Hey shock jocks and Twitter bitches - Belinda Neal deserves just one day off from copping abuse, maybe even a free pass for the rest of the week.
The Federal MP everyone loves to hate has just found out with the rest of us her husband, former NSW health minister John Della Bosca, spent a large chunk of the first half of this year sleeping with a 26-year-old women he picked up at the NSW Art Gallery.
In his press conference half an hour ago Della Bosca apologised to every man and his dog for his “poor personal decisions”, last in the list of those he’d let down were his “family.” No specific mention of his wife.
Any other betrayed wife in Australia would be getting our sympathy right now - but not podgy old Neal, she of Iguanagate, Rudd-imposed anger management classes and robust behaviour on the soccer pitch.
As a public figure Neal is hard to love. Throughout her mediocre political career she’s demonstrated a tendency towards belligerence, arrogance and an old-school ALP sense of entitlement of the “don’t you know who I am?” variety.
But no one deserves, on the day their husband blows up his political career over a woman more than 20 years his junior, to be the subject of a torrent of online and on-air abuse.
This morning Sydney radio man Ray Hadley had on high rotation the audio of Neal’s rather nasty run in with Liberal MP Sophie Mirrabella, in which she said to the Member for Indi: “Your child will turn into a demon.”
It’s relevance to today’s breaking news is tenuous at best.
Twitter lit up this morning with a whole load of comments from people, who are no doubt all very good looking and in unshakable relationships, suggesting Neal deserved everything she got you can’t blame Della Bosca for chasing more attractive skirt.
And here on The Punch some of our readers leaped in to the frenzy of triumphalism and schadenfreude with both feet.
Tim at 9.42am says: “My opinion of Della Bosca has gone up after this incident. There is no way i could trust any man who was married to Belinda Neal. Now we know he was getting it on the side, all is forgiven.” Nice.
Neal’s having a bad day. Apart from being publicly humiliated, she’s probably looking at the demise of her own political career, as the factional power of her husband, which he’s just tossed away for a shag on the couch in his office, was the main thing standing in the way of her losing her pre-selection.
At least DM at 11.00am went after the real villain in the piece: “Please tell me, who would be desperate enough to have an affair with Della Bosca? And don’t tell me it’s because of the power, there is nothing powerful about him. He’s just a big fat bully. My gosh, the girl needs her head examined. If he came near me with a 10 foot pole, I’d have a heart attack!”
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