry for yourself. Like when
Speaker 5: you are feeling well, you are doing things, you know,
Speaker 5: like you said, you're on the Gold Cost this week,
Speaker 5: you're visiting your friend, enjoying those things when you've got
Speaker 5: when you're feeling well enough to do that.
Speaker 4: At the end of the day, you you could have
Speaker 4: quite easily just huddled into a ball when you got
Speaker 4: this news and just went downhill real quick, real quick.
Speaker 4: But instead you went totally the opposite. And that's what
Speaker 4: even your doctor has said to you, and that in itself,
Speaker 4: consider you look at everything that we've been through or
Speaker 4: just spoken about, you could have had every right to
Speaker 4: roll up into a ball too and just given up.
Speaker 4: You could have, yeah, exactly, but you turned it. You
Speaker 4: turned that around. Many people would have just rolled down
Speaker 4: and just copped this.
Speaker 2: Yeah mate, But it's I've always tried to be a
Speaker 2: bit of a role model for your kids.
Speaker 6: As much as I could. I've got things wrong along
Speaker 6: the way sometimes.
Speaker 2: But it's also important for the Green kids to see them.
Speaker 2: You never you never give up, never give in, and
Speaker 2: never give up strong, you know, and remember Andrew the
Speaker 2: some pat school motto, you know, fight the good fight.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 2: And and that's what we're doing, you know. And so
Speaker 2: life will be fine. We'll be fine, family will be good,
Speaker 2: will be all good. And your soldier on and enjoy it.
Speaker 5: And I think too, when dad's positive, like we just
Speaker 5: take your lead, you know. And you know you've had
Speaker 5: some times recently where you have been really down, but
Speaker 5: that's when we step in. We can step in and
Speaker 5: go noight, come on, like Saturday and I said you're
Speaker 5: going to bars today, You're going to bars? Yep, Yeah,
Speaker 5: I'm playing balls. And it just changed, you know, you
Speaker 5: just and I think, yeah, we've learned that through this
Speaker 5: time and at least your home with us. You know,
Speaker 5: we can even though you're sick, you're here.
Speaker 6: It's a six minute phone call, that's right.
Speaker 5: Like I think, thank God you're time with us, you know,
Speaker 5: and we can you know, just be around.
Speaker 1: And yeah, when we started this process, you know you
Speaker 1: wanted to tell you your story. You think you've told
Speaker 1: your whole story?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I do.
Speaker 2: Pat, I never expected everybody to agree with me. I
Speaker 2: never expected everyone to say that he deserved it or
Speaker 2: he didn't deserve it or whatever. My goal was to say,
Speaker 2: this is my this is me, and this is my
Speaker 2: side of the story. You choose to believe or accept
Speaker 2: what you want to. But as I said, I wear
Speaker 2: my heart my sleeve. I think most people know that,
Speaker 2: and I am who I am, and I think I've
Speaker 2: tried to express that over the whole podcast and just
Speaker 2: be realistic about what really happened and what the future holds.
Speaker 5: It's just nice to feel like you've had your say,
Speaker 5: you know, no matter who listens to it, have you
Speaker 5: left anything?
Speaker 2: Ah see, that's a good question, I think. Look, being realistic,
Speaker 2: there's probably bits and pieces here and there, but the
Speaker 2: main thrust of the story and the main part of
Speaker 2: the story has been told. There will always be bits
Speaker 2: and pieces you kind of miss here and there, but
Speaker 2: the core of it, the core of it, and the
Speaker 2: core of what happened, and the core, the core of
Speaker 2: how it all transpired, has been told. And for me
Speaker 2: that I've achieved that goal.
Speaker 4: And what matters to is that it doesn't give a
Speaker 4: rat to what people think about it, you know now,
Speaker 4: it's it's because it's yeah, exactly. It wasn't about that.
Speaker 4: It was about you telling this your side, getting it
Speaker 4: off your chest, and us as a family moving moving
Speaker 4: on from it all that's true, putting it behind us,
Speaker 4: moving forward, looking forward to the future, being together, being happy, positive,
Speaker 4: everything that is happening. And yeah, just I'm glad that
Speaker 4: define definitely true, And that's I'm glad that. Yeah, if you.
Speaker 5: Hadn't done it, you probably would have always thought, ah
Speaker 5: should I know, you know, like maybe I should have
Speaker 5: maybe never quite would have made peace with it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I definitely think you've come to a bit of
Speaker 4: peace in yourself.
Speaker 2: There was there was a time, there was a time
Speaker 2: when I looked at it and I thought, I don't
Speaker 2: know if I want to do Yes, I remember anything
Speaker 2: I remember that will it be too painful. And as
Speaker 2: Lisa said earlier in this episode, I'd open a box
Speaker 2: and I'd start and then i'd close it, I'd walk away.
Speaker 2: And if I did that once, I did it half
Speaker 2: a dozen times. But I thought, I'm not a quitter,
Speaker 2: and it's important. It's important, and if somewhere down the track,
Speaker 2: my little grandchildren, as they get older, they can hear
Speaker 2: about their grandfather and they can hear his own words,
Speaker 2: his own words. So from that perspective, I'm really, really,
Speaker 2: really glad we've done what we've done.
Speaker 5: Chloe's listened to it, did she She said to my
Speaker 5: eldest daughter, she's sixteen, nearly seventeen, and she said, to me,
Speaker 5: it was really interesting because Chloe's very fiery young lady.
Speaker 4: She's a redhead.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I like her like her grandfather. One day, I
Speaker 5: was in the kitchen just doing whatever mum's stuff, and
Speaker 5: she came and she put her arms around me. She said,
Speaker 5: I've listened to the podcast, and I'm really sorry that
Speaker 5: you all went through that. It was so heartfelt. And
Speaker 5: she said that must have been so hard. But it
Speaker 5: didn't like it hasn't just upset her or she's just
Speaker 5: been able to hear that, and that's because I said
Speaker 5: to her, Oh, you should have told me you were
Speaker 5: listening to it, you know, because you want to protect
Speaker 5: them and give them my heads up. But no, she
Speaker 5: was very no, but she yeah, that really Yeah surprised me.
Speaker 5: And it was nice that she was able to listen
Speaker 5: and feel like that because she could have felt really differently.
Speaker 5: But I feel like it was told very sensitively and yeah,
Speaker 5: and that's probably why YEAH.
Speaker 6: Read it.
Speaker 3: Pat, Thank you so much for listening. I hope you
Speaker 3: found it as insightful as I have. And as always,
Speaker 3: it's an honor to have been entrusted with telling a
Speaker 3: family story.
Speaker 6: My name's Gordon at all, and this has been my story.
Speaker 3: I'm Patrick kunt The Man Behind the Rose podcast writer,
Speaker 3: producer and host Patrick Condren. Sound design and editing Mark Wright.
Speaker 3: Graphics by Jason Blandford. The Man Behind the Rose is
Speaker 3: a seven News production