Twitchin' like a pig on a spit

Catching up on the Sydney news over the weekend, Guambat noticed this little stouch, which seems to epitomize the rough and tumble of Australian politics, whether Right, Left or Center, and conjures tales of political machinery elsewhere, such as the Chicago Machine or Boss Tweed's Tammany Hall.

Minister's job on line

Mr Della Bosca is under pressure to resign after the verbal altercation at Iguanas Waterfront in Gosford in which his wife, the federal MP Belinda Neal, is alleged to have told an operations manager the club would have its "f---ing licence" taken.

Mr Della Bosca admitted yesterday to telling off a manager during the altercation and accusing Iguanas of breaching licensing rules.

Six staff members, including two managers, swore statutory declarations on Friday night, alleging the couple were abusive and threatening.

The altercation began after Mr Della Bosca and Ms Neal, who staff allege was drunk, were told to move tables.

The calls for Mr Della Bosca to resign follow the embarrassment of him announcing he was losing his licence for speeding and allegedly calling a newspaper photographer a "f---ing c---" when he was photographed on a pushbike afterwards.

He has also come under fire about grants issued by one of his departments that went to an organisation run by a friend who looks after his dog. The minister says he had nothing to do with the grant.

Mr Della Bosca contradicted several statutory declarations yesterday when he denied that he or Ms Neal had been abusive to staff or that Ms Neal had threatened the nightclub about its licence.

The incident began about 9pm Friday, when Mr Della Bosca and Ms Neal, who were dining with two others, were asked to move from an area regularly converted to nightclub space at that time.

According to the statutory declaration of operations manager Jared Golla, about 9.10pm he saw a verbal altercation between Ms Neal and two of his staff who were attempting to get her to move table.

Mr Golla wrote: "I asked her: 'Is there a problem I can help you with, ma'am?' Ms Neal said words to the effect of 'your staff are extremely rude and smug I want this young guy … sacked. I want you to report it to me when it's done."'

Mr Golla then alleged Ms Neal followed him into a restricted area of the club and said to him: "I will have your f---ing licence. You will not be trading in three months' time."

She is also alleged to have said: "What's your f---ing name? I will have your job as well. I will have the f---ing police down here every weekend to close you down."

Mr Della Bosca and Ms Neal had then gone outside where the club's general manager, Steven Twitchin, approached them.

According to Mr Twitchin's statutory declaration: "My intention was to discuss their behaviour when almost immediately I was accused of serving under-age patrons and encouraging binge-drinking by stopping the service of schooners at 2100 hours.

"Both of these allegations are incorrect … Belinda Neal then told me that my staff were rude and that I needed to apologise to her. I responded by telling her that she had no right to make these allegations, at which time she told me that I would lose my liquor licence within three months.

"Mr Deleboska [sic] again accused me of encouraging binge-drinking."

They both then went to their car, where Mr Twitchin said he had a duty of care not to let Mr Della Bosca drive. Mr Della Bosca ignored him and drove off. The minister says he drove, rather than wait for a taxi, because he was intimidated by Mr Twitchin.


Worming out of it: Iguanas aftermath

At 8pm on Saturday the owner of Iguanas Waterfront Bar at Gosford, Dean Singleton, told The Sun-Herald that John Della Bosca and his wife, Belinda Neal, "carried on like pigs" at his restaurant/nightclub. His staff had been abused and poked in the chest, he said. And he insisted the matter "had not been blown out of proportion".

By 11.30am yesterday, he was telling the Herald exactly the opposite. It had been "blown right out of proportion", he said. And the statutory declarations from six of his staff at the restaurant - which seemed to support his assertion about the politicians' behaviour the previous night - would be "torn up and thrown in the bin".

So why the change of heart?

About half an hour after Mr Singleton spoke to The Sun-Herald on Saturday night, he had a phone conversation with Mr Della Bosca. It was one of four conversations the minister had with Iguanas between Saturday night and yesterday morning.

Mr Della Bosca - who insists he was not drinking at Iguanas on Friday night - had threatened to sue for defamation over staff claims that he drove away while apparently intoxicated. But being sued was not Mr Singleton's only concern. The previous night, he made clear he had not wanted to go to the media for fear of recriminations in the form of restrictions to, or the loss of, his licence.

By yesterday morning, when the story was all over the Sunday papers, Iguanas' general manager, Steve Twitchin, was the one apologising. "No one in your party was abusive, swearing or intoxicated," he wrote in a fax to Mr Della Bosca, adding "please feel free to provide this letter to any interested party".

The apology was a complete retraction of the version of events recounted by Mr Singleton - and of his six staff members' statutory declarations - the night before. At least two of the staff, Thomas Crocker and Paul Trotter, insisted yesterday that they were retracting not a word.

Mr Twitchin got the staff to sign statutory declarations immediately after the stoush "in case Della Bosca went to the media", Mr Singleton said. This was standard practice for a serious incident in case it went to police. He said there was video footage of the events from up to 30 high-resolution video cameras.