John Della Bosca

For all the humiliation and ridicule Kevin Rudd faced over his brief stint as Prime Minister, for all the personal criticisms Julia Gillard has had to endure, for all the background sledging suffered by Brendan Nelson and Malcolm Turnbull before the elevation of Tony Abbott, who himself has faced plenty of flak, there is another politician who can rightly claim the unpleasant mantle of the most vilified MP of this parliamentary term.

Bowing out: Neal announces her exit on Thursday. Photo: Gary Graham

She wasn’t even a minister, not even close, and wielded no influence over the lives of Australian voters beyond her little patch of paradise on the NSW Central Coast.

But despite her lack of clout, Neal ended up being clouted more gleefully and more frequently by the public, the media, and her many detractors across politics over her headline-making habits as the member for Robertson.

Latest 2 of 19 comments

View all comments
 
  • Stiffy says:

    01:29pm | 02/08/10

    There both nutters. whats with that eye patch anyway, it seems to come and go. Schultz will still romp home and labor’s candidate wont help, some boffin professor just back from a stint in asia. Read more »

  • Graham S says:

    12:32pm | 02/08/10

    All the Belinda kerfuffle would have been for nought if the waiters had had the nous to ask the patrons of The Iguana if anybody knew or recognised the poor dear when she had her ID memory lapse. Such is life. Read more »

 

Maverick Liberal MP Wilson Tuckey is being branded “disgusting” and “a disgrace” by his own colleagues after using Question Time yesterday to pass around a photograph making fun of Labor MP Belinda Neal over the infidelity of her husband John Della Bosca - with Tuckey even presenting the photograph to the Speaker to see if it could be used as a prop during Question Time. 

Just jokes: Ironbar's colleagues no longer think so.

In response to the use of photographs as props by Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese - who has taunted the Coalition by showing images of stimulus spending announcements at community meetings - Tuckey arrived at Question Time yesterday with a still image from a Channel Nine news bulletin of Belinda Neal’s electorate office on the NSW Central Coast.

The image focusses on a laundromat next door to Ms Neal’s office with a sign reading “Drop Your Pants Here” - which Tuckey was using as a comical reference to the recent admission of infidelity by Ms Neal’s husband, NSW State Labor MP and former NSW Labor secretary John Della Bosca.   

Latest 2 of 38 comments

View all comments
 
  • Soxy says:

    05:27pm | 18/09/09

    Come on - how bogus is all this poo hooing of poor old Wilie. Bit of a lark, bit of a giggle - when did we put any pollie on any issue of limits? Is anyone suggesting that there is a scale upon which our pollies can be rated? They… Read more »

  • AT says:

    05:19pm | 18/09/09

    RT, I’ve no idea whether I’d have the guts to say the same thing to Tuckey “alone, face to face”, but what if I did? Would my opinions have greater validity because I engaged in that grotesque spectacle? I suspect you admire Tuckey and his antics and perhaps you feel… Read more »

 

No-one has yet give a credible explanation to why disgraced NSW ex-health minister John Della Bosca was locked out of his office after his affair with a much younger woman was exposed.

Lost his keys: John Della Bosca

His door was locked, an armed guard was positioned outside and all his staff were sacked.

It was an overtly over-the-top response from premier Nathan Rees for something many sympathetic journalists said merely reflected what many in the community get up to behind closed doors.

Latest 2 of 26 comments

View all comments
 
  • adrkup says:

    07:06pm | 11/05/12

    lkfXfd crhriwgrdaay, anvlxzkbmoub, [link=http://sqxrwriiulic.com/]sqxrwriiulic[/link], http://mbxmvcegrmsl.com/ Read more »

  • marryaria says:

    10:09am | 29/06/11

    cute! thank you.      you can also read it in מלון שרתון מוריה תל אביב מלון סי הוטל נווה אילן מלון סי הוטל נווה אילן Read more »

 

I’M guessing former NSW Health Minister John Della Bosca is not a big fan of comedy at the moment.

Della Bosca: the first NSW politician who could come out of a sex scandal better off

But he could end up having the last laugh if he can keep his slate clean amidst the latest murky allegations behind the murder of a Sydney businessman, secret tapes and corruption that threaten to sink the State Government.

If Della Bosca thinks he has had a bad week - having been exposed as an adulterer with a woman half his age and consequently quitting the ministry - his political position may actually have been strengthened while Premier Nathan Rees and the rest of his government battle another imbroglio.

Latest 2 of 16 comments

View all comments
 
  • Old Dog says:

    05:56pm | 07/09/09

    I feel very sorry for the young lady who had the affair with John Della B. She must either need glasses or is short on dates to choose a fellow like that! Wouldn’t an attractive 26 year old be socialising with males of her own age or is she a… Read more »

  • iansand says:

    04:01pm | 07/09/09

    Darren@3:34 Absolutely.  Who in their right mind would say anything based on what Jim Byrnes says?  It is almost as silly as parading Richo as part of your defence. Read more »

 

October 2009: Exactly one month after the John Della Bosca sex scandal, the NSW Labor Government is plunged intro fresh crisis with revelations that two members of Parliament’s Economic and Finance Committee have been running a “speak-easy” out of their Macquarie St office.

NSW: More to be done, but heading in the right direction.

A gin distillery and $100,000 in illegal casino chips are seized, and a dozen 18-year-old girls, wearing the traditional “flapper” garb of the day, and two elderly black men with a banjo and clarinet are frogmarched into police vans in The Domain. “Look, I’m as disappointed as anyone,” Premier Nathan Rees tells reporters. “But I’ve made it clear to my team that it’s back to work. No more gin stills, no more jug bands. We’ve got a state to run.”

November 2009: Due to a shortfall of personnel former Police Minister Matt Brown - dumped last year for dancing in his green underpants and mounting the chest of a female MP - is recalled to the frontbench in the junior portfolio of Regional Development.

Latest 2 of 16 comments

View all comments
 
  • icon library says:

    07:05am | 05/10/12

    Yes, really. I agree with told all above. We can communicate on this theme. Here or in PM. Read more »

  • Carl Palmer says:

    11:00am | 07/09/09

    Penbo, my only criticism of your critique is that the chronology is monthly, there is so much material that you could have made it week or at the very least fortnightly. Scary thing is that it all sounds so very plausible. Read more »

 

One of the best pieces of commentary on the Della affair I’ve seen this week was the cartoon in Wednesday’s Daily Telegraph. It depicted a line-up of possible candidates for John Della Bosca’s former lover. In the middle, a woman with a guide dog.

Illustration: Warren Brown

I laughed into my coffee, because it’s what we’re all thinking, right? I’m reluctant to put the boot into Della any further – he stood down this week with dignity and grace – but let’s be honest: he isn’t exactly in Brad Pitt’s league.

Yet ‘hot’ and ‘sexy’ is how he was described by his 26-year-old former lover. It’s understood that she is blonde and easy on the eye. Della, on the other hand, is a man whose age is nudging distinguished and whose physique suggests the last time he broke a sweat during exercise was when Bob Hawke wore his Australia jacket.

Latest 2 of 37 comments

View all comments
 
  • JLT says:

    05:41pm | 07/09/09

    Wasn’t it Henry Kissinger who said power is the best aphrodisiac? Read more »

  • peter from brisbane says:

    10:23am | 05/09/09

    If I was Della, I’d rather do 6 months in the Iron Motel at Long Bay than take Belinda out to the Iguana this weekend for a nice intimate dinner for two . Maybe the attraction for Della is that Belinda and Kate nearly share surnames. Anyway at least Della… Read more »

 

When it comes to the private conduct of public figures, Australians like to have it a bob each way. And that’s not an oblique reference to one of our most accomplished prime ministers both in the parliament and the bedroom.

A kind of love…Whitlam Government minister Jim Cairns and personal secretary Junie Morosi.

As a general statement, we say that we don’t much care whether our politicians are cheating on their partners. It’s a badge of honour for us that we’re not like the United States, where the moral majority wields tremendous influence within politics and any hint of infidelity will destroy a career.

Australians just shrug their shoulders and say: well, nobody’s perfect, politicians are human too. You can spare us the lectures from the holy-rollers, most of whom will eventually be sprung inside a $55-a-night Formula One motor inn dressed as Shirley Temple.

Latest 2 of 140 comments

View all comments
 
  • Assistance says:

    01:51am | 07/04/11

    I really appreciate the fact that you’ve set up your own blog and have factually posted your thoughts. I admire your work and feel I can concern to what you’ve done. Lots of folks can’t even imagine having such talent. I hope that you know how lucky you are. Good… Read more »

  • jonny says:

    07:46am | 04/09/09

    it does matter because he clearly can’t be trusted. surely that’s the whole point about being a politician… you have to be trusted… Read more »

 

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.

Imagine what sort of a day she's having

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.

Latest 2 of 107 comments

View all comments
 
  • Don Clark says:

    07:26am | 05/09/09

    Against the run of play, the member for Robertson has since shown both spine and grace under pressure. Remarkable, though I doubt she’ll ever be warmly regarded. http://www.smh.com.au/national/why-della-is-a-top-bloke-neal-breaks-her-silence-20090904-fbhn.html Not worth further pursuing. Read more »

  • Jonno says:

    01:21pm | 03/09/09

    So Kate Neill has been outed as a stunning blonde with a thirst for 50-something men in the public eye. John is the victim here (although maybe it didn’t feel like it for 6 months) as well as Belinda. At least Kate lifted her game by moving from Flacco to… Read more »

 

If you don’t live in NSW it’s hard to know where to start this story. But better to be explaining it in a comment piece than in a private conversation with your wife, Belinda Neal, as to how you came to wreck your political career and possibly your marriage by having a six-month affair with a 26-year-old woman.

In (marginally) happier times: Della Bosca and Neal during the Iguanas affair.

That’s the situation which ALP factional giant, would-be NSW Premier and married father of two John Della Bosca finds himself in today - quitting as minister last night after admitting that he had started a relationship with a woman more than 20 years his junior.

Della Bosca’s spectacular fall confirms the standing of the NSW Labor Government as a cross between the last days of Rome, and Melrose Place for political hacks.

Latest 2 of 94 comments

View all comments
 
  • football says:

    06:52am | 27/01/11

    A quite nice niche blog, and a fine design there sparks Simplicity yet complex algorithm of the world wide web. Thank You. <a >football</a> <a >bbc football</a> Read more »

  • Steve of Cornubia says:

    03:28pm | 02/09/09

    Everywhere I look I see figures in the public eye (pollies, musicians, sportsmen, shock jocks, etc) behaving badly, yet maybe apart from temporary (and usually minor) sanctions, there appear to be no significant consequences. This guy’s rehabilitation is already underway, with various journos running ‘Does infidelity really matter?’ and ‘at… Read more »

 

Facebook Recommendations

Read all about it

Punch live

Up to the minute Twitter chatter

Paul Colgan

RT @TheEconomist: Google is coming under intense scrutiny from regulators http://t.co/4bfvNp5oyEhttp://t.co/NLV9yRSIKr

Paul Colgan

@mpesce make sure you let us know when you take the covers off it

Paul Colgan

RT @PSyvret: As if anyone needs reminding of the bigoted pond-scum out there, this arrived in my in-box this morning: http://t.co/Lfu5ntmq

Daniel Piotrowski

@christoforpaine hope youre OK.. and the bali trip is still on!

Recent posts

The latest and greatest

The Punch is moving house

The Punch is moving house

Good morning Punchers. After four years of excellent fun and great conversation, this is the final post…

Will Pope Francis have the vision to tackle this?

Will Pope Francis have the vision to tackle this?

I have had some close calls, one that involved what looked to me like an AK47 pointed my way, followed…

Advocating risk management is not “victim blaming”

Advocating risk management is not “victim blaming”

In a world in which there are still people who subscribe to the vile notion that certain victims of sexual…

Nosebleed Section

choice ringside rantings

From: Hasbro, go straight to gaol, do not pass go

Tim says:

They should update other things in the game too. Instead of a get out of jail free card, they should have a Dodgy Lawyer card that not only gets you out of jail straight away but also gives you a fat payout in compensation for daring to arrest you in the first place. Instead of getting a hotel when you… [read more]

From: A guide to summer festivals especially if you wouldn’t go

Kel says:

If you want a festival for older people or for families alike, get amongst the respectable punters at Bluesfest. A truly amazing festival experience to be had of ALL AGES. And all the young "festivalgoers" usually write themselves off on the first night, only to never hear from them again the rest of… [read more]

Gentle jabs to the ribs

Superman needs saving

Superman needs saving

Can somebody please save Superman? He seems to be going through a bit of a crisis. Eighteen months ago,… Read more

28 comments

Newsletter

Read all about it

Sign up to the free News.com.au newsletter