The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills

Dutch model Yolanda Hadid is set to replace Camille Grammer on the third series of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.  She is the fourth wife of Grammy-award winning Canadian producer and songwriter David Foster.  Yolanda already has a good friend in the group, she bonded with Lisa Vanderpump while she was married to Mohammed Hadid.

Critics of the show say it is an obscene tribute to materialism and how a group of shallow women who reside in luxurious mansions have nothing better to do than organize lavish parties for their friends.  It's also being said that the tragic circumstances that came out of the blue were in very bad taste and handled badly by the producers.

The pressure got too much for Taylor Armstrong's husband and he couldn't keep up.  He got himself into serious financial trouble and one night after a bitter argument, he beat her so badly, she almost lost an eye.  He moved out of the house and four weeks after Taylor filed for divorce, he hanged himself.

Because Russell had nothing left to leave Taylor and their daughter in his will, people are wondering how Taylor will survive financially.  To boost her finances she has written a tell-all book about her life with Russell which was met with contempt by many, especially Russell's family.  She is well outside the league of the other women as far as finances are concerned.

Lebanese couple Adrienne Maloof and husband, plastic surgeon Dr Paul Nassif are rolling in money.  Adrienne co-owns the Maloof group of companies which includes Palms Casino Resort in Las Vagas and the Sacramento Kings basketball team.  She is also a philanthropist and successful shoe designer.

British born Lisa Vanderpump-Todd is also very wealthy.  She and husband Ken have been married for almost 30 years and Lisa is a successful designer of houses, yachts, and all 26 bars and restaurants the couple owned in London.  They have downsized to two restaurants - one in Beverly Hills and the other in West Hollywood.  Lisa recently announced she would be taking part in her own spin-off show called Sur, which will follow behind the scenes action at her Hollywood restaurant and lounge.

Actress Kyle Richards is married to Mauricio Umansky, a Mexican real estate developer said to be worth $100 million acquired through his successful high-end, luxury real estate firm in California, the Umansky Group.  Kyle's sister Kim was accused of taking drugs because she spent so much time in the bathroom and even though she vehemently denied it, she checked into rehab in December and has now completed her treatment.

Last Friday, Taylor Armstrong lost a round in a lawsuit brought against the couple by an online provider of health records MyMedicalRecords.com.  Russell had been the largest shareholder in the company and when they found that he had allegedly misappropriated investor money and diverted shares of the company, he was removed from the board.  He settled with the company for $250,000 but under the terms of settlement, Armstrong was required to identify the people he sold shares to and when he failed to do so, he and his wife were sued for breach of contract for $1.5 million.

The latest photos of Taylor have those in the know talking, she looks different.  Miami plastic surgeon Dr Michael Salzhauer said "It looks like Taylor maintains her beautiful looks with a little help from Botox to her forehead and around the eyes and dermal fillers such as Radiesse or Juvederm to give her those plump lips and full cheeks."

Has Peter Slipper finally slipped up?

Mr Slipper resting his eyes in Parliament

Peter Slipper was the National Party member for Fisher from 1984 to 1987. He lost the seat but returned to politics in 1990 and sought National Party selection in Fairfax, Wide Bay and Groom but was rejected by all three. So he switched allegiances to the Liberal Party and won pre-selection in Fisher and went on to win the seat. He has been there ever since, “by default” as one party member put it.

It’s been reported that Mr Slipper enjoys a drink, no problem there, but it seems he gets a bit carried away. He was allegedly thrown out of a Canberra nightclub at 4am and off a plane in the Northern Territory for being drunk. He also fell asleep after a long lunch while Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was speaking to Parliament in 2010 and the picture was beamed around the country.

There must always be a presumption of innocence but as Graham Richardson said yesterday, Peter Slipper has form. He had to pay back more than $15,000 to the Department of Finance after his expenses claims were rejected. He said this was due to “legitimate differences in interpretation” of the rules.

But accusations have been made before and he’s been proved innocent. In 2009 he had an expenses bill of $640,000 from July to December and understandably, there was a complaint lodged to the Department of Finance. He said he was innocent and Tony Abbott backed him up and sure enough, he was found innocent of any wrongdoing. He said "While it has been hurtful to my family and me to read constantly in the media that I am under investigation, I am pleased that as expected, my spending has been found to be correct."

But when his former staffer James Ashby turned against him and accused him of sexual harassment and handing over signed, blank Cabcharge dockets to the driver of a hire car, he knew he was in trouble. He quickly released copies of 13 Cabcharge dockets to prove his case but it didn't work.  It just didn't add up - the dockets ran in sequential order although they were filled out on separate days and all were processed manually. 

But it gets worse, the driver he gave them to, Antwan Kaikaty, was convicted of forging Cabcharge dockets in 2002.  According to the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal, he was convicted of forging dockets, stealing a mobile phone and money from a female passenger who was also indecently assaulted.  He was sentenced to 12 months in prison but given a suspended sentence. Mr Slipper said last night he had no knowledge of Mr Kaikaty's offenses. 

He is keen to return to the Speaker's chair when Parliament resumes on May 8 and the Gillard government said they will support his decision. 

In his defence Mr Slipper said "I have used Cabcharge because it is cheaper for the taxpayer than Comcar."  When questioned about why all the dockets were processed manually instead of electronically he said "Many limo drivers take Cabcharge and only use the manual dockets because they do not have electronic facilities."  But what about the serial numbers on the dockets running in sequence?  He said "What is relevant is the journey and when it took place, not the serial number on the docket, which is irrelevant."  

So he seems to have an answer for everything.  They don't call him "Slippery Pete" for nothing.

Allison Bayden-Clay Missing

It’s a week today since Allison Baden-Clay went missing. Last Thursday night, Gerard Baden-Clay said his wife left the house to go for a walk and he went to bed. The next morning he reported her missing.

This is no ordinary family. Allison was a member of the Australian Youth Ballet for five years and is fluent in Japanese, French, German, Danish and Swiss-German.  She became Flight Centre’s global human resources manager, overseeing staff in six countries and then staff recruiter at the International Scout Centre in Switzerland. 

Mr Baden-Clay founded the Century 21 real estate branch in West End, an inner city suburb of Brisbane and he is also the grandson of the Scouting movement founder, Robert Baden-Powell.

Mr Baden-Clay was questioned by police about scratches on his face and it appears he is recovering from a car accident which occurred just two days after his wife disappeared. He was taken to hospital after he crashed his car into the bus terminal outside a shopping centre on Sunday afternoon.

Police and volunteers have been searching bushland beyond the sprawling million-dollar homes, where Ms Baden-Clay was known to go walking but hopes are now fading that she will be found alive. The glamorous couple have been described as inseparable and have three daughters 10, 8 and 5.

It’s easy to jump to conclusions after seeing Mr Baden-Clay sobbing on the television news, but police say he is no longer “a person of interest”. However they spent several hours yesterday interviewing a woman who is a work colleague at Mr Baden-Clay’s real estate office and he has now hired a lawyer.

Police have asked residents in the Brookfield, Kenmore and Pullenvale areas to search their properties for any sign of the mother or her mobile phone."Time is running out," said police Superintendent Shane Dall'osto.

Edit 14 December 2012  Today Mr Bayden-Clay's lawyers have introduced another twist to the tragic murder mystery of the beautiful young mother, Allison Bayden-Clay.  They reapplied for bail stating there had been a significant change in circumstances - Mrs Bayden-Clay's toxicology report found "significant concentrations" of the anti-depressant drug Zoloft in her body, inferring that she may have taken her own life.  The judge wasn't convinced and bail was once again denied.

Amish on Trial

Sam Mullet

Sixteen members of an Ohio Amish community are charged with cutting the hair of fellow members as payback for not following their leader, 66 year old Bishop Sam Mullet.  The defendants, 10 men and 6 women refused to speak to the media over alleged assaults and home invasions that occurred between September and November last year.

Elizabeth Miller

Members of the group forced their way into homes and cut the beards and hair of the occupants, then took their photos to shame them.  Amish believe that women should grow their hair long and men should grow beards when they marry and to have their hair cut is an act considered deeply offensive in Amish culture.

Emma Miller

Four women have been released on a $20,000 unsecured bond each. The defendants, Lovina Miller, Kathryn Miller, Emma Miller and Elizabeth Miller are all members of the Amish community in Bergholz, Ohio and are married to male members of Samuel Mullet's family, the alleged ring leader.

Kathryn Miller

Mullet denies he ordered the hair-cutting but admits he didn't stop his relatives from carrying it out. An agent told the judge that during the raid on Sam Mullet's 800 acre property, they found him in a bedroom with the wife of one of the co-defendants doing "sexual counselling."   Evidence shown to the judge included drugs, sex and physical assaults recorded on video.

Lovina Miller

Mullet said he needs to go home urgently to help his community with essential chores and was prepared to renege on his beliefs.   His lawyer Edward G. Bryan said Mullet is not opposed to allowing electricity to be installed at his residence to accommodate  an electronic monitoring device.  "It is not part of the Amish belief system that electricity is per se evil" he said.

But the Justice Department wasn't buying it and stood by their decision to keep him in jail.  "We are opposed to the motion" Mike Tobin, a department spokesman said "Essentially we're opposed to it for the same reason we've been opposed to the release of Mullet and the six co-defendants from day one, which is that they pose a threat to the community, so it's really as simple as that."



Edit February 9, 2013.  Samuel Mullet 67, was sentenced to 15 years. Fifteen of his followers, including 6 women, were given lesser sentences, ranging from one year and one day to seven years.

US Marine Base a Mistake says Fraser

Two hundred American Marines from Fox Company have arrived in Darwin, the first of a force that will grow to 2,500 over the next few years.  The US wants to monitor sea trade routes, especially the Malacca Strait between Malaysia and Indonesia.  Half the world's trade travels this route and it must be kept open and protected from any kind of potential threat or blockade.

Beijing's influence has reached into the Pacific and is causing some concern, namely over Papua New Guinea and Fiji.  China is very interested in the economic resources of New Guinea and they now have close relations with Fiji, filling the friendship gap that Australia once enjoyed.

Australia and America's friendship is set in stone and always will be but some people are worried what message it sends to other countries in our region.  Former Liberal Prime Minister Malcoln Fraser is calling the marine force in Darwin a "base" and warns that our "grovelling" to Washington is harming our ties with Asia.

He has written a strongly-worded submission to the federal government's white paper on future relations with Asia.  He thinks that our assumption that America offers a security guarantee is false.  "For over twenty years now, we have given the impression of doing whatever America wants" he wrote "We seem to believe that our security can be best assured if we do what we can to win Brownie points with the US.  This is a mistaken assumption."  He added "No country can really win Bronie points with great powers.  Great powers follow their own national interests and we should follow ours.

He continues "For America to say that 2,500 troops do not constitute a base is nonsense, indeed a fabrication.  In military terms, a base does not have to be bricks and mortar.  If 2,500 troops are stationed in a particular place, then the language makes it quite plain that they are based in that place.  It is a base.  To say that they are just passing through and that it is not a base is deceptive and misleading, it sends the wrong message, not only to China, but to countries like Indonesia."

He believes that if the US turn the Cocos Islands into a base for unmanned surveillance drones, he worries that Australia can no longer be viewed as an independent nation.

And here's his bottom line about the mother country.  He reminds us about how we once relied on Britain to save us. "We believed Britain would be able to secure our future" he writes.  "It never occurred to us that Britain would be so preoccupied, so beleaguered, that in a situation of emergency, she would not be able to help."

Peter Slipper, James Ashby and the Pope

I wonder if James Ashby knew before he decided to sue “the government” as well as Peter Slipper, just how many members of today’s Opposition would be dragged into the mire of the Parliamentary Speaker’s transgressions. 

Ashby has named Tony Nutt who was chief of staff to John Howard and it’s alleged that back in 2003, it was his job to “hush up” sexual harassment allegations against Peter Slipper. John Howard and his ministers had the opportunity to act on and pursue the allegations, but they decided not to - people like Tony Abbott, Joe Hockey and Bronwyn Bishop.

So who is James Ashby? He’s no shrinking violet that’s for sure. Ten years ago when he was a DJ in Newcastle, he pleaded guilty to making abusive phone calls to a drivetime host from a rival station. He was fined $2000 and given a three year good behaviour bond. 


When told his telephone conversation was being taped court documents reveal that he said "Yeah, go for it you f ***ing psychopath. Next time I see you riding on your f ****** bike I'll hit you, you idiot, all over the sloppy road, you dumb F***wit, if I was your mother, I would have drowned you at birth." 


Mr Ashby is being represented by Harmers Workplace Lawyers, the same people who represented Kirsty Fraser-Kirk in a settled harassment suit against former David Jones boss Mark McInnes.  I'm not sure if this is a good thing - from memory Ms Fraser-Kirk settled for a fraction of what she asked for - she wanted $37 million and got $850,000. 


However Ashby's lawyers have had his phone forensically examined to ensure that his account of salacious text messages can be used in evidence.  According to legal documents lodged on Friday, Ashby has kept all text messages.

We now learn that Mr Slipper is an ordained priest of the Traditional Anglican Communion church (TAC) - a small breakaway group from the mainstream Anglican Church who were furious when Anglicans began to ordain women as priests.  His good friend and Archbishop John Hepworth said "As Peter's archbishop, I applaud his decision to stand aside as Speaker and am seeking a similar decision in relation to his public functions in the church."

For the past three years the TAC has been involved in negotiations to join the Catholic Church and Mr Slipper has enthusiastically backed the move.  He described Pope Benedict's offer to traditional Anglicans to join with the Holy See as "extremely generous" and "a wonderful opportunity" and described the Pope as "an amazingly visionary person." 


However, the Vatican has banned all Catholic clergy from holding political office so it looks like Father Slipper will have to make an important decision - unless unforeseen circumstances make it for him.

Sydney Bikie Wars

Sam Ibrahim

There has been a total of 52 shootings in Sydney so far this year and 21 this month.  Gun crime is now out of control and Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione can't fix it.  He's frustrated and angry that his plan to saturate the suburbs with an extra 100 police officers hasn't worked, it fact it's got worse - 5 private homes shot at and one machine gun incident in one night.    The special task force he set up, Strike Force Kennara, has hit a wall,  nobody knows anything - not the home owners being shot at, not their friends and family or anyone who witnessed the shootings.

There is a war going on between the Hells Angels and the Nomads and on Tuesday, the parents of a high ranking bikie member were targeted.  Their son is currently in prison on serious firearm and drug charges.  He was arrested last month by detectives from the Middle-Eastern Crime Squad.

Last month police discovered 220 Glock pistols came into the country via gun parts manufactured in Austria and imported through a gun dealer in Germany. Once the parts arrive, they are easily assembled. Police Commissioner Scipione said: “This isn’t just a border security issue, this is a national security issue.”   So how do they do it? 

Criminal groups have been buying up Australia Post franchises so they can bring whatever they like into the country, mainly drugs and guns and there are 4,500 post offices in Australia. 

To become a post office franchisee isn't all that difficult. The licence costs between $250,000 and $900,000. They ask the applicant to list any bankruptcies, convictions or criminal charges pending and must undergo a police character check and an ASIC company check.  Corrupt Customs officials are also responsible for the glut of firearms now circulating in the city.

NSW Police Gang Squad said that the recruitment of 60 Bandido members from three of its Sydney chapters in February last year, including the entire Bandidos Parramatta branch, cost the Hells Angels $6 million. That would translate to $100,000 for every Bandido adopting the flying skull logo of the Hells Angels. Switching clubs is considered a serious transgression and often leads to violence, hence the payout.  But a lot must have happened since then.

The Hells Angels and Comancheros have been feuding since the Comancheros firebombed a Hells Angels tattoo parlour in 2008. The fatal airport brawl of March 2009 and subsequent revenge shooting of Hells Angels member Peter Zervas were allegedly results of the firebombing. 

Since its inception in the United States in 1940, the Hells Angels - which now boasts 230 chapters in 27 countries - has adopted a corporate approach to its business dealings.

Last night a home at Bella Vista was sprayed with 8 bullets but their target, former Nomads boss Sam Ibrahim and his family, don’t live there anymore.

Saif Gaddafi's Trial

In 2008 Saif Gaddafi was awarded a PhD from the London School of Economics (LSE), even though it was later claimed that his doctoral thesis was plagerised.  Soon after he gave the LSE a 1.5 million pound donation.

He rubbed shoulders with elite international society, especially in London and helped repair the reputation of Libya for a while by way of a personal charitable foundation.  But when the chips were down, he chose to fight his father's enemies "until the last bullet."

His life of privilege came to an end last November when he was captured in the desert with a handful of friends, trying to escape over the border into Niger.  The International Criminal Court (ICC) indicted him for his crimes against humanity and announced that he would be tried at The Hague.

But the militia who are currently holding him in the Zintan region of Libya are refusing to hand him over - not to the ICC and not to the Libyan government.  They want him tried on Libyan soil and they believe he will escape if they send him to Tripoli.

So a deal is being negotiated that could see him tried in Libya, but with the security and supervision of the international court.  The ICC said they could accept a death sentence if the trial was fair and transparent with an adequate appeal system in place.

The trial of Saif could prove embarrassing for influential British figures, including Prince Andrew and Tony Blair.  The prince was a regular visitor to Tripoli as a trade ambassador and played host to Saif at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.

Gaddafi's favourite son also has good friends in Australia, namely Tarek (Tony) Kazal.  Mr Kazal is one of eight brothers who own some of the NSW government's most prestigious heritage buildings in The Rocks and several shops and apartments in "The Toaster" at Circular Quay.   They have been known to court our politicians, arranging lavish trips or upgrades for state MPs and hosting intimate fundraisers attended by Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd in 2008 and 2009.

Mustafa Zarti, Director-General of the Libyan Investment Authority's general investment fund, confirmed that they offered the Kazals a "fundraising facility with a drawndown limit of $A25.5 million."  The letter was sent to the Kazals' office in The Toaster but it's not clear if the loan was ever executed.

The ICC was set up in 2002 and had its first successful conviction last month when Congo militia leader Thomas Lubanga was found guilty of recruiting child soldiers.  Now every effort is being made to ensure that Saif Gaddafi receives a fair trial.

Anders Breivik tells us why

Anders Breivik told police he committed the murders to defend Norway and Europe against Muslim domination and pleaded not guilty on the grounds of "necessity."  Under Norwegian law, "necessity" means that a person cannot be punished for taking action to defend another person or another person's property from an otherwise unavoidable danger, and in his mind, Islam is that danger.

Breivik sees himself as a crusader who has saved his beloved Norway from civil war with Islam.  He said he felt compelled to eliminate the people who would continue to pursue multiculturalism and the youth wing of the Norwegian Labour Party was akin to the Hitler Youth Movement, intent on indoctrinating young people into hating Norway's cultural heritage.

He said Sarkozy, Merkel and Cameron had all admitted that multiculturalism had failed in Europe and that Muslim immigrants have caused problems for host countries around the world.  He said that any dissent about multiculturalism was being covered up by "cultural elites" - academics, journalists and liberal politicians.

This trial is important because it shows us through this tragic event, just how serious multiculturalism has become and we must speak the truth - Muslims have caused trouble for their host countries and to deny it would be a lie.  The Dutch have already passed new laws, Muslims must speak Dutch and prove a basic salary scale before being allowed to join relatives already there.

We see Breivik sobbing in court yesterday while watching a video he created and wonder why.  He said it made him think about his country and how "my ethnic group is dying."  He said later "I know what I have done is gruesome and that I have caused pain to thousands of people.... but it was necessary and I would do it again."

Anders Breivik Trial Begins

Anders Breivik brutally murdered 77 innocents in Norway last year and isn’t the least bit sorry, in fact he has no remorse whatsoever.  He wrote that being diagnosed as a psychotic paranoid schizophrenic by two court-appointed psychiatrists, Synne Sorheim and Torgeir Husby, was ‘the ultimate humiliation’.

A second mental evaluation was ordered and was more to his liking - psychiatrists Agnar Aspaas and colleague Terje Toerrissen found that the defendant was not psychotic at the time of the crime.   Both reports are only advisory and it will be up to the judges to determine his mental state and where he should be jailed.

His trial starts tomorrow in Oslo and it will be one of the most bizarre in recent history because Breivik wants his defence to prove he is sane and therefore criminally responsible. He thinks that being sent to a psychiatric ward would be “worse than death”. 

He desperately wants the world to know that his crusade against multiculturalism and the “Muslim invasion” of Europe is real and action must be taken to stop it. He longs to tell the world why he did it and is frustrated by not being allowed to speak.

Norway has the most progressive penal system in Europe and focuses on rehabilitation rather than punishment so Breivik’s living arrangements have been quite comfortable. 

He has a suite of three adjoining cells, one is a bedroom, the second a gym and the third has a computer without internet access.   After an early breakfast, he works out in the gym then reads the newspapers.  He can play a computer game, relax in front of a DVD or watch television.   In 2009 prisoners campaigned for, and were granted, access to legal pornography in their cells. He also has a room-service bell which he can ring to have cigarettes delivered to him. After lunch he is allowed time in the fresh air in an enclosed yard. He practises Japanese ‘Bushido’ meditation every day to stop himself from feeling anything, something he has done for many years.

He has had no visitors. His father divorced his mother when Breivik was a baby and hasn’t spoken to his son for ten years. Until shortly before the attacks, he lived in Oslo with his mother Wenche Behring who he describes as having “the intellectual capacity of a ten year old.” Since the massacre she has been treated for shock and says she never wants to see her son again.

The trial is expected to last ten weeks and he specifically asked for Geir Lippestad to represent him because he once defended a neo-Nazi murder suspect Ole Nicolai Kvisler. Lippestad’s first reaction was to refuse the request but changed his mind and said equal rights for all was ‘a vital brick in the wall of democracy.’

Julian Assange and The World Tomorrow

It's been a long time since Julian Assange was in the headlines, one could say he's had a huge fall from grace - once in the news almost every day to not being in the news at all.  But it seems he's survived his funding crisis and has made a television series called The World Tomorrow. There will be twelve episodes and Assange says the show will have a "frank and irreverent tone."

The first episode will be broadcast next Tuesday, April 17, on Russia Today and also on line.  Russia Today is one of its broadcast licencees and will broadcast the show in English, Spanish and Arabic.

Nobody knows who his first guest will be but he promises "an eclectic range of guests who are stamping their mark on the future - politicians, revolutionaries, intellectuals, artists and visionaries."

The show will be produced by Quick Roll Productions, a company established by Assange and Dartmouth Films, an independent film maker.

It could be said that America has checkmated Assange for releasing thousands of their diplomatic cables.  The British are loathe to send him back to Sweden to face rape and sexual assault charges because they are worried that America will eventually take him back to the US, put him in jail, and throw away the key.  He's been under house arrest now for 500 days and still the British Supreme Court has not made a judgement.

So just when you thought that Julian Assange's star has fallen to earth, it's now likely the world will be focusing on this television event that has the potential of cutting through all the spin and producing truthful, world-shifting ideas.

One Direction comes to Sydney

One Direction is a British-Irish boy band made up of five members -  Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson.  After coming third in the seventh series of Britain's X Factor, they signed a two million pound record contract with Simon Crowell's Syco Records and are currently the most popular group in the world.

But there is another band in the US with the same name and their manager, Dan O'Leary, is furious with Cowell and accuses him of stealing his name.  He's organizing a multi-million dollar law suit and a share of One Direction's earning and there's a rumour going around that their claims are justified.

O'Leary says his boys got together in 2009, a year before Cowell's One Direction first appeared on X Factor.  He said "I don't care how powerful Simon Cowell is, he's crazy if he thinks we're going to lie down over this."

One Direction came to Sydney this week and it's clear that these boys are a massively successful phenomenon.  Rarely do we see the hysteria that surrounded their appearances across the city.  And these kids are different.  Words used to describe them include "wholesome" and "clean cut".  They come from middle-class backgrounds, are polite, well mannered and a credit to their parents.

Vegemite test

Organizers are stepping up security ahead of One Direction's appearance at the Logies on Sunday night, amid fears that fans will mob the Melbourne Crown Casino event.

Just another example of Cowell's Midas touch.

Matthew Newton in Miami

Matthew Newton went to Miami to work with Australian documentary maker Alison Thompson who works with Sean Penn on bringing attention to Haiti's suffering and recovery after their devastating earthquake.  Ms Thompson visited Newton at his hotel yesterday and said "He's doing okay, he's just a human who needs a lot of help."

When it comes to Matthew Newton, the Australian press have pursued him relentlessly, some would say with good cause.   But moving to America hasn't helped the troubled actor because he's in trouble again and as usual, it isn't his fault.

Miami Mugshot

After dining with fellow Aussies at Mr Moe's Restaurant and Bar in Miami, a late night hangout in the old Coconut Grove, an argument involving patrons broke out and several were asked to leave.  They all left except Newton who kept trying to get back inside and after many attempts, he was finally arrested.  But he didn't go quietly, he grabbed onto tables to make it difficult for police to move him but he was finally taken to Miami Dade County police station where he spent 24 hours before a $2000 bond was posted.

A police complaint states that the actor swore at an officer after he tried to get back into the restaurant saying "F***k you cop, you can't treat me like this because I'm Australian."  He intends to plead not guilty to charges of trespass and resisting arrest and has made the extraordinary request of his Miami attorney to take the case to trial.  What the police considered a minor event is now a more serious one and means that the management of Mr Moe's bar and the police will have to give detailed statements and find witnesses willing to testify about what actually happened.

Newton insists he was not drinking or aggressive and nowhere on his arrest sheet does it mention he was intoxicated.  There was no CCTV in the bar that night because the cameras were in the process of being replaced.

Newton's celebrity Sydney lawyer Chris Murphy said Matthew asked police to give him a drug and alcohol test but they refused and said it would only be given if  he had been driving.  Murphy told a court that Newton had to get out of Australia for the sake of his mental health and yesterday, he was successful in having the assault case of a taxi driver adjourned for three months while he deals with the new US charges.

Despite admitting to punching girlfriend actress Brooke Satchell and trying to gouge her eyes out in 2007, his conviction was quashed on appeal.  In 2010, he and girlfriend Rachel Taylor were on holiday in Rome when he allegedly bashed her on two separate occasions in their Rome hotel.  She suffered serious injuries from blows to her face and body.

Mr Murphy said "My client is hunted like a wounded animal, my extreme concern.... is that he is suicidal."

Sydney Fish Market 2012

There’s a reason why the Sydney Fish Market is a disgrace – the shareholders in the privately owned market keep refusing to allow any attempt to bring it up to a modern standard. In the 1990s the market was sold and is now privately owned - half by the retailers on site and the other half by the fishermen.

Last June the retailers rejected a $40 million revamp proposal approved by the state government which would turn the market into a world-class tourist site, incorporating a park and waterfront promenade.

Back in 2010, Kristina Keneally promised to give $20 million towards the public part of the development but the tenants of the existing retail stalls voted against it on viability grounds. They argued that the redevelopment would not generate sufficient extra income to support the borrowings needed for the project.

You would be ashamed to bring your overseas visitors here. There is seagull-splattered poo on old plastic umbrellas along the waterfront, the car park is a nightmare, nowhere near big enough, but we still come, especially at Easter and Christmas, because they sell the best seafood in the world.

In June 2011, the market’s chief executive Grahame Turk said he was very disappointed the development could not go ahead and said “I’m ashamed of the place.”

So Sydney-siders are stuck with a smelly old facility in a prime waterfront location and if the retailers keep getting their way, it will remain this way for many years to come.