Bronwyn Bishop finally says she's sorry

At last Bronwyn Bishop has apologised, something she should have done weeks ago.  Instead, she believed she was right and dug in. 

As a politician and living on another planet, she had no way of knowing that the community is disgusted with her arrogant sense of entitlement.
  
It started with the $5000 helicopter ride which she promptly paid back but after some digging by the  Opposition, they found she had claimed expenses to attend two weddings.  I guess she thought that because the brides were politicians, it was okay, but it wasn't. A wedding is a private affair and she should have paid her own way.

This morning, on his top rating radio show, Liberal supporter Alan Jones gave Ms Bishop the opportunity to set it right and she did.

She said she was pressed for time when she flew from Melbourne to Geelong in a helicopter, but it was not an excuse for letting the Australian people down.

"I want to apologise to the Australia people for my error of judgment and to say sorry" she said.  "There is no excuse for what I did with the helicopter."

Although the weddings of Liberal MP Sophie Mirabella and MP Teresa Gambaro were technically within the rules, she accepted that they "just didn't look right" and she would repay the amounts claimed.   

However, she won't resign and I doubt if Tony Abbott will insist on it. Even though it was a long time coming, she finally apologised and that's that.  The Labor Party must see that it's now a dead duck and drop it.

There won't be one MP in Parliament who hasn't claimed for something they should have paid for themselves but from now on, they need to instruct their staff - who are the people ultimately responsible - to be very careful.

Only Adam Goodes can stop the booing

Adam Goodes is a successful Aboriginal footballer who plays for the Sydney Swans.  He was also named Australian of the Year and received a lot of positive publicity for his skill and fight against racism.

Pointing to his black skin

In January 2014, when a 13 year old Collingwood supporter sitting in the front row at the MCG called him an "ape", he heard it loud and clear and wasn't going to let it go.  With cameras rolling, he pointed her out to security who led her away to the sounds of boos from the audience.

But although this incident took place in January last year, people haven't forgotten and Goodes is being booed every time he's on the field.  

He thinks it's because he's an Aboriginal, but I don't think it is, instead he's coming across as a show pony and a precious sook and needs to get over himself.

We have plenty of brilliant Aboriginal players who don't feel the need to keep drawing attention to themselves, they just get on with doing what they're good at.

Amanda Divine wrote about it in her column today.

Amanda Divine 29th July 2015

Only Adam Goodes can stop the booing.

Do the geniuses who run AFL actually think they can command a crowd not to boo Adam Goodes? Next they’ll try walking on water.

No, nothing can be done to force people to like Goodes. Only he can change people’s perceptions of him.

A good start would be for the Swans star to apologise to the 13-year-old girl he singled out for rough treatment during a Collingwood game two years ago, after she shouted: “You’re an ape”.

Goodes understandably was upset at what he took as a racist slur. But as soon as he got close to the girl he should have seen she was a child and let it go.

The Collingwood fan was barely 13 - the daughter of a single mother on a disability pension, from a hard-scrabble town in Gippsland. She told me later through her mother she didn’t even know “ape” was racist. She was just sledging the opposition.

Despite her youth, Goodes was determined to make an example of her. He kept pointing until stadium officials took her away. The crying girl was paraded through the jeering crowd, and detained by stadium police past midnight, while her worried grandmother and little sisters were told to stay in their seats.

When she finally was released, Nana had to drive three hours home, with no offer of help.

“Racism had a face - and it was a 13-year-old girl,” Goodes said.

He had the grace later to accept her written apology, but the damage had been done.

He should have apologised to her a long time ago, but better late than never. At least he would show that he now understands what he did was wrong, unfair, and did nothing to combat racism.

He was a rich, powerful, 33-year-old elite sportsman; she was a defenseless, underprivileged child. And the AFL, if it cared about him, would have told him so, rather than pandering to his misplaced sense of victimhood.

Instead Goodes was hailed a hero for “calling out” racism, and made Australian of the Year where he kept telling Australians they are racist.

This is the root of the crowd antipathy to Goodes. It has nothing to do with the colour of his skin. It comes down to his “dobbing and sooking” after a little girl called him a rude name, as former player Karl Langdon put it this week.

Short of banning the fans, there’s not much the AFL can do about this vicious cycle, other than to counsel Goodes to remake his image. Enlisting other players to incite the crowd on his behalf will only make things worse.

Goodes is upset by the heckling and says he would be “really disappointed” if his career ended on a negative note.

Well, that’s in your hands, Adam. Apologise to the girl, and recognise that Australians don’t take kindly to being accused of being racists when they are not.

Then the crowd might fall back in love with you

What is wrong with Robert Allenby?

Robert Allenby sacked his caddy at the Canadian Open last week and made headlines around the world.  Again.

Allenby's version of events:  On the par-5  thirteenth hole, he asked his caddie, Mick Middlemo for his 7 iron.  Middlemo argued he should go with the 8 iron so Allenby conceded.  He hit the ball straight into the creek and wound up with a triple bogie.

I said to him 'You know this happens every week, this has happened for the last four or five months...we keep making bad mistakes and you're not helping me.'

But that's not what witnesses say.  Robert Allenby allegedly called his caddy a "fat ****" and threatened to have him banned for life.

Middlemo stormed off and Allenby carried his bag over to the first tee and explained to an official that he was suddenly without a caddy. That's when a spectator Tom Fraser, a local school principal, offered to carry his bag.

Middlemo's version of events:  "The discussion was only about waiting for the wind to die down and hit the 8 iron - the 7 iron was never discussed, not once.....he came up 10 metres short of the front of the green....he hit a bad shot.

"He said 'I can't believe this fat ****" loud enough for everyone to hear....I can take it if you call me I'm the worst caddy in the world, tell me I'm horrible at picking clubs, but there's a line you just can't cross."

So it's clear that Allenby has a problem and some are suggesting it's alcohol.

Although Middlemo wasn't present when Allenby said he was kidnapped and bashed in Hawaii earlier this year, he thinks he made up the story and that he probably "just fell over ****faced drunk."

Allenby already has a bad reputation for talking down to his caddy, marshalls and volunteers but he keeps getting away with it.  When he injured his face in Hawaii he said something along the lines of "Don't you know who I am?  I'm a famous millionaire.  

This sad man is turning into another ugly Australian sportsman with lots of talent and no class.

Tragic death of Jack Sultan-Page

Jack Sultan-Page was riding his bike near his home in Moulden when he was hit by a car on November 1 last year, and died hours later in Darwin hospital.

After a 24 hour search for the driver, police arrested Matthew Alexander at his home and discovered a work ute involved in the incident.

Alexander was charged with five offences, including hit and run, possession of cannabis and methamphetamine and administering a dangerous drug (to himself).  The most serious offence - hit and run causing death - carries a maximum of 10 years jail.

Matthew Alexander

This week, Alexander walked out of court to start six months detention in the comfort of his own home and an 18 month suspended sentence, plus a few fines.

But there seems to be some confusion over whether Jack's death was an accident or not. Justice Stephen Southwood said Alexander did not cause the boy's death but was sentenced "for leaving the scene of the accident." He believed the defendant was "genuinely remorseful" and had "learnt the error of his ways."

He was also very impressed by the defendant's glowing reports from a drug rehab facility and a letter from the manager who described him as "one of the most committed and inspiring residents we have had in the program for some time."

But Prosecutor Erin McAuley told the court Alexander had spent the night before the incident taking drugs with friends and the night he was arrested he was "sitting in a dirt patch smoking bongs."

Father, Michael Page

So it's no surprise that Jack's parents are furious.  This drug-addicted student is somehow involved in the child's accident, he then leaves him to die on the side of the road, and gets glowing reports about how well he's doing in rehab read out in court.

Any wonder his father Michael Page said the justice system has failed his son. "We don't think the law stood up for him" he said. "A person who gets drunk gets more time, anyone up on domestic violence gets more than a hit and run."

The question has to be asked.  What if the driver of the vehicle had been black, would the cushy sentence still be the same?

Ashley Madison infidelity website

Ashley Madison has been asking for trouble ever since it started in 2001.  The site's slogan is "Life is short, have an affair" and thirty seven million people agreed, and signed up.

The company behind the site, Avid Life Media, own other dubious websites including Established Men, who connect young women with "successful and generous benefactors to fulfil their lifestyle needs."

A hacker group called the Impact Team say that unless Ashley Madison and their other websites close down, they will release personal details of all their customers.

Ashley Madison is lying its head off, telling customers their personal details are safe, but they're not. Nobody knows just how many private records have been released so far, but the hackers say they have the total database of 33 million members in 46 countries.

They have a "paid delete" option and one man took advantage of it. He paid the fee and felt secure in his anonymity.  But he forgot they had his credit card details which showed his real name and address and to prove their point, the hackers named the man who lived in Ontario.

Amid the panic of seeing their future going down the toilet, Avid Life announced they will make the "paid delete" option free, but it's all too late.

I hope the hackers decide not to release the personal information. No matter what the experts say, when parents divorce, children suffer and lives are ruined.

Bronwyn Bishop's helicopter ride

Bronwyn Bishop needs to say she's sorry.  Stubbornly digging in isn't working. 

Last year when she had to get from Melbourne to Geelong - 75 kms - for a fund raising event for the Liberal Party, she booked a helicopter ride for $5000 instead of going by car.  Was she running late and thought it would be quicker?  Who knows, but whatever the reason, she did the wrong thing and got caught.

Former Liberal Leader John Hewson has thrown a spanner in the works by saying that Bronny's "only hope" to keep her job as Speaker of the House is to give "a complete and honest and open account" of what happened and why and to openly admit she tried to claim entitlements she wasn't entitled to.

But the biggest problem for Bronwyn is that she comes across as a stuck-up snob from old-world England.  She reeks of pomposity and hubris so it's no surprise then when she flatly refuses to say "I'm sorry" because she really isn't sorry, and doesn't understand why she should be.

When Tony Abbott gave Bronwyn the Speaker's chair, it was a payback for a lifetime of support for the Liberal Party, we all knew that.  But as Speaker, her bias towards the Labor Party at times is embarrassing, especially when Speaker Peter Slipper was hounded and his career ruined over a few dollars. Compared to Bronwyn's helicopter ride, it was small change.

Saying she made 'an error of judgement' and repaying the money just isn't enough Bronny, you have to do something you will find most difficult - humble yourself for once in your life.

Bernard Tomic - the ugly Australian

You have to wonder why Bernard Tomic thinks he's so special.  He was born in Stuttgart, Germany in 1992 where his parents were working at the time.  Originally from Yugoslavia, his father is from Croatia and his mother from Bosnia and the family migrated to the Gold Coast when Bernard was 3.

So he went through the Australian school system which tends to bring people with a high opinion of themselves back down to earth pretty quickly, yet it's obvious he hasn't learnt a thing.  He's a constant embarrassment, and now he's been arrested in America.

Driving his Ferrari before he lost his licence

There were multiple complaints from guests about the noise coming from a noisy party in Tomic's hotel penthouse rooms in Miami. When told to tone it down, witnesses said Tomic slammed the door on security guards who then called the police.  When they arrived and asked him to leave, he refused and was arrested.  He was later released on $2000 bail.

John Tomic

Two years ago, his father, John Tomic was found guilty of an assault on another player and received an 8 month suspended sentence.  A court in Madrid ruled Ivana John Tomic did headbutt his son's French tennis practice partner Thomas Drouet outside a hotel in the Spanish capital. 

Just another example of how the apple never falls far from the tree.

He was paying $9000 a night for the penthouse which isn't surprising - a regular hotel room just wouldn't do for this talented young man who is making a complete mess of his life.

Thomas Drouet 

Thinking of renovating

John and Sylvia Goodley did everything right when they decided to go ahead with renovations to their Illawong home.  

They set aside money for unseen problems, employed an architect to project-manage the job and took out home warranty insurance (HWI) which cost an extra $6000.  But when they went to make a claim, they found the HWI insurance certificate was a forgery.

Their builder, Stephen Ball of BSB Metro Pty Ltd forged the document, using a real insurance certificate from a former client.

They wanted to recoup the cost of completing the unfinished work the builder left behind when he went out of business, seven months after his building licence expired.

So they went to NSW Fair Trading who did a great job prosecuting Stephen Ball and his brother Bryan Ball, BSB's two directors.

Stephen Ball pleaded guilty to fraud and was sentenced to a minimum of 8 months community service and when he appealed, he got 14 months instead.

Bryan Ball pleaded not guilty to the charge of completing unlicensed building work and said it was his brother's job to take care of the administrative side of the business, but the court imposed fines and costs of $7300.

Fair Trading Commissioner said "This verdict serves as a reminder to all directors - they have a duty to ensure the company's contractor licence remains current."

But Sydney builders go out of business all the time, some declare bankruptcy, others just close up shop and walk away and even with good references and reviews, you just never know.

Ivan Milat ghost tours cancelled

A guided 'extreme terror tour' of the Belanglo forest where Ivan Milat tortured and killed his victims has been cancelled.  NSW Premier Mike Baird said the tour - run by a company called Goulburn Ghost Tours - was not only disgusting but was operating illegally.

He said for a company to operate in the state forest, they need a permit, something they don't have, and won't be getting. "It's not only in bad taste, it's horrendous" he said.

The tour, which has been operating since June, kicks off at 3pm in Goulburn and returns from the forest around 3 am next morning. "Come with us to Belanglo where Ivan Milat buried the bodies of his victims.  Once you enter Belanglo State Forest, you may never come out" it says on the website.

Imagine how the families of the victims feel about this.

Milat has a fan club of women from around the world.  They have written words of adoration and love for him over the 20 years since he was locked up in Goulburn's Supermax prison.

He's serving seven consecutive life sentences for the murder of seven young backpackers between 1989 and 1992 and burying their bodies in the forest, close to where he worked on the road between Sydney and Goulburn.  Police believe he is responsible for many more murders, but there wasn't enough evidence to take the suspected cases to court.

Milat, forever craving attention, has been described as a troublesome inmate.  He has swallowed metal objects and in 2009, he chopped off his finger with a plastic knife and put it in an envelope addressed to the High Court.

He refers to his cell with no windows as a 'cement coffin' and there is no one more deserving of it, than himself.

Bill Cosby's wife

Bill Cosby's wife Camille has a lot of questions to answer.  Loyalty to your husband is one thing but if she knew he was drugging women to rape them and did nothing, that's unforgivable.

She says that almost 50 women who have accused him of rape were agreeable - that they willingly took the drugs he gave them and agreed to have sex with him - a statement so offensive to his accusers, it beggars belief.

Even when it was revealed last week that he once admitted he intended to ply women with Quaaludes before having sex with them, all she will admit to is that her husband is a serial cheater and definitely not a rapist.

Camille Cosby 71, is also Bill Cosby's business manager.

"People are jumping ship" she said.  "I created him, I knew what I was getting and we'll fix this."

As his business manager, she's obviously giving him the wrong advice. With his reputation already in the gutter, the only course of action left is to "fix it" the right way -  admit his guilt, apologise for all the pain and suffering caused and pay for his transgressions in cold hard cash.

But it makes you wonder if there is another reason Camille is digging in - the restitution money involved.  If he pays out the current 50 accusers, how many more are out there?

Barnaby Joyce and the Chinese coalmine

Barnaby Joyce

Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce has had a very bad week.  He appears to be a useless and impotent representative of Australian agriculture because he has failed in his bid to stop Tony Abbott's decision to turn prime farmland on Liverpool Plains near Gunnedah in northern NSW, into an open cut coalmine, bigger than Sydney.

But there are two sides to this story.

Once the Shenhua Watermark coalmine is up and running, it will operate 24/7 and extract 10 million tonnes of coal every year for 30 years and create 300 jobs, probably filled by Chinese working for a lower hourly rate.

Yes, it's it's an attractive proposition, Australia has masses of coal and an opportunity to sell it to China is to our advantage but the question is, do we have other farmland as good as this to grow food for our own people?  Liverpool Downs is often referred to as 'the food bowl of Australia.'

But yesterday, Tony Abbott said the mine won't be anywhere near the fertile black soil.  "It's a mine in the hill country, it's not on prime agricultural land" he said.

But there is still a major concern about water needed for agriculture.

To his credit, Barnaby said "the world has gone mad" after Environment Minister Greg Hunt gave the project conditional approval.

Mr Hunt said the federal approval is "subject to 18 of the strictest conditions in Australian history." The project has also been subjected to four expert reviews and two reviews by the Independent Expert Scientific Committee.

"There will be no impact on the availability of water for agriculture" Mr Hunt said.

But yesterday Barnaby disagreed and said he was suspicious of scientific advice that found no proof the mine would destroy the nearby water table.

If nearby aquifers were destroyed, he said, he didn't know of a process in the whole world that could fix the damage. 

The aquifers are a vital source of underground water for farmers in the area.  Because there was no proof the aquifers would be destroyed, the government had no reason to stop the mine, and if it did, it could be challenged in court.

So Barnaby is copping heaps and former local MP Tony Windsor is so disgusted with him, he's threatened to come out of retirement and stand in his seat at the next election.

Barnaby has one last hope.  He's written to NSW Premier Mike Baird pleading with him to block the mining licence but I'm guessing it will have zero chance of success.

John Brickman Wall found guilty

It's a tragic case of a family divided and one where you wonder if the jury got it right. 

The eldest son of a Utah doctor was delighted this week when his father, John Brickman Wall, was sentenced to 15 years for killing his mother Uta.  Three of his children believe he's innocent but the eldest son Pelle spent almost his entire mother's inheritance on lawyers, determined to bring his father to trial.

Pelle believed that his father attacked his mother, gave her a large dose of Xanax and drowned her in her bath. He said his father's portrayal of himself as a victim was despicable.  "He's convinced himself of an alternate reality" he said.  "It's disrespectful to true victims and I can't reconcile it."

Uta Brickman

It was largely a circumstantial case.  Defense attorneys insisted Uta killed herself but the circumstantial evidence was damning.  The day her body was found, John Wall went to a car wash early in the morning and had the interior cleaned, including a pinkish stain, according to prosecutors.  He also came to work that day with a scratch on his face and an injury to his eye and said the family dog has scratched him while he slept.

Prosecutors also said that Uta was winning her court case to get more custody of her children and had recently made an exciting discovery at work that could help find new treatments for childhood leukemia.

Pelle Wall

Pelle's sister Wendy Wall said the man depicted during the trial bears no resemblance to the brother she knows because her father was loving and never violent.  She was in court with other family members but left without making any comment.

Pelle Wall said he knows his father well and saw how he behaved toward his mother after she left him and during a messy divorce involving child custody.  He hated her, he said.

Meanwhile John Brickman Wall has consistently maintained his innocence throughout.

Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy case - again

Candida Fluty

It makes you wonder if Facebook is creating attention-seeking monsters like Candida Fluty, an American mother who basked in the sympathy and attention she received from her 2,500 Facebook friends.

This sick individual and mother of four was caught on camera taking her son's colostomy bag, removing faeces from it, and injected them into his IV.

Luckily for her, he's still alive and she only got six years jail, another mother who killed her son last year got 20 years.

Her son suffers from a rare disease called Hirschprung's, the congenital condition that affects muscle movement in the bowels and her callous act exacerbated his already chronic condition.

He had a fever because she made it happen.

When posts like this appear constantly over time, warning bells should have rung amongst at least some of her 2,500 Facebook friends.  The internet is now overwhelmed with narcissists seeking adulation and attention, and when mothers post about sick children, it should be a red flag to everyone.

Fluty has four children aged from 9 to 17 who are all in the care of her sister and has been ordered to stay away.

Hikikomori

One thing young Japanese men suffering from Hikikomori all have in common is their mother's love and devotion.  They are allowed to live a reclusive lifestyle behind their bedroom door, to sleep all day and spend all night in front of a computer screen.  In some cases, meals are left outside their room by their mothers who don't know what else to do.

They don't work, attend school, go out and some don't even speak.

Officially, Hikikomori is a rare mental illness only affecting about one per cent of the population, but because it's a shameful behaviour, the true figures are hard to find.

Hikikomori means 'shut in' - the person decides to totally disengage from society and develops mainly in boys between the ages of 14 and 15 and can continue for an entire lifetime, if enabled.

They are often painfully shy, socially inept and find it hard to interact with other people.  But hikikomori is not like Western agoraphobia - fear of leaving the house -  some will leave their bedroom in the dead of night to visit a 24/7 convenience store or buy snacks from a street vending machine which requires no human interaction at all.

The Japanese school system is harsh with ranking systems meting out success or failure based on academic ability so it follows that to fail at anything, particularly an entrance exam is so shameful, it can become too much to bear for some.

But doctors are only just finding out that recovery can only be successful if family interactions change which means the whole family must be involved, which isn't easy.

From an article by Sarah Marie Caulfield in 2014

Whilst a British family might contact a psychiatrist, Japanese parents will go to great lengths to hide the extent of the disorder from non-family members. This links back to the lack of progression in the mental health sector, which in certain parts of Asia is arguably half a century behind America. Mothers expect children, particularly sons, to be dependent on their parents into their thirties or forties, perhaps even living in the home without contributing, as a ‘parasite single'; the mother-son relationship is notably held so dear that mothers will often inadvertently assist hikikomori in their lifestyle – by leaving meals at the bedroom door, for example.

It just goes to prove what we already knew - a mother's love and devotion is a mighty powerful thing and in the end, it's discovered that she, his mother, is the source of the cure. 

If you’re interested in finding out more, read Shutting Out The Sun: How Japan Created Its Own Lost Generation by Michael Zielenziger.

Tomic and Kyrgios bad Australian Ambassadors

Bernard Tomic and Nick Kyrgios are not good Ambassadors for Australia, in fact they are a downright embarrassment.  It's a shame if the world gets the wrong impression about how Aussies behave because of these two spoilt brats.

It's also a pity that Kyrgios so far hasn't been banned from playing in the Davis Cup after threatening solidarity with Tomic when he was dumped from the Australian team.  Apparently he told Tomic he would also withdraw from the tournament, but quickly changed his mind.

He said on Facebook "As a proud Australian, it's a pleasure and a privilege to represent my country in the Davis Cup.  As long as I'm able, fit and healthy, it's an opportunity I will never pass up."

He sure changed his mind in a hurry. He should be ashamed of himself after the way he behaved when he missed a break spoint. He spun around in a rage and flung his racket so hard into the grass that it bounced several metres into the stands, narrowly missing a spectator. 

Then when Tomic lost his game, he got stuck into Tennis Australia officials.  He accused them of treating him with disrespect and how they abandoned him last year when he had twin hip replacements.  "All of a sudden they are neglecting me for some reason, they are not supporting me, not respecting me" he said.

He then called for an investigation in Tennis Australia because they pulled funding from his family, including his sister Sara, because of his and his father's behaviour.

His father, John Tomic, said his son was prepared to apologise for his vicious outburst but it was too late, he's still banned.  Tomic can thank his father for the ban, as it's alleged he was the one behind the outburst.

John Tomic

There's an old saying that fits this situation nicely - the apple never falls far from the tree.

Phil Walsh's tragic death

Adelaide Crows coach Phil Walsh 55, said his career had affected his relationship with his son.  "I just immersed myself, got consumed and selfish" he said in April.  "I lost that connection and I'm trying to reconnect with my son, which I have done."

Cy Walsh

"I tell my kids to chase their dreams, I don't want to look back at 70 years old and think what might have been."

He had a near death experience in Peru in 2012 and saw the "white light."  He said it changed his life and he had to re-evaluate what was important, like spending more time with the people he loved.

Walsh family in happier times

But yesterday, the third of July, 2015, his son Cy Walsh allegedly stabbed his father to death inside the family home.  His mother was taken to hospital with a stab wound to the leg.

Police are investigating whether 26 year old Cy Walsh was affected by the drug ice as police found a drug pipe at the scene.  He was jovial and laughing when he was arrested, according to a witness.

Hawthorn and Collingwood players pay tribute to Phil Walsh. 

Crows Supporters Group secretary Robyn Blanch said "The boys had such respect and admiration for him, you could just see that in the way they looked at him and how they played for him."

Peter McEvoy and the Q&A scandal

Peter McEvoy

Peter McEvoy is the executive producer and creator of the ABC's Q&A and the person responsible for allowing Zaky Mallah, a terror suspect, to appear live on air.

Why did he do it?  Because he makes sure that every episode is engineered to make the Liberal government look bad.  

It's so biased, it's painful to watch and if the ABC want to bring viewers back to the program that used to be a 'must see' every Monday night, someone with a better sense of fair play should take his place and Peter McEvoy sent packing.

There is another program McEvoy was involved with - the infamous Media Watch.  In 2000 he was executive producer and at the helm of the program during the 'cash for comment' years involving Alan Jones and John Laws.

In 2007, while he was studying a fellowship at Oxford University, ABC management asked him to come home.  They wanted him to create a controversial program that would get the general public thinking and talking about politics, which is a good thing.  But when he crossed the line of fair play and it became a program of anti-government sentiment, it lost credibility.

So after the Zaky Mallah incident and when the PM said "heads should roll" at the ABC, it should be Peter McEvoy's head that goes rolling.

Teresa Giudice's prison journal

Everything Teresa Giudice touches turns to gold, even her nightmare 15 month stint behind bars for fraud.  She's been keeping a journal since checking in on January 5 which will be turned into a book that goes on sale when she's released on 23rd December.

An excerpt from the journal:

'Woke up at 6:15, went to breakfast at 6:30, had French toast and oatmeal.  Checked emails, drank my coffee and watched the news. Did yoga at 8:30 till 9:10. At 12:00 to 1:00 they had Black History Show. They had Spanish dancers and rappers and talking about black history and handing out questions about black history. Whoever answered those questions right gets a Hershey's candy bar or a pack of tuna.'

Meanwhile, her husband is filming a reality show about how he is coping looking after their four daughters while mother is away. Every day, Teresa is in contact with Joe about the show and has a say in what they film.  Her brother Joe Gorga and his wife also feature in the one hour special to be released in the fall.

When Teresa has completed her 15 month sentence, husband Joe will begin his jail sentence of 41 months.

Teresa will be back on Real Housewives of New Jersey next season and a large media circus is expected the minute she walks out of jail.

Last year the couple pleaded guilty to fraud, mail fraud and other charges and it was thought that Joe, an Italian citizen, might be deported.  Joe admitted avoiding income taxes on nearly $1 million between 2004 and 2008 and Teresa agreed to pay $200,000 to the government at the time of sentencing.

This notorious couple have created a huge following around the world and it seems rather ironic that they continue to be rewarded financially, for doing the wrong thing.

Robin Michael found dead in prison

Robin Michael 63, former general manager of Royal Darwin Hospital, was found dead in his Hobart cell on Saturday night. He was being held on remand for the murder of his wife Kerry Michael 44, in February.

The couple were married on Boxing Day in 2009.

Michael had run the Darwin hospital prior to 2007 when he moved to Adelaide to fill a position of chief executive at a radiology company.

It's a tragic tale of betrayal that was too much to bear, and yet another Australian woman is killed by her partner.  Just hours after her murder, he confessed on Facebook and described his wife as his "heartbeat" and one of "the most beautiful people" in the world.

The happy couple

He felt betrayed, he said, not just by his wife, but by the man she allegedly had an affair with.  "To say I cracked and lost it when our quiet mountain descent got real would not do justice to the situation" he wrote. "The English language cannot describe my anger and rage, I cannot contemplate it.

"You may think you know what it feels like to take a knife in the stomach but trust me, the physical equivalent well understates what it felt like in my inside when it hit home.  Pain is one thing, but not enough if you had known, and loved, and been loved by Kerry, and she betrayed you."

The couple were on a six week holiday touring Tasmania and the incident took place on a walking trail near the summit of Mt Roland.  Family alerted police soon after seeing the Facebook post and her body was found soon after.  She died from a head injury. When police came to the Devonport Caravan Park to arrest him, they found him with self-inflicted wounds, but not bad enough to be life threatening.

"I have committed an act of pure evil and pray it failed" he wrote. "In the heat of the anger with Kerry's admission, I had no control or influence over myself.....but in hindsight, it's a copout, I was so far gone it was surely insanity at its greatest."

"I have done what I did and will bear full consequence" he wrote. "To my three boys, particularly X, what I have done can never be understood, let alone forgiven."