Robert Hughes spends first night in jail

Robert Hughes is a paedophile and his wife Robyn Gardiner knows it. Just as Cardinal Pell enabled his priests to continue to sexually abuse children, so did Robert Hughes' wife. His arrogance knew no bounds and he used his status as star of the successful television show "Hey Dad" to terrorize children he came in contact with.

Robyn Gardiner

During his trial, Gardiner was accused of lying in a heated exchange with the prosecution and she spent five hours denying everything. Her husband never exposed his penis, never swam naked, and didn't touch a friend's daughter during parties held at the girl's house.

When one of the cast's members blanked Gardiner in the street, she was shocked and asked her why. "Why don't you ask your husband" her friend replied.  Gardiner answered "we need to get him some help."

"I'm under oath here, she did not say those words" Gardiner said. She insisted that her husband was shocked to find out the family had gone to police.  "I'll never forget it, he kept saying what, what, what?"

Robyn Gardiner is agent to the stars.  When Kate Blanchett won Best Actor Oscar recently she said "To my agent in Australia, Robyn Gardiner, I love you so very much."

Yesterday a jury found Robert Hughes guilty of nine charges, two counts of sexual assault and seven counts of indecent assault.  They will return today to consider two remaining charges of an indecent act.

Hughes cried when he heard the verdict, his comfortable lifestyle was about to come to an abrupt end. Some of his victims present in court cried with joy and hugged each other.  We can only wonder how Sarah Monahan, the child star he abused for years, is feeling now that her long wait for justice is finally over.

Robyn Gardiner will be remembered as the woman who knew her husband was sexually abusing children and looked the other way. She is beyond contempt.  Now it's up to the judiciary, who has a shocking record of leniency towards paedophiles, to give Robert Hughes the jail time he deserves.

Edit 17/5/2014:  Yesterday Hughes was sentenced to 10 years and nine months’ prison with a non-parole period of six years.

Giant clam bust

Two Vietnamese fishing boats were caught fishing illegally in Australian waters for giant clams and trepan (sea cucumbers).

The huge clams are worth up to $5,000 each and could be up to 100 years old.  The two boats were part of a fleet of four.  The masters were fined a total of $15,000 and received suspended sentences.

Trepang

Their vessels were burnt on Friday in Darwin by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority.

Peta Credlin, Tony Abbott's Chief of Staff

Former Howard government minister and Queensland Senator Ian Macdonald was shadow Parliamentary secretary for Northern Australia in Opposition but was dumped from the frontbench when Tony Abbott won office. "The ecstasy of a new government in the north has turned a little sad with a phone call from Tony Abbott saying he has no room for me in the new ministry" he said..

Senator Macdonald

Senator Macdonald was Minister for Regional Services and Minister for Forestry under John Howard and has served in Parliament for 23 years. It must have been difficult for a frontbench heavyweight to come to terms with the fact that Tony Abbott thinks he just doesn't have what it takes.

"I'll not have un-elected advisers in the Prime Minister's office telling elected politicians, who are actually in touch with their constituencies, what should or shouldn't be done" he said.  He thinks that Peta Credlin has instilled a culture of "obsessive centralised control" in the government.

Senator Macdonald is not the only one who thinks Peta Cedlin has too much power. In the past, the selection of government members for committees was arranged by MPs and Senators themselves, but now all decisions come from Tony Abbott's office. "People are not happy" said one MP.

Tony Abbott's inner-circle, known as the "star chamber" includes Ms Credlin, Michael Ronaldson and Kevin Andrews, Andrew Hirst and David Whitrow.  Unofficial members are Ms Credlin's husband Liberal Party Director Brian Loughnane and Tony Nutt.

Ms Credlin's husband Brian Loughnane

The "star chamber" chooses all government staff appointments. Joe Hockey, Malcolm Turnbull and Barnaby Joyce are just a few who have had their preferred staff candidate rejected.  But Ms Credlin doesn't only have the last word on hiring, she's also responsible for the removal of several senior bureaucrats.

Every day Parliament sits, Abbott has a morning meeting with Ms Credlin, her husband, and seven of his most senior ministers.

Her good friend Education Minister Chistopher Pine once said "Peta is a scary, driven woman who you shouldn't cross or you'll end up at the bottom of Sydney harbour with cement shoes."

Christopher Pine

Credlin started IVF treatment. For months she came straight from the hospital operating room to Parliament House and was at her desk by lunchtime.  But in the lead up to the general election last September, she had to make a painful decision.  She couldn't continue with IVF and campaign for Tony Abbott to win the election.

"I was very close to her during that period" said Christopher Pine. "I think she did put winning, for the greater good of the country, ahead of her own needs."

Christine Armstrong, Tathra shark victim

Rob and Christine Armstrong were married for 44 years and 63 year old Christine was a life saver at the Tathra Surf Club.  She was a strong ocean swimmer and competed every year in the 1.2 kilometre 'Wharf to Waves' race.  Every morning, she and husband Rob would join a group of friends to swim from the beach to Tathra's historic wharf and back. Earlier this year, Mrs Armstrong finished fourth in the 60 to 69 year age group.

Tathra wharf

Yesterday morning, at the 200 metre mark, Mrs Armstrong told the group she wasn't feeling well and decided to turn back.  The rest of the group carried on.  On their way back to the beach, they saw a three metre shark and huddled together in the water for protection. That's when Mr Armstrong realized his wife was missing.

Tathra is a small seaside town of 1,600 people near the Victorian border and this incident is the first reported shark attack in the area. Shark expert Dr Chris Neff from Sydney University said "It struck me as surprising, Tathra certainly doesn't have a history of shark attacks on the database."

But there's trouble brewing.  For years, fishermen would come from all over the country to catch sharks from Tathra wharf and although it was banned in 1996, lifeguards say that fishermen are still setting illegal baits that have brought big sharks in close to the beach.

Tathra surfboat captain captain Sharon Clarke said they found a black balloon bait floating 150 metres off the beach during the race in 2012.  "We all swim in the ocean knowing there are sharks but we don't like the idea that there are people luring and attracting them in so close" she said.

Fines for illegal shark fishing range from $500 to $220,000 and possible jail time if a threatened shark is caught.

Tony Rettke is a close friend of the Armstrongs.  "I normally swim with them, I didn't today....but my wife did....it's not a sharky area, they set balloons probably half a kilometre out in the open sea...but it's not like there are sharks at the wharf" he said.

So it comes back to the same old argument.  Who is at fault, the shark or the swimmer?

The search for Mrs Armstrong's body resumed this morning.

Orphaned Lawrence brothers get to keep the house

Current Affair host Tracy Grimshaw, reporter Brady Halls (far right) and orphaned brothers Jarrod, Blake and Dylan Lawrence.

Life hasn't been kind to the Lawrence brothers. Jarrod Lawrence's father passed away a few years ago and last month he was asked to make the final decision about when to turn his mother's life support off. He turned 19 on the day of her funeral.  Suddenly Jarrod and his two younger brothers, Blake 16 and Dylan 14, were orphans. But the heartache isn't over, Dylan is recovering from brain surgery to have tumours removed.

Tracy Grimshaw

Channel 9's A Current Affair stepped in and opened a trust fund in their name and so far $1.1 million has been raised....and counting. Small business, big business and the general public, rich and poor, were overwhelmed with sympathy for the boys and followed through with cash donations into their bank account.

ACA's executive producer Grant Williams said "to see the boys go into the bank this morning to find a million dollars sitting in the account was simply breathtaking.  This was only possible with the phenomenal generosity of A Current Affair's viewers right around Australia and we thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts."

Eldest Brother Jarrod has been left with a huge responsibility on his shoulders.  He was all set to leave university to help support the family and pay off substantial debts, including a large mortgage, but now he doesn't have to.  "It means we get to keep the house" he said.

Therese Rein sells Ingeus

Therese Rein has to be the most under-rated woman in the country. When Kevin Rudd was Prime Minister, she didn't hesitate to drop her business commitments to concentrate on being his wife and this unassuming woman with the delightful smile, didn't disappoint in her job as first lady.

Her nerdy husband and career bureaucrat Kevin Rudd hit the jackpot when he won her heart.  She is one of the most successful businesswomen in our history and winner of the Australian Human Rights Medal.  

Her father, John Rein was an RAAF veteran who became wheelchair-bound after a plane crash in WWII. When he was told he would never walk again, he went on to become an aeronautical engineer and worked until he retired at 65.  Her mother, a physiotherapist, supported him every step of the way.

Ms Rein didn't make her fortune in real estate or merchant banking. As a psychologist, she started a business to help people with injuries and disabilities get into the workforce.

Interview with The Australian 15th March 2013 

She talked to Jane Edwards, a physiotherapist and former Catholic nun who had a practice in the same building. “She asked me if I had ever thought of starting my own company,” Rein recalls. “She said: ‘Southeast Queensland needs a high-quality, ethical, rehabilitation provider and I think you could do that. And if you were prepared to do it, I would be prepared to invest in it.’” A stunned Rein returned to her office and took out some paper.”

Rein and Jane Edwards became business partners and started WorkDirections Australia in 1989. She won her first government contract from the Hawke government with continued success through the Howard era.  

Today her business is called Ingeus, a global powerhouse operating out of ten countries, and yesterday she sold it to American Providence Service Corporation.

The deal will include an upfront cash payment of $62 million with a further $25 million in restricted stock options over the next four years. There is also a potential $134 million in earn-out payments, which will be based on Ingeus' performance over the next five years.

Ms Rein will remain as managing director for at least five years and report directly to Providence chief executive Warren Rustand.

Free legal aid to asylum seekers dumped

Scott Morrison and Lieutenant General Angus Campbell

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said the Coalition has kept its election promise to dump free legal aid to asylum seekers who arrive without a proper visa, either by boat or plane.  It will also apply to the "vast majority" of 30,000 people already in detention waiting for their claims to be processed.  In future, they will have to rely on pro bono immigration advice.

Dumping the Immigration Advice and Application Assistance Scheme will save the government $100 million over four years. "Whether someone is a refugee or not is determined by the process" Mr Morrison said. "What we're saying is it's not going to be the responsibility of taxpayers anymore to fund people pursuing appeals and various other things through this process."

Nobody can argue with the figures - last Saturday marked 100 days since the last asylum-seeker boat arrived on Australian territory. Although it's clear the government's Operation Sovereign Borders is working, Scott Morrison wouldn't say how many boats had been turned around and sent back to Indonesia during that period.  "It's our job to make sure they continue to fail" he said.

Papua New Guinea has agreed to resettle some but can't possibly take them all, and other Pacific nations have been approached to help share the wear.  "But what happens if no other countries come forward to take them?" someone asked. "They'll remain until they return voluntarily" he said.