Beattie Minister gets 18 months jail and the ensuing battle over Beattie's 'veil of secrecy' ...
[Updated - with additional links due to traffic demand on this issue]
... Rose will only serve 3 months.
Former Beattie Tourism Minister Merri Rose gets 18 month jail term for blackmail attempt, with the sentence to be suspended after 3 months.
See - Courier Mail - Rose jailed.
Probably would have been a longer term had she fought the charges and all the details about the blackmail attempt become public ...
Also see:
- The battle of Beattie's 'veil of secrecy'.
- ALP threatens blog commentary on Rose issue.
- Heather Beattie comments on Rose rumours - November 2006.
- Merri Rose - rise and fall.
- Dirty little secret.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what the blackmail threat was. A quick scout around a few blogs and websites plus the Judge's comments in sentencing and you have it ...
posted by Concerned Ratepayer at 6:18 AM
2 Comments:
Excerpt from news.com.au:
Right to know
Opposition Leader Jeff Seeney and opposition attorney-general spokesman Mark McArdle said the case still raised questions about whether Rose's threats were related to government corruption, or the private life of an individual.
"I think we need to know the evidence on which the former minister was jailed," Mr Seeney said.
"We need to know whether or not the blackmail attempt involved personal impropriety or some accusation of government corruption."
Mr McArdle said it was unprecedented in recent Queensland political history for a matter of such significant public importance to be suppressed under a "veil of secrecy".
"In spite of the damage the Fitzgerald Inquiry did to certain political parties in Queensland, all of its hearings were held in the public spotlight," Mr McArdle said.
"Ms Rose was a prominent member of the Beattie Government and many questions now arise whether her extortion demands relate to her time in government."
3:39 PM, May 31, 2007
Excerpt from AAP:
Opposition appeals 'light' Rose sentence
1 June 2007
The Queensland opposition has called on the state government to immediately appeal the "manifestly inadequate" sentence handed down to former government minister Merri Rose.
The 52-year-old former tourism minister and Gold Coast MP was on Thursday sentenced to an 18-month jail term, suspended after three months, for trying to blackmail Premier Peter Beattie into giving her a lucrative public service job.
She had pleaded guilty in the District Court to one count of demanding a benefit with threats.
The court was told Rose threatened to make public "very damaging evidence" against someone that would cause them to "suffer and lose everything", unless Mr Beattie organised for her a $150,000-a-year executive position with Tourism Queensland.
But the identity of the person targeted and other details of the threat were suppressed after Judge Wolfe ruled the information would add to a "classic case of blackmail", involving an individual's personal life.
Opposition attorney-general spokesman Mark McArdle on Friday said the three-month jail term did not reflect the severity of the crime.
"Ms Rose will end up spending less time in jail than previous Queensland politicians jailed for travel expense claims," Mr McArdle said.
"Extortion is a serious matter. The judge in this case acknowledged this, but then handed out a sentence that did not reflect the magnitude of the matter and the high public office the offender previously held."
He said Rose had been a been given "little more than a minor slap on the wrist" and Attorney-General Kerry Shine must appeal the sentence.
A spokesperson for Mr Shine on Friday said it was too early to decide whether the attorney-general would appeal or not.
"The transcript of the sentencing remarks hasn't been released, so we'd have to analyse those first, anyway," the spokesman said.
Rose's high-profile lawyer, Terry O'Gorman, has said his client was disappointed with the sentence and would decide whether to lodge an appeal within a week.
The opposition has also called for Mr Shine to appeal the suppression order, which would keep secret the information Rose used to try to blackmail the premier.
Opposition Leader Jeff Seeney on Thursday argued the public had a right to know whether the secret was about government corruption or the private life of an individual.
Deputy Premier Anna Bligh attacked the opposition for questioning the judge's decision to put in place the suppression order.
AAP
2:00 PM, June 01, 2007
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