WEBVTT - 02 - From Early Days to Maximum Security 0:00:09.800 --> 0:00:12.840 Once a high flying minister, now a broken man. 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:15.640 It was a significant error of judgment on my part, 0:00:16.120 --> 0:00:17.079 but it was an honester. 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:22.040 In two thousand and nine, he was found guilty of 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:28.720 corruptly receiving secret commissions and jailed for seven years. In 0:00:28.800 --> 0:00:32.519 twenty ten, he was found guilty on five charges of 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:37.640 official corruption and five charges of perjury and jailed for 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:39.880 an additional seven years. 0:00:40.479 --> 0:00:44.440 I remember breaking down and crying in disbelief at where 0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:47.680 I was and what was happening. My name is Gordon 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:54.600 Nuttle and this is my story, The. 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:55.880 Man behind the Rose. 0:00:56.160 --> 0:00:58.280 Episode two. 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:03.360 Hello, my name's Patrick Condron. Today we go back to 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:07.440 the beginning of Gordon Nuttle's political career and he takes 0:01:07.520 --> 0:01:15.520 us inside his maximum security prison cell. Gordon Nuttle has 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:19.000 not been paid for taking part in this podcast. 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:32.679 Danny a Queensland the Honorable Premier of Queensland. 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:36.320 Nuttle had been an MP in State Parliament for nine 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:40.000 years and on the twenty second of February two thousand 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:44.240 and one, he began his ministerial career in the government 0:01:44.800 --> 0:01:46.280 led by Peter Beatty. 0:01:46.680 --> 0:01:50.120 Your excellency, if Peter Douglas Beatty, do sincerely promise and 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:53.360 swear that I will be faithful at their true allegiance 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:57.680 to a Majesty when Elizabeth as lawful Sovereign of Australia 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:00.680 and her other roles and territories, and her heirs and 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:03.960 successes according to war, that I will well and truly 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:06.760 serve the people of Queensland in the Office of Premier 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:08.600 and Minister's Trade. 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:11.840 In the Governor's mansion for the swearing in ceremony. A 0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:15.760 smiling Peter Beating nodded to Nuttle as he approached the 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:20.280 table where he and the Governor sat, blissfully unaware of 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:25.080 the seismic scandal that his then junior minister would eventually 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:29.720 unleash on the government. But all that was many years 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:32.440 down the track. For now, it was all pomp and 0:02:32.639 --> 0:02:36.799 ceremony and afternoon tea with friends and family on hand 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:41.840 to witness history. I, Gordon Richard Nuttle, do sincerely promise 0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:44.760 and swear that I will be faithful and be a 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:50.240 true allegiance to her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, as lawful Sovereign 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:54.240 in Australia and her other realms and territories. 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:58.120 Until her hairs and successes according to law, and that 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:01.000 I will well and truly serve the people of Queensland 0:03:01.520 --> 0:03:05.600 in the office of Minister for Industrial Relations of helping God. 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:08.520 In the following four years, Nuttell would make the trip 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:11.720 to Government House on two other occasions to be sworn 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:15.240 in as the Minister for Health and then later Primary 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:20.000 Industries and Fisheries. I, Gordon Richard Nuttle, do swear that 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:21.760 I will, to the best of. 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:25.960 My judgment and ability, faithfully advise and assist the Governor 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:30.520 or other officer exercising a function or power of the 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:35.280 Governor as Deputy Governor or Administrator in all matters brought 0:03:35.360 --> 0:03:39.080 under my consideration as a member of the Executive Council 0:03:39.120 --> 0:03:40.560 of Queensland. 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:42.440 And that I will not disclose. 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:44.440 The confidential deliberations of the counting. 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:46.680 So help me, God, you can. 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:52.480 Please be seated Sign yours to whitment signify. 0:03:55.760 --> 0:03:55.960 Good. 0:03:56.040 --> 0:03:58.880 Nuttle's career as a Member of the Queensland Parliament officially 0:03:58.920 --> 0:04:02.320 started in nineteen ninety two, when he first won the 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:07.480 safe labor seat of Sandgate on Brisbane's northern outskirts following 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:13.880 the retirement of previous Opposition leader Nev Warburton. However, Nuttle's 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:19.720 political journey from MP to maximum security for receiving secret commissions. 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:24.120 Official corruption and perjury began long before he was elected, 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:28.599 and interestingly, the trigger for his entry into politics also 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:33.800 involved a financial matter, police investigation, a court case. There 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:37.800 are some very clear parallels with the nineteen eighty six 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:43.960 controversy that eventually saw him jailed in two thousand and nine. 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:48.120 In nineteen eighty six, Alan Bond was trying to buy 0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:50.800 Channel nine in Brisbane, but was being hampered by then 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:54.960 Premier Joe b Lki Peterson, who was suing the network 0:04:55.000 --> 0:04:58.680 for defamation. Bond eventually got the station, but only after 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:03.040 a secret four hundred thousand dollars payment to Joe. Well 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:06.680 here we are again, Yeah, yeah, back for more. I'd 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:12.000 like to go back in time, right back to the beginning. 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:16.440 And during my research I found a story in the 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:23.640 archives from nineteen eighty eight, Oh God, which gives us 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:26.240 a little bit of an insight into how you got 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:30.000 into politics. OK Now, can I play it for you? 0:05:30.200 --> 0:05:30.479 Yeah? 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:34.680 Sure, Right, here we go. This is from nineteen eighty eight, 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:39.279 from a current affair story that was on the local 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:40.560 Channel seven. 0:05:40.760 --> 0:05:44.560 All right, I am very bitter about the whole matter. 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:46.760 I just can't. 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:50.960 Believe that being a citizen of this state that one 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:52.240 would be treated so badly. 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:56.240 Gordon Nuttle was a little man caught in a big 0:05:56.279 --> 0:06:00.960 boys game. Labor Party member, former union official, Nuttle was 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:04.320 senior accountant at the Adelaide Street branch of the Westpac Bank. 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:08.719 In August nineteen eighty six, then Opposition leader Nev Warburton 0:06:08.800 --> 0:06:12.719 dropped the bombshell that's still reverberating through the Australian Broadcasting 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:16.240 Tribunal that Alan Bond had paid Sir Jo Bioka Peterson 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:20.960 a four hundred thousand dollars defamation settlement. Sir Joe banked 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:24.080 Westpac and Gordon Nuttle was under suspicion. 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:27.160 Well, some of the bank's senior officials fronted up at 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:29.880 my place on a Friday evening about nine o'clock. That 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:32.400 must have been very rare, Well it was, I must 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:32.600 have been. 0:06:32.680 --> 0:06:33.480 I was quite shocked. 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:35.479 There was a couple of them, plus the bank flew 0:06:35.560 --> 0:06:38.400 up an internal investigator from Sydney, and the three of 0:06:38.440 --> 0:06:40.600 them were there and wanted to question me straight away. 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:42.520 And what could you tell them? 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:45.040 Well, I said to them right from the word gay 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:48.279 that I wanted to cooperate with this internal inquiry, that 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:52.200 they had and that I would assist in any way possible. 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:54.400 And I told them right from the word gay that 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:58.680 I had made inquiries internally within the bank about the money. 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:03.120 So you did make an inquiries about Sajobia Ka Peterson's payout. 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:03.479 From Alan Bond? 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:04.200 Yeah, for sure? 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:06.080 Why did you do that? And I told them that 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:08.200 I've done that well. It had been in the media 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:13.000 for quite some time, the whole event about the defamation money, 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:16.880 and I was in a position where I was rather 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:19.400 curious as if you did actually get that money, and 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:22.400 out of my own curiosity, I made those inquiries. 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:27.200 There was no proof yet Nuttele was suspended then sacked. 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:29.520 I didn't know where to turn to what to do. 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:32.280 I mean, it must have been financially devastating, it was. 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:36.560 I had a concessional housing lane with the bank. I 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:39.840 had no job. I had to refinance my housing lane. 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:42.960 Not only was I questioned by the bank, but I 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:46.200 was also questioned by the police, and that frightened me 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:46.840 a great deal. 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:50.160 Did you ever believe that you would wind up in prison? 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:53.200 Yes? I did. I was very very frightened. 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:56.119 I thought, here I am, I'm going to be in jail. 0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:58.160 I'm going to lose my family, in my house, I 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:01.320 lose everything, and it was quite devastating. 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:05.320 Justice Keeley said Nuttle was a truthful witness who did 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:06.840 not seek to mislead the court. 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:11.240 My interest in politics has certainly been rekindled, and I'm 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:15.160 very seriously giving some consideration to seeking pre selection for 0:08:15.240 --> 0:08:18.040 the state seat of Pine Rivers for the Labor Party 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:19.280 in the forthcoming state election. 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:21.720 You've certainly been given a very good lesson in the 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:23.120 dirty side of politics, haven't you. 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:27.040 Well, Politics they say is a dirty game, and I 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:27.960 think they're pretty right. 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:36.080 I sounded pretty good to know, enthusiastic fight up. 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:40.120 They flogged that out of it. What do you think 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:41.199 listening back to that? 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:44.800 Oh God, it was a bit of a tough time. 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:48.240 But I mean, can you see the parallels between that 0:08:49.040 --> 0:08:51.160 and where you eventually ended up? 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:54.800 Yeah, to some degree, to some degree. 0:08:55.800 --> 0:09:00.920 So did you tell Nev Warburton because Joe banked at 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:04.080 Westpac you were a bank Johnny at West Pact. I 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:05.960 think he banked at the branch that you were working 0:09:05.960 --> 0:09:12.120 in in Adelaide Street. Did you tell Nev Warburton about 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:14.280 the secret four hundred thousand dollars payment. 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:17.160 I've been asked this question one hundred times, and the 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:18.560 answer to it is pretty simple. 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:22.280 No, I knew about it. I think a lot of 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:26.960 people within the bank knew about it. But I'm pretty 0:09:27.000 --> 0:09:30.920 sure he got it from some merchant bank people down 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:34.160 in New South Wales in Sydney, because Bondi had his 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:38.320 office down there as well, in the same building and 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:41.320 there was a merchant bank tied up and the money 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:46.720 came from there to Joe apparently. But I'm pretty sure 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:50.560 that's I think in Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's where 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:54.160 where Nev got the info from from down there. 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:56.839 But yeah, just because I was a bank Johnny and 0:09:56.880 --> 0:10:00.319 knew a bit about it, but never and I after 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:03.200 that because I got caught up in it. 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:06.120 And because you were investigated by the coppers. 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:08.800 Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, they interviewed me and did all 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:11.240 the rest of it, you know, and of course nothing 0:10:11.280 --> 0:10:13.040 came of it because there was nothing there. 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:17.240 But I got to know Nev and that. 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:21.160 Then eventually you inherited his seat of sand game. 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:25.400 So was that sort of that involvement with Joe and 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:28.079 the controversy around that. 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:31.720 Did that reignite or ignite your interest in politics? That 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:33.000 he got into politics. 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:36.320 Very much so, very much so. And I was a 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:41.920 branch member. Nineteen eighty three, I was a candidate. I 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:45.920 was a candidate on the Sunshine Coast and it was 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:49.440 Founder Simpson's dad, Gordon Simpson, that I ran against. So 0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:52.960 it's a very safe conservative seat and I cut my 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:56.920 teeth on that. Then I tried for pre selection down 0:10:56.960 --> 0:11:01.120 the road at Pine Rivers and I was unsuccess So 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:03.840 I never ever thought that I would get an endorsement 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:07.360 for a safe agacyat you know, just a rank and 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:10.760 file branch member. You know, do your bit, do your fundraisers, buy. 0:11:10.600 --> 0:11:13.160 Your raffle tickets, all the rest of it that we 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:14.959 all do, have the barbecues. 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:21.840 So I got to know Nev, and Nev became a 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:27.360 mentor for me. I think his initial plan was he 0:11:27.600 --> 0:11:32.840 was thinking about retiring in nineteen ninety two. Then he 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:35.640 changed his mind and he said he wasn't going to 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:38.960 go to ninety ninety five, and then he changed his 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:41.720 mind again and did end up going in nineteen ninety 0:11:41.720 --> 0:11:45.520 two and I got the endorsement, and yeah, it was 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:46.640 a successful candidate. 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:48.880 Then what were the early days in State Parliament? 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:53.720 Oh, wonderful, exciting, really exciting, And when I was in. 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:54.840 Goss was premier. 0:11:55.160 --> 0:12:00.600 Goss was premier, Keith Olacy was his treasurer, Tommy Burns 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:07.280 was his deputy. Yeah, solid Blake's rural, old fashioned died 0:12:07.360 --> 0:12:11.840 in the world Labormen, rural labormen, unlike today. 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:14.160 I was about to say, what's the difference between then 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:14.520 and now? 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:18.839 Well, I'll tell you the difference between the now. All 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:22.320 those Blakes worked in their life out there in the 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:25.679 paddic you know, they had jobs, they actually worked, and 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:30.120 before they came into parliament, so they understood what it 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:34.000 was like for people out there, whether they were employees 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:37.839 or small business people or whatever. They understood it and 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:40.840 they believed in the ethos of the Labor Party. But 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:44.840 nowadays they come in and they've become political advisors. They 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:47.160 go into parliament, none of them have got any bloody 0:12:47.280 --> 0:12:51.200 idea of what it's like out there for mom and 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:54.960 dad and run his small business. They haven't got a clue, 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:58.080 no understand And it's all pretend stuff. It's all about 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:01.480 the media, it's not about the also. And there was 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:04.920 people like Ed Casey, all those sort of people. So 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:09.400 when I first went in, I was a backbencher of course, 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:14.360 and there was a gentleman called Kenny Vaughn who's passed away. Now. 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:17.120 Kenny was a member for Nudge, which was the seat 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:21.320 adjacent to me, and he'd been in the ministry and 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:24.960 chose to stand down and go to the back bench. 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:28.160 So Ken kind of mentored us in those first few 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:33.480 years about how parliament works and how it operates. But yeah, 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:35.880 it was terribly exciting. It was wonderful. 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:38.480 As an MP. 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:42.920 The Nuttle family Sandgate home was on Sixth Avenue, a 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:48.400 couple of houses back from the Esplanade. It was from 0:13:48.480 --> 0:13:51.199 here he emerged to front the media on the eighteenth 0:13:51.280 --> 0:13:55.280 of January two thousand and seven. When he was first charged. 0:13:56.280 --> 0:13:59.360 The sleeves of his white shirt rolled up, his tie loosened, 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:04.439 and he's DEMI resigned, almost a sly smile played across 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:04.960 his face. 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:06.480 How are you all? 0:14:07.679 --> 0:14:09.160 How are you going? 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:10.720 Okay? 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:13.640 Had better starts for the new year. 0:14:13.760 --> 0:14:20.840 Yeah, a bit like that, all right, Okay. Can I 0:14:20.920 --> 0:14:26.720 just say that I'm probably shocked and stunned by the 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:32.080 events of today, and that Ken Talbot and I are 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:33.760 good and decent. 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:36.160 And honest people that are not. 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:41.200 Deserved of this type of treatment in these circumstances. 0:14:41.240 --> 0:14:42.040 We have done. 0:14:41.880 --> 0:14:49.000 Nothing improper, nothing up toward, and nothing illegal and nothing wrong, 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:53.440 and we will now have to rely, I suppose, on 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:59.200 our legal teams to look after our interests. I am, 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:03.560 just as I said, shocked and stunned by the events. 0:15:03.840 --> 0:15:07.520 I mean, I know the evidence that we gave, I 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:12.720 know that there was nothing untoward, and for the conclusion 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:16.400 to be drawn that we have somehow done something improper 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:19.440 is just defies all logic. 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:22.800 In two thousand and seven, the beautiful old Queenslander was 0:15:22.880 --> 0:15:27.200 painted a historic mustard color. We've come back today to 0:15:27.280 --> 0:15:30.640 see the grand old house. Martle isn't enamored with the 0:15:30.720 --> 0:15:33.720 new color scheme. You're back at the old at the 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:35.920 old ranch. How does it feel to be back here 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:36.840 at m sandgame. 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:40.680 It's the first time I've been back to the house 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:47.920 since they took me away, and it just it's sad 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:51.480 to see to look at it and see that that 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:53.720 was my life, because they didn't just take me away. 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:57.840 They took my lifestyle away. And this is a beautiful 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:00.280 part of the world. And we loved it here and 0:16:00.680 --> 0:16:03.040 we made it our own home and we made it 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:06.640 really special. And that house is really special. It's well 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:09.240 over one hundred years old, and we loved it and 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:14.360 we cherished it, and beautiful of Queenslander took They didn't 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:20.640 just take the house, they took me, my lifestyle, my being. 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:25.080 They just dragged me away from it. But it's lovely 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:26.640 to see that it's still being looked after. 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:33.360 Throughout all your trials and tribulations, and even now with 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:36.640 the health issue you're confronting, You've always said you're a 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:37.720 glass half full sort of. 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:40.960 A yeah, yeah, yeah, Look, look I'm happy for the 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:44.320 people that have that home. You know, I can't change 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:49.600 what's happened, So it's all about your attitude to now 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:53.840 in the future, you know. You know, I've had this 0:16:53.960 --> 0:16:58.240 terrible battle when I was away in jail, and I 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:02.720 reckon if I could overcome that, I can become the 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:03.280 the cancer. 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:07.320 Well I'm hoping to anyway, so I'm relying on the 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:12.560 oncologists to get me right. But it's it's there's a 0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:15.680 degree of sadness in my heart that's been taken away. 0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:20.600 Of course, there's the press conference that you did out 0:17:20.600 --> 0:17:24.680 the front of this house shortly after they had I 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:28.960 think they charged you. I remember, and you were very 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:29.920 very upbeat. 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:37.600 I am I am loyal to the Labor Party. There 0:17:37.640 --> 0:17:41.080 are certain people within the There are certain people within 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:44.399 the Labor Party that I believe have jumped to wrong 0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:51.960 and inaccurate conclusions that that that they should wait and see, 0:17:52.119 --> 0:17:55.240 you know, all the evidence before that people jump to 0:17:55.240 --> 0:17:58.200 those conclusions when you know that you've done nothing wrong, 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:03.120 and when you know that you've followed the law and 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:05.439 you believe in the law. At the end of the day, 0:18:05.480 --> 0:18:07.639 the law should be there to protect you. It's a 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:12.080 charge that carries a seven year jail turn although you 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:14.720 obviously say that you're innocent and time to prove that. 0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:16.800 It's got to be a terrifying prospect. 0:18:17.440 --> 0:18:19.040 Well, not if you've not done anything wrong. 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:22.520 And that's and that's what you that's what you have 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:24.879 to hope that the legal system will show up at 0:18:24.920 --> 0:18:28.479 the end of the day that we have done nothing, 0:18:29.080 --> 0:18:31.800 nothing that that would warrant. 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:32.280 Well you. 0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:38.240 Look, I thought, Look, when we sit down and explain 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:43.880 to a jury and a judge exactly what happened, we're 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:47.080 going to be fine. I didn't I didn't have a 0:18:47.119 --> 0:18:50.320 fear because I knew that we had. 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:54.480 We hadn't put it in the register. But we're not 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:57.800 bloody crooks. You know, we're up criminals, and if you 0:18:57.880 --> 0:18:59.760 sit down and you lay the facts out, you're going 0:18:59.840 --> 0:19:02.040 to be fine. And that and that was the approach 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:05.080 we took, and it was the attitude I had, and 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:08.359 I just thought, look, I'll be fine. But on the 0:19:08.400 --> 0:19:11.240 house there there's a verandah and it overlooks the ocean. 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:14.960 And I was there one day and I was eating 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:16.399 eating a bit of fruit. 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:20.720 And there was a photographer down at the beach with 0:19:20.840 --> 0:19:28.080 his car backed up taking pictures of me unbeknownst to me. Yeah, 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:30.639 it was there wasn't a lot of privacy in those days. 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:32.760 You know, the media camped out here for a while 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:38.240 and I kind of understand that, but but that my 0:19:38.320 --> 0:19:40.560 neighbors and my friends that would walk past used to 0:19:40.600 --> 0:19:42.480 give the media a bit of a rev Leave the 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:44.399 blake alone. You leave him alone. 0:19:44.640 --> 0:19:46.080 He's gone through a enough strife. 0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:49.639 You know. Some of my family came to the auction 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:53.480 and there were a lot of tears that day because 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:59.720 that house that was our forever home. And you know, 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:01.159 as I I said, you know, we were going to 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:03.800 retire up the beach, but one of the kids were 0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:06.840 going to move in there and raise their children. There 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:10.120 and it was a forever home for the family, and 0:20:10.119 --> 0:20:13.040 they just took it away, took it. 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:16.480 Away, And do you do you contemplate that often? 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:23.879 Not to the degree I have now to be honest, 0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:27.400 because I think you've got to move forward, and as 0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:29.600 hurtful it is, I think if you keep coming back 0:20:29.640 --> 0:20:32.080 and revisiting all the time, very. 0:20:31.920 --> 0:20:37.440 Hard to keep moving forward. So no, we've let it go. 0:20:38.040 --> 0:20:40.480 What is more difficult to let go is the more 0:20:40.520 --> 0:20:45.359 than five years Gordon Nattel spent in a maximum security cell. 0:20:46.080 --> 0:20:48.719 And that's what I want people to understand. It's not 0:20:48.800 --> 0:20:55.440 as if because your crime is not a violent one, 0:20:57.080 --> 0:21:00.720 you know, it's a white collar issue chucked in with 0:21:00.760 --> 0:21:03.600 the worst of the worst. I was in with some terrible, 0:21:03.680 --> 0:21:09.520 terrible people, like really bad people, and you're treated exactly 0:21:09.560 --> 0:21:12.280 the same as them because you're in a maximum security prison. 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:16.840 And I understand that, but I've never understood why I 0:21:17.000 --> 0:21:20.600 was kept there and to this day and I've got 0:21:20.600 --> 0:21:22.639 to let it go. But you kind of want to 0:21:22.840 --> 0:21:25.639 FOI all the files and have a bit of a 0:21:25.640 --> 0:21:32.000 look because someone somewhere stop me going to that farm. 0:21:32.240 --> 0:21:35.240 Because when I did get to the farm, one of 0:21:35.240 --> 0:21:40.440 the officers said to me, your file came here, we 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:44.919 were expecting you and it was pulled at the last minute. 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:47.760 How does that make you feel well? It makes me 0:21:47.800 --> 0:21:52.159 feel as though there was interference. There was interference at 0:21:52.200 --> 0:21:54.639 a very high level. Now, whether that was at an 0:21:54.680 --> 0:21:59.440 apartmental level or a political level, I don't know, because 0:21:59.480 --> 0:22:05.320 I just don't, but there was interference. And you just think, 0:22:06.000 --> 0:22:08.080 when is it going to end? Because it's never It 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:12.320 just seems that it's never enough. And my health deteriorated 0:22:12.400 --> 0:22:14.240 significantly when I was in the Bad Lades. 0:22:14.520 --> 0:22:20.640 So fourteen years ago, almost to the day, you're found guilty, 0:22:21.520 --> 0:22:24.800 back to the watchhouse, back to court the next day 0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:29.600 for sentencing, and then out to maximum security. 0:22:30.359 --> 0:22:31.080 Talk us through that. 0:22:32.880 --> 0:22:37.520 It put me in paddy wagon and said we're going 0:22:37.560 --> 0:22:41.600 to take you straight out. Normally, most prisoners spend a 0:22:41.640 --> 0:22:46.680 few days in the watchhouse until they're placed. That they'd 0:22:46.720 --> 0:22:50.080 already made the arrangements. My barrass has said to me, 0:22:50.119 --> 0:22:54.080 he said, when the jury found you guilty, he said, 0:22:54.560 --> 0:22:57.000 prison officers came out of the walls of the court. 0:22:57.080 --> 0:23:00.679 He said it was incredible. He said, the number of 0:23:00.760 --> 0:23:05.000 prison officers that came out, and immediately I wasn't allowed. 0:23:05.080 --> 0:23:06.640 I turned a look at my family and I wasn't 0:23:06.640 --> 0:23:11.439 allowed to touch them. So right from the time the 0:23:11.520 --> 0:23:17.560 word guilty, that was it. They took me through a 0:23:17.600 --> 0:23:19.760 door handcuffed me straight away. 0:23:20.480 --> 0:23:24.480 Anyway, So after sentencing, they put me in a van 0:23:24.600 --> 0:23:28.359 and a helicopter followed us out, not that I saw it. 0:23:32.080 --> 0:23:36.280 I took me in and they process you. They and. 0:23:38.080 --> 0:23:41.159 They got my day to birth wrong. I kept saying 0:23:41.200 --> 0:23:42.960 to them, you got my day to birth wrong, but 0:23:42.960 --> 0:23:43.879 they didn't want to listen. 0:23:46.400 --> 0:23:51.000 I'm in a mess, so they got they got a 0:23:51.040 --> 0:23:54.560 psychologist to come and see me. I'm sure. They put 0:23:54.560 --> 0:23:57.960 me on some valley or something, and then I was 0:23:57.960 --> 0:24:03.000 taken out of isolation, placed in isolation, and there was 0:24:03.040 --> 0:24:06.120 a one of the guard showed me that they did 0:24:06.119 --> 0:24:09.439 a sketch drawing in the correer mile or what what 0:24:09.480 --> 0:24:12.520 I was looking what I'm looking at brick wall of 0:24:12.960 --> 0:24:16.280 concrete walls. So they put me in isolation for a 0:24:16.320 --> 0:24:21.720 few days. I think after a day or two, the 0:24:21.800 --> 0:24:23.520 family was allowed a quick visit. 0:24:23.720 --> 0:24:27.000