I couldn't resist this .... you see Reith is one of my all time Curtis's of Curtises.
He is lower than a snakes guts.
But you got to admire his front, and the fact that the modern day medium sucks up everyword the curtis says. Slimey Curtis is to nice a description for the grub.
But have some happy reading....
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Parliamentary rules were broken. Back in 1994 Reith gave his son, Paul - now a pudgy-faced London-based merchant banker - his phone card to use, flouting the rule that decrees they can only be used by politicians for work purposes.
"I did give the card to my son, and I should not have done so," Reith admitted. But he and his son have maintained that the people who subsequently obtained the card and made 11,000 free phone calls from 900 different locations over a period of five years did so without their knowledge or permission.
No action was taken by the phone company, the government finance office that paid the bills, or the minister in question, all of whom claim to have remained ignorant of the fraud.
When it was belatedly discovered, Reith and his boss, the prime minister, John Howard, sat on the secret for six months while internal and police investigations were undertaken. And when the Canberra Times uncovered the matter, Reith, a large, lugubrious man, blustered that he had paid the $950 bill racked up by his son.
The minister initially refused to fork out the remaining $49,050, claiming he had no responsibility for the card's fraudulent use, a position supported by the director of public prosecutions. Faced with footing a $50,000 bill, Australian taxpayers condemned what they saw as hypocrisy, for Reith had carved out a reputation for ruthlessly rooting out dubious practices during the Labour government's 13-year tenure.
Sex then stepped in. Unhelpfully for Reith, the investigating solicitor general glamorised the case by naming the prime suspects in the allegedly fraudulent use of the card "Miss X" and "Mr Y".
Miss X unveiled herself as the photogenic Ingrid Odgers, a former flatmate of young Paul Reith's boasting impeccably conservative credentials and an account that clashed with the minister's story. She declared she had been freely given the number by Paul Reith who "insisted" she used it.
Both Reiths denied this. In parliament today the opposition sought to capitalise from Odgers's suggestion that government officials must have known about the fraud in 1994, as she was warned off using the card by an official that year.
Four days of pressure resulted in Peter Reith grudgingly agreeing to pay the full $50,000, citing that although legal opinion did not oblige him, fears for damaging the government's "reputation" compelled him.
Despite the public outcry, Howard has stood by his man. It is a risky strategy for the prime minister, who faces a general election in 12 months and finds himself derided by Australia's cafe latte-supping classes as a small man around whom charisma gave a wide berth.
Reports from Reith's cast-iron conservative constituency suggest voters would ditch him tomorrow given the chance. But to turn the episode into a symbol of a more general government malaise needs further scandal as well as a sleaze-free opposition.
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Love the bit about a Miss X and Mr Y
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Question . Did Reith ever pay back the $50,000. Oh and how munch is it alleged by Jackson that Thomson spent on the Hookers.?
Reith is an honourable man....
11,000 free phone calls from 900 different locations over a period of five years
