Whistleblower named and collateral damage widens in O'Farrell Government scandal

Sean Nicholls writing in The Sydney Morning Herald today:

THE disgraced state MP Steve Cansdell resigned from Parliament days after a former staff member complained to the corruption watchdog that he misused a parliamentary entitlement to help a Nationals colleague, Kevin Hogan, contest the federal seat of Page.
The staff member, Kath Palmer, was employed in the electorate office of Mr Cansdell's north coast seat of Clarence, the Herald has confirmed.
She was paid from a temporary staff entitlement MPs may use to hire an extra staff member to fill in when an electorate officer attends Parliament with them.
Ms Palmer told the Independent Commission Against Corruption she was improperly seconded to Mr Hogan's campaign during the federal election.
Last year ICAC found the former Labor MP Angela D'Amore misused the same entitlement.
Shortly before the state election in March, Mr Cansdell replaced Ms Palmer with Sharon Davidson, a staff member in the office of the federal Nationals MP for Cowper, Luke Hartsuyker. Ms Davidson took leave to work on Mr Cansdell's campaign.
She is believed to have been hired to work as a media adviser after the announcement that the mayor of Clarence Valley Council, Richie Williamson, would challenge Mr Cansdell for the seat as an independent.
Ms Palmer also told the commission Mr Cansdell signed a false statutory declaration in 2005 to say she was driving his car when it was caught by a speed camera.
Mr Cansdell, who was the parliamentary secretary for police, has admitted he falsified the document because he faced losing his licence. He cited it as the reason for his resignation.
The Nationals leader and Deputy Premier, Andrew Stoner, said Mr Cansdell told him before he quit that he did not believe the claims he had misused parliamentary resources were correct.
Mr Hogan, who lost the seat to Labor's Janelle Saffin, yesterday confirmed Ms Palmer worked as a volunteer on his campaign.
Mr Cansdell told the Herald: ''There's no vindictiveness or anger from me about what this lady has done. She's got her reasons and we'll go from there.''
The state director of the Nationals, Ben Franklin, said neither he nor the party was aware of the allegations of the misuse of parliamentary entitlements.......

The unanswered question here is the part the whistleblower's friendship group played in her brave decision to come forward. Is it just a co-incidence that the Williamson family features in her listed online Facebook friends and she in theirs - or is that too cynical a thought as Richie prepares to step into Cansdell's shoes?

UPDATE:

In her own words in The Daily Examiner on 20 September 2011....

Mrs Palmer told The Examiner last night about how she was pressured into taking the blame for the former MP's speeding fine in 2005 in order for him to retain his licence.
"I'd been there a year ... I was the lowest of the low and I was being bullied by (another member of Cansdell's staff) - I wanted to get favour in the office," she said.
"I loved the job but when the boss looks at you ... I did what I was told."
She said Mr Cansdell had panicked when he got the fine and wanted to go into the ensuing election with a clean slate.
"These claims by Steve that he didn't know the gravity of his actions are just bull****."
Responding to reports in the media that Mr Cansdell had been reported to authorities by a "disgruntled ex-employee", Mrs Palmer said this was not the case.
She worked one day a week as a "permanent relief officer" and was called in for other days as needed. She said she last worked in Mr Cansdell's office on December 23 before she took two weeks' holiday.
She said Mr Cansdell's office had been "restructured" after Clarence Valley Mayor Richie Williamson declared he would run as a candidate and she was aware she might not get any more paid work until after the March election.
Mrs Palmer said the office had made "a couple of calls" asking her to volunteer in the campaign office in the lead-up to the March election but she had been busy with either RFS duties or personal matters.
She said she was shocked to find out in late May from a fellow RFS volunteer that Mr Cansdell had described her as an ex-employee at an RFS gathering in Homebush.
"I was asked by another RFS volunteer if I knew that I was an ex-employee and I said 'no'," she said.
Ms Palmer said at an RFS function at Ulmarra in the following weeks she discreetly asked Mr Cansdell about why she hadn't been called back to work.
"He said I hadn't helped out in the campaign."
Mrs Palmer, who is the captain of Clarence Valley RFS's catering unit, said she was concerned she was being painted in a bad light by Mr Cansdell's office.
Asked if she was concerned about being charged with an offence, Mrs Palmer said she would bear the consequences of her actions but was confident that any reasonable person would see that she had been pressured into making the false statutory declaration.
"I feel numb," she said.
"It's always been on my mind about what I'd done in that office and I just had to clear my conscience and that's all there is to it."
Though Mrs Palmer would not disclose which authority she reported Mr Cansdell's offence to, it is understood to be the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
Mrs Palmer said she knew other matters, including those relating to Mr Cansdell's staff entitlements, were being looking into by authorities and other media.
She said Mr Cansdell had instructed a third party to contact her on Thursday night to ask if she had reported him to the ICAC, to which she responded that she'd prefer to speak to Mr Cansdell himself.
Mrs Palmer said she still hadn't received the apology Mr Cansdell spoke of in Friday's media conference. The Daily Examiner left a message on Mr Cansdell's voicemail late last night but received no reply.

Disgraced former Nationals MP Steven Rhett Cansdell wants to enter politics once more?

On 2 December 2014 The Daily Examiner reported that sixty-four year old Steven Rhett Cansdell is considering standing at the March 2015 Clarence Valley Council by-election.

This would not be his first foray into politics and voters need to think long and hard if his name turns up on the by-election ballot paper.

Cansdell previously served on Grafton City Council over a ten-year period commencing in 1993. 

This council was notorious for living well beyond its means - by 1999 it had used $1.722 million of internal reserves to fund current operating costs and was still running in deficit in June 2003. It disappeared in the forced amalgamation which saw the creation of Clarence Valley Council in February 2004.

After leaving local government Cansdell then stood at the next state election and entered the NSW Parliament on 22 March 2003 as the Nationals MP for Clarence.

He successfully stood for re-election in 2007 and 2011.

On 4 May 2011 Cansdell became Parliamentary Secretary for Police under the Minister for Police and Emergency Services Liberal MLC Mike Gallacher.

He resigned from Parliament on 16 December 2011 in the midst of questions concerning a statutory declaration and allegations that he (rather than one of his staff) was driving a speeding car caught by a traffic camera.

Twenty-two weeks after the state election Clarence electorate voters had to participate in the subsequent by-election. Based on the NSW Electoral Commission’s cost projection for the 2011 state election, the total bill for the two Clarence ballots would be in the vicinity of $903,000.

Politically, Cansdell appeared to sink from public sight after that by-election.

However, the details of Mr. Cansdell’s admitted wrongdoing and the local reaction lived on.

Political cartoon in The Daily Examiner on 24 January 2012:

Letter to the Editor in The Daily Examiner on 14 March 2012:

The Sydney Morning Herald reported on 19 January 2013:

LESSONS FROM POLITICAL HOUDINI

The award for the most outstanding public escape act of recent times must surely go to the former member for Clarence, Steve Cansdell. 

You recall Cansdell: he was the former professional boxer and parliamentary secretary for police who became the O'Farrell government's first political casualty only months after it took office. 

The then 60-year-old quit Parliament after his admission that he had falsified a statutory declaration to claim a staff member was driving when his car was snapped by a speed camera.
Cansdell was trying to avoid losing his driver's licence. Despite the incident occurring back in September 2005, he fell on his sword in September 2011, amid a chorus of sympathy from his Nationals colleagues. 

Cansdell was "paying a very heavy price for a lapse of judgment six years ago", the leader of the Nationals and Deputy Premier, Andrew Stoner, said at the time. 

Only later did it emerge that shortly before Cansdell put his hands up, the staff member in question, Kath Palmer, had blown the whistle on the episode to the Independent Commission Against Corruption. 

So if Cansdell was not quite pushed - he claimed he quit to save the government and the party from embarrassment - he was very firmly nudged. 

Not only had Palmer alleged the statutory declaration fraud, she alleged that Cansdell had also rorted a parliamentary staffing allowance by wrongly claiming it for the period she worked on the 2010 campaign of a Nationals colleague, Kevin Hogan, who was contesting the federal seat of Page. 

And so began a very strange - many would say disturbing - series of events involving the ICAC, the police and the Speaker of the NSW Parliament that remain unresolved to this day.
In October last year, just over a year after Cansdell walked into Grafton police station with his lawyer to make his admission, police announced they had concluded their investigation into the statutory declaration matter. 

"NSW Police Force will not instigate criminal proceedings," they said in a statement. 

What had happened? The statement explained police from the Coffs-Clarence local area command had identified the woman who signed the declaration but that "she declined to be interviewed by officers". 

Futhermore, it added, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions had said it was "not satisfied there are reasonable prospects for conviction for a Commonwealth offence".
For the NSW police, that was the end of the matter. But they omitted a couple of key details. 

While it was true Palmer, through her lawyer, had refused to be formally interviewed, she had offered to make what is known as an "induced statement" - one given in return for indemnity from prosecution. 

According to Palmer's lawyer, Mark Spagnolo, the police had earlier made it known they intended to charge Palmer with perverting the course of justice for her role in the false statutory declaration. Any admission in an interview was likely to lead to her being charged. 

Police deny she was threatened with a charge but their decision to refuse her offer to supply an induced statement was rather ambitiously twisted to become Palmer "declined to be interviewed". 

Second, the Commonwealth DPP claimed it had been verballed. It said it had simply advised the NSW police that they were not satisfied it was a Commonwealth offence - a subtle but important difference. 

Things became even more intriguing when it emerged the ICAC had referred the allegation that Cansdell had rorted his parliamentary allowance to the Speaker of the NSW Parliament, Shelley Hancock, who was technically Palmer's employer. 

The ICAC referred the matter "for action as considered appropriate". But no action was taken for a year by Hancock, until Spagnolo released the letter publicly through Fairfax. 

After that Hancock, who is also the Liberal member for South Coast, promised that parliamentary officers would "review the material" sent by the ICAC. This included a spreadsheet containing the dates on which Palmer alleged Cansdell submitted claims for the allowance that differed from the days she worked. That was last October. 

What has happened since then? Hancock passed the matter to the executive manager of the Department of Parliamentary Services, Rob Stefanic, who responded that he was "unable to reach any conclusions regarding the veracity of the claims made by the former electorate officer". 

Stefanic added that because, in his opinion, the allegations were "of minor significance", that so much time had elapsed and that both Palmer and Cansdell had resigned, no further action should be taken "in the absence of more conclusive information". (Never mind that the allegations, if proven, are similar to those which saw two former Labor MPs, Angela D'Amore and Karyn Paluzzano, branded corrupt by ICAC.) 

When Hancock was asked if the Parliament would contact Palmer to request "more conclusive information", she said it would not. 

"As Ms Palmer did not make a complaint directly to the Parliament, the Parliament will not be contacting the complainant for further information." 

So, 18 months since Palmer made her official complaint, there the matter lies: a tangled mess of contradictory claims, dead ends and official inertia. 

Palmer is understood to be considering whether to pursue the matter with Parliament or drop it altogether to get on with her life. 

Spagnolo has called for an inquiry into the police handling of the matter. The silence has been deafening. 

Cansdell now says he has gone bankrupt. 

And, while there is no suggestion he is implicated, the man he is alleged to have helped out by fiddling his taxpayer-funded entitlements, Kevin Hogan, has won Nationals preselection to contest Page at this year's federal election. 

As a lesson in the frustrations of being a political whistleblower, it doesn't get much more instructive than that.

A tale of two speeding incidents

The 2010 sign on the Pacific Highway at Clarenza warning drivers of mobile speed cameras.
From The Daily Examiner

As the mainstream media continues its coverage of the antics of disgraced former O’Farrell Government Nationals MP for Clarence, Steve 'do as I say not as I do' Cansdell, we are reminded that he appears to have been a serial offender when it comes to speeding on Clarence electorate roads.

However, only on two occasions did his driving at speed make it into print. These indicate that Mr. Cansdell did not have an opportunity to utter an untruth in the second instance. They also highlight the curious case of a parliamentarian rising to his feet in the NSW Legislative Assembly to create the very conditions which would see himself caught out and, of a politician who refused to see himself as one of those Pacific Highway hazards he railed against. 

Here is a chronological word picture over time supplying a little context……

NSW Hansard Legislative Assembly, 26 September 2006:

I {Cansdell} have been imploring the Government to cut the speed limit on the Pacific Highway at Clarenza from 100 to 80 kilometres an hour. This would only be along a 1,500-metre stretch of the highway and would only increase travel times by 13.5 seconds.

CarKB, 3 October 2008:

You would have to be almost asleep at the wheel to miss the Woodburn speed camera. Like all fixed speed cameras in NSW there are large signs  posted to warn you that you are approaching them. If you didn't see the signs you have serious situational awareness problems.

The Daily Examiner, Page 4, 14 October 2009:

LESS than a week after his letter on the issue was published in The Daily Examiner, Member for Clarence Steve Cansdell has been booked for speeding in an 80kmh zone on the Pacific Highway at Clarenza.

The MP was seen copping the ticket on the edge of the highway's southbound lane on Monday afternoon about 5.30pm.

Ironically, Mr Cansdell had successfully campaigned for an 80kmh section of highway to be introduced in the vicinity of McAuley Catholic College several years ago.

But, as the MP explained in his letter last week, it was never the intention for the 80kmh zone to be extended 4km north of the school - the area where he was caught.

Witnesses said Mr Cansdell was pulled over no more than 200 metres from the school and Mr Cansdell yesterday explained the actual speeding offence had occurred more than a kilometre further north of the point where he was stopped.

"I had my cruise control set to 100 so I wouldn't get booked and before I knew it I was in the 80kmh zone," he said.

Mr Cansdell admitted he was in the wrong and while there were mitigating circumstances involving him providing urgent help to a young constituent, he would not dispute the offence.

In his letter last week, Mr Cansdell hailed the 80kmh zone as 'a win for the school ... and the community'.

Mr Cansdell admitted he had been fined several times since becoming an MP because of the many kilometres he covered in the job.

Grafton Police declined to comment on the matter.

The Daily Examiner, 5 July 2010:

Reader’s comment on the introduction of mobile speed cameras on the NSW North Coast - Nothing wrong with mobile speed cameras, makes more sense than stupid signed stationary ones, at least those that break the law might now get caught and pay the consequence!

The Clarence Valley Review, 15 September 2010:

He {Cansdell} said the speed camera located north of Woodburn, “a village similar in size to Ulmarra with around 500 residents … has done exactly what is needed at Ulmarra. “It has slowed down traffic and is a good revenue raiser for the government. That speed camera has had positive results in that there has not been an accident in Woodburn since it was installed, and the lives of children have not been endangered….

The Northern Star, 2 October 2010:

Coming in at number 11 is the Woodburn speed camera on the Pacific Highway, northbound, which issued $1.14 million in speeding fines over the same period.

For the past three financial year periods, the Ewingsdale and Woodburn speed cameras have been strong contenders on the top 20 list.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 September 2011:

Northern NSW MP Steve Cansdell quit state politics last Friday after admitting to signing a false statutory declaration in 2005 when a camera on the Pacific Highway at Woodburn caught him speeding.

The Clarence Valley Review, Page 1, 21 September 2011:

Ironically in October 2009 Mr. Cansdell did lose his license for six months for speeding, after he was pulled over doing 100km/h in an 80km/h zone at Clarenza – a speed zone he had successfully lobbied to have reduced from 100km/h to 80km/h.

In 2003, the year he was elected to represent the Clarence electorate and before his penchant for being a potential danger on local roads came to light, he said this in the NSW Parliament on 14 November:

Mr STEVE CANSDELL (Clarence) [10.23 a.m.], by leave: Last Thursday I was asked if I would go to our local ambulance station at Grafton as an officer was in some distress and wanted to talk to me. I will refer to him as John. When I arrived he was decidedly upset, and we made a coffee and went outside to discuss his issues. Two days earlier there had been a major accident on the Pacific Highway 17 kilometres south of Grafton. A semi-trailer and a four-wheel-drive vehicle had had a head-on collision, resulting in one deceased and two injured. This accident has brought the total loss of life on the Pacific Highway in 2003 to 44—almost one a week. John said he wanted me to relay his story to Parliament. He said he wanted the politicians to fully understand the tragic reality of what is happening daily on our roads and highways. He stressed repeatedly the urgency of fast-tracking the Pacific Highway divided highway project.

John told me that on arrival at the accident scene there was a semi-trailer on fire, a section of the vegetation on the roadside was flattened and there were the crushed remains of what looked like a Pajero four-wheel-drive vehicle. Near the car were four people, John said with tears welling in his eyes as he described the scene. One female with serious spinal injuries was lying on the ground, with an injured male sitting over her holding her hand. Although injured himself and very traumatised, he was comforting her and talking to her. John paused for a minute as he wiped tears from his eyes before going on. There were two more adults, one female and one male. The female was deceased, with horrific injuries and covered in blood. Her partner was kneeling next to her and cradling her in his arms. Her blood was all over him and he was crying. He held her in his arms and kept repeating, "She's the love of my life, she's the love of my life."

The ambulance office put his arms around the man and hugged him, consoled him as best he could until the ambulance chaplain arrived and took over. John then went on with his job of securing the safety and wellbeing of the other accident victims and then relaying the injured and deceased to hospital. While at the hospital, John told me that the partner of the deceased rang his father-in-law to inform him of the death of his daughter. Halfway through his phone call he broke down and handed the phone to the chaplain, who confirmed the tragedy to the parents of the young lady who lost her life. The father said that he had to hang up the phone as his wife had just run out the door and onto the street screaming. These are the tragic realities of road accidents. As I said earlier, the ambulance officer asked me—no, he begged me—to bring home to our politicians the horror that these unsung heroes, the ambulance officers, have to confront on a regular basis. They want us, the politicians, to get on with the job of fixing the highways, particularly the Pacific Highway, and to stop playing politics with people's lives.

An update on Steve 'Houdini' Cansdell

Sydney Morning Herald journalist Sean Nicholls is like a dog with a bone. And for that the public (and those in the NSW electorate of Clarence in particular) should be most grateful.

Cansdell, the disgraced former MP for Clarence, has pedalled off into the sunset with his taxpayer-funded booty (aka a state parliamentary pension) despite significant questions remaining unanswered about his involvement in Cansdellgate.

Nicholls wrote:

Lessons from political Houdini

The award for the most outstanding public escape act of recent times must surely go to the former member for Clarence, Steve Cansdell.
You recall Cansdell: he was the former professional boxer and parliamentary secretary for police who became the O'Farrell government's first political casualty only months after it took office.
The then 60-year-old quit Parliament after his admission that he had falsified a statutory declaration to claim a staff member was driving when his car was snapped by a speed camera.
Cansdell was trying to avoid losing his driver's licence. Despite the incident occurring back in September 2005, he fell on his sword in September 2011, amid a chorus of sympathy from his Nationals colleagues.
Cansdell was "paying a very heavy price for a lapse of judgment six years ago", the leader of the Nationals and Deputy Premier, Andrew Stoner, said at the time.
Only later did it emerge that shortly before Cansdell put his hands up, the staff member in question, Kath Palmer, had blown the whistle on the episode to the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
So if Cansdell was not quite pushed - he claimed he quit to save the government and the party from embarrassment - he was very firmly nudged.
Not only had Palmer alleged the statutory declaration fraud, she alleged that Cansdell had also rorted a parliamentary staffing allowance by wrongly claiming it for the period she worked on the 2010 campaign of a Nationals colleague, Kevin Hogan, who was contesting the federal seat of Page.
And so began a very strange - many would say disturbing - series of events involving the ICAC, the police and the Speaker of the NSW Parliament that remain unresolved to this day.
In October last year, just over a year after Cansdell walked into Grafton police station with his lawyer to make his admission, police announced they had concluded their investigation into the statutory declaration matter.
"NSW Police Force will not instigate criminal proceedings," they said in a statement.
What had happened? The statement explained police from the Coffs-Clarence local area command had identified the woman who signed the declaration but that "she declined to be interviewed by officers".
Futhermore, it added, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions had said it was "not satisfied there are reasonable prospects for conviction for a Commonwealth offence".
For the NSW police, that was the end of the matter. But they omitted a couple of key details.
While it was true Palmer, through her lawyer, had refused to be formally interviewed, she had offered to make what is known as an "induced statement" - one given in return for indemnity from prosecution.
According to Palmer's lawyer, Mark Spagnolo, the police had earlier made it known they intended to charge Palmer with perverting the course of justice for her role in the false statutory declaration. Any admission in an interview was likely to lead to her being charged.
Police deny she was threatened with a charge but their decision to refuse her offer to supply an induced statement was rather ambitiously twisted to become Palmer "declined to be interviewed".
Second, the Commonwealth DPP claimed it had been verballed. It said it had simply advised the NSW police that they were not satisfied it was a Commonwealth offence - a subtle but important difference.
Things became even more intriguing when it emerged the ICAC had referred the allegation that Cansdell had rorted his parliamentary allowance to the Speaker of the NSW Parliament, Shelley Hancock, who was technically Palmer's employer.
The ICAC referred the matter "for action as considered appropriate". But no action was taken for a year by Hancock, until Spagnolo released the letter publicly through Fairfax.
After that Hancock, who is also the Liberal member for South Coast, promised that parliamentary officers would "review the material" sent by the ICAC. This included a spreadsheet containing the dates on which Palmer alleged Cansdell submitted claims for the allowance that differed from the days she worked. That was last October.
What has happened since then? Hancock passed the matter to the executive manager of the Department of Parliamentary Services, Rob Stefanic, who responded that he was "unable to reach any conclusions regarding the veracity of the claims made by the former electorate officer".
Stefanic added that because, in his opinion, the allegations were "of minor significance", that so much time had elapsed and that both Palmer and Cansdell had resigned, no further action should be taken "in the absence of more conclusive information". (Never mind that the allegations, if proven, are similar to those which saw two former Labor MPs, Angela D'Amore and Karyn Paluzzano, branded corrupt by ICAC.)
When Hancock was asked if the Parliament would contact Palmer to request "more conclusive information", she said it would not.
"As Ms Palmer did not make a complaint directly to the Parliament, the Parliament will not be contacting the complainant for further information."
So, 18 months since Palmer made her official complaint, there the matter lies: a tangled mess of contradictory claims, dead ends and official inertia.
Palmer is understood to be considering whether to pursue the matter with Parliament or drop it altogether to get on with her life.
Spagnolo has called for an inquiry into the police handling of the matter. The silence has been deafening.
Cansdell now says he has gone bankrupt.
And, while there is no suggestion he is implicated, the man he is alleged to have helped out by fiddling his taxpayer-funded entitlements, Kevin Hogan, has won Nationals preselection to contest Page at this year's federal election.
As a lesson in the frustrations of being a political whistleblower, it doesn't get much more instructive than that.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald, 19/1/2013

Despite numerous admissions of guilt Cansdell remains the Teflon Kid

The following article makes one wonder why former Nationals Clarence MP Steve Cansdell was not charged by the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions - when he has uttered numerous independent admissions of guilt to NSW Police and print, radio, television media, that he had made a false statement to a NSW Government agency to avoid losing his driving license.
A strong smell of buck passing appears to float in the air.

Channel 9 News 7 March 2012:

The NSW Director of Public Prosecutions does not expect to press charges against disgraced former Nationals MP Steve Cansdell, who quit parliament after admitting to signing a false statutory declaration.

Mr Cansdell resigned as the member for Clarence on the NSW north coast last September, over the statutory declaration signed in 2005 to avoid a speeding fine and loss of licence.

A camera had caught Mr Cansdell speeding on the Pacific Highway near Woodburn - however the false declaration laid blame for the offence on an unnamed third party.

In a brief statement to parliament, NSW Attorney-General Greg Smith announced Mr Cansdell would not be charged.

"The office of the NSW DPP has advised my that Mr Cansdell signed a Commonwealth Statutory Declaration, and therefore it is not expected any state charge will be brought," Mr Smith said during question time on Wednesday.

Brief background:

http://northcoastvoices.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/nsw-police-steve-cansdell-and-those.html
http://northcoastvoices.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/are-nationals-are-creating-bizarre-and.html
http://northcoastvoices.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/are-boys-in-blue-dragging-their-feet-in.html
http://northcoastvoices.blogspot.com.au/2011/09/whistleblower-named-and-collateral.html
http://northcoastvoices.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/same-old-same-old-from-nsw-north-coast.html
http://northcoastvoices.blogspot.com.au/2011/09/severe-weather-alert-sht-storm-about-to.html
http://northcoastvoices.blogspot.com.au/2011/09/did-clarence-mp-steve-cansdell-do.html

UPDATE:

Later in the day NSW Police said they would hand over the brief of evidence to the commonwealth DPP on Thursday, "after receiving internal legal advice".

Opposition police spokesman Nathan Rees said the failure to charge Mr Cansdell over the false declaration was "a cover-up, inside 12 months of government, and it stinks".

"This man, a former member of the government, conceded that he had broken the law," Mr Rees said.

"More than six months later, not a charge laid."

Mr Rees said the opposition had legal advice that Mr Cansdell could still be charged under state law, despite his declaration being a commonwealth one.

"The actual breaches are of state law," he said.

"Trying to flick it onto the commonwealth is simply not on." [Channel 9 News 7 March 2012]

Three days out from polling day and Gulaptis gets well and truly told

No-one's sitting on the fence in this DEX poll on 16th November 2011

About this time in the 2007 federal election campaign Nats candidate Chris Gulaptis was receiving similar negative feedback. Pause for thought?

One comments section under The Daily Examiner article Disgraced MP in candidate's adverts:

By MHSMOTHER from Maclean on 16/11/2011 at 5:21AM

What were you thinking Mr Gulaptis!

I nearly choked in my cornflakes when I saw Steve Cansdell spruiking Chris Gulaptis on television. This has left a bad taste in my mouth and I personally feel that Mr Gulaptis has done himself a great disservice going down this track in his campaign.

I, for one, will certainly be re-considering my vote, particularly taking into account the latest info coming out regarding Mr Gulaptis' past support for coal seam gas. This latest advertising campaign from Mr Cansdell, on top of the CSG evidence coming to light is definitely not good for Mr Gulaptis.

By Machiavelli from Armidale on 16/11/2011 at 6:38AM

The Notional Party backroom unelected political hacks are treating the Clarence electorate with their usual contempt by having a confessed crook on their political advertising.

But then, in other times at other places the Notional Party have often believed that they are above the law by using the local Notional Party MP to get out of parking & driving fines.

The Notional Party lapdog for the Barrier OFallacy LIberal government will represent the party's financial sponsors in Clarence to protect his pre-selection for the 2015 NSW election.

Independent MPs get things done for their electorates.

By willbewatching from Grafton on 16/11/2011 at 6:46AM

To get the person who caused tax dollars to be spent on the by-election to do an advert saying we cannot afford to have a rep in opposition is strange. To use him in an advert to get the people who think " steve is a good bloke" vote shows contempt for the intelligence of voters in Clarence. Certainly did not encourage me to vote Nats. In fact it had the opposite effect.

By Dreyfuss from Maclean on 16/11/2011 at 7:05AM

Cansdell broke the law, he lied and deceived for his own personal gain and now we have to waste our time and tax payer money to vote for another candidate. Asking for an endorsement from an ex member of parliament who is facing possible criminal charges and a jail sentence shows that Gulaptis defines himself as a self serving man with no principals and no moral compass, just like his predecessor and thinks that the voters in Clarence are idiots. If he is prepared to overlook his colleagues behaviour he obviously is prepared to make an exception for a mate and that is not what makes a good political representative.

By msmith24 from Ramornie on 16/11/2011 at 7:38AM

Mr Cansdell ,should have no place on Television, taking part in, advertising campaign's for the Nationals.He resigned in disgrace after making a false Stat Declaration. Which in all fairness makes his character rather shady ,untenable ,and just plain wrong to be doing these add's on tv.Mr Cansdell has lost all credibility in the eyes of most decent voters. Shame on him.

By EmmaB from Yamba on 16/11/2011 at 7:40AM

Anyone living in the Lower Clarence at the turn of the century would recall that the Nats and Gulaptis can't even spell ethics - much less act ethically when it goes against their political self-interest.

By Tellmeanything from Yamba on 16/11/2011 at 7:41AM

Has anyone asked Mr Gulaptis any hard questions yet? Is it true he stormed out of the area vowing never to return when he lost in his election bid in 2007? Is it true he left while still a Clarence Valley Councillor with 10 months still to serve, then being an absentee councillor? Is it true he has sought ALP pre-selection in the past? Would have thought these important questions to ask him to establish whether he is an political opportunist or someone who will work and lobby hard for the Clarence Electorate.

By Fedup from Junction Hill on 16/11/2011 at 7:54AM

I am at a loss as to who to vote for on Saturday. I voted National in the last election but can no longer offer that same support this time and the other parties have done little to eran my vote either. So a conumdrum I have.

By Dessyp from Grafton on 16/11/2011 at 8:03AM

willbewatching from Grafton on 16/11/2011 at 6:46AM said

To get the person who caused tax dollars to be spent on the by-election to do an advert saying we cannot afford to have a rep in opposition is strange. To use him in an advert to get the people who think " steve is a good bloke" vote shows contempt for the intelligence of voters in Clarence. Certainly did not encourage me to vote Nats. In fact it had the opposite effect.

same here, when i first heard labor was running a candidate against the "nats" i thought they'd be no chance!, I'm not so sure now.

By UrsulaTunks from Grafton on 16/11/2011 at 8:16AM

Does the National Party really hold the electorate in this much contempt? Do they really believe that we are that stupid and lacking in integrity that we would fall for this disgusting campaign strategy? It's been a long time since I've felt so insulted and so outraged. This is simply horrendous and unforgivable. The people in the Clarence Electorate deserve so much better. My integrity is NOT negotiable. The National Party is telling the people of the electorate that they believe that they will forgo their ethics in order to have a sitting member who is not in opposition. My vote is NOT for sale.

By swingingvoter from Palmers Channel on 16/11/2011 at 8:19AM

It is hard to imagine greater arrogance or greater contempt for our political system....just disgraceful. Shame on you Steve Cansdell for what you did. Shame on you Chris Gulaptis for what you are doing. I'm ashamed that I voted for Chris Gulaptis when he ran for the federal seat of Page.

By Tellmeanything from Yamba on 16/11/2011 at 9:25AM

Fedup from Junction Hill on 16/11/2011 at 7:54AM said

I am at a loss as to who to vote for on Saturday. I voted National in the last election but can no longer offer that same support this time and the other parties have done little to eran my vote either. So a conumdrum I have.

Know how you feel Fedup but at the end of the day we are voting for someone who will work hard, be accessable to the Electorate and have the best interests of the Clarence people at heart..not a Party.

By yambaman from Yamba on 16/11/2011 at 9:29AM

Now Mr Gulaptis, I love the ad with your son but Steve Cansdell is yesterdays man and should have been consigned to political history! Keep him on and you risk losing the unloseable, what he personally did was disgraceful. I'd suggest you change your advertising company and your advisers, both are completely out of touch with public opinion re Cansdell!

By Smally from Palmers Island on 16/11/2011 at 11:11AM

Chris Gulaptis has first experience not being in control of his electorate from Head office . The Legacy of Cansdell is bad enough without using him as a tombstone around the neck of Gulaptis . Ben Franklin should be on sidelene with Cansdell. Dumb & Dumber

By bertson from Yamba on 16/11/2011 at 11:45AM

Why would Gulaptis seek the endorsement of somebody who deliberately and wilfully broke the law? What integrity does Cansdell have left? He signed a statement which said
"A person who intentionally makes a false statement in a statutory declaration is guilty of an offence, the punishment for which is imprisonment for a term of four years."
Cansdell's illegal and immoral action caused this by-election in the first place. He is not to be trusted, and neither is his endorsement.

By zinger from Brooms Head on 16/11/2011 at 12:11PM

MHSMOTHER from Maclean on 16/11/2011 at 5:21AM said

What were you thinking Mr Gulaptis! I nearly choked in my cornflakes when I saw Steve Cansdell spruiking Chris Gulaptis on television. This has left a bad taste in my mouth and I personally feel that Mr Gulaptis has done himself a great disservice going down this track in his campaign. I, for one, will certainly be re-considering my vote, particularly taking into account the latest info coming out regarding Mr Gulaptis' past support for coal seam gas. This latest advertising campaign from Mr Cansdell, on top of the CSG evidence coming to light is definitely not good for Mr Gulaptis.

I think the whole of the Lower Clarence who once strongly supported Gulaptis would and should be thinking along the same lines as you. If he loses this unlosable(?) by election, he has only himself to blame.

By zinger from Brooms Head on 16/11/2011 at 12:22PM

Tellmeanything from Yamba on 16/11/2011 at 9:25AM said

Know how you feel Fedup but at the end of the day we are voting for someone who will work hard, be accessable to the Electorate and have the best interests of the Clarence people at heart..not a Party.

I agree. I can't vote Labour back in, and now I cannot vote Nats after this Cansdell/Gulattis/coal seam gas fiasco. It's not in me to vote Greens. What can I do Fedup? So, I'm going to vote for the man Peter Ellem. When he was the editor of DEX he was totally behind the Clarence Valley - and I'm sure he will continue to do so now.

By Tellmeanything from Yamba on 16/11/2011 at 3:19PM

Noticed Mr Gulaptis has his NATS website already under construction....now thats CONFIDENCE for yuh!!!

By thunda from Australia on 16/11/2011 at 3:20PM

Most pollies suffer from 'foot in mouth disease' and their egos won't allow them to see the bleeding obvious. On every paper there should be a box for a vote headed 'none of the above' so that those who cannot support those standing have a choice that makes their vote count as opposed to an informal vote that is merely put down to an error is casting the vote. This method would truly reflect voter preference.

By JohnHancocks from Maclean on 16/11/2011 at 3:36PM

No, I can’t vote National, of course not – in all conscience who can? Not in this electorate anyway. From the moment scandal broke the Nationals have done everything possible to downplay Cansdell’s actions: “mistake” “error of judgment” and no one in that party has been game to come out and say “Yes, our local member had to admit to a criminal act”. It’s as if not one of them can see that what Cansdell did was not just illegal but that he let us his constituents down, badly – people who position themselves as leaders in the community and who seek elected office have to present as squeaky clean and conduct themselves accordingly. So, seemingly Gulaptis as our prospective representative sees nothing wrong with Cansdell’s actions either? God help us, are we in for more of the same? Judging by the culture manifest among the local Nationals we have every reason to fear the worst, so what now? Dodgy land deals, cronyism, back handers...all the things we’ve witnessed elsewhere suddenly flourishing in the Clarence? Here we are afflicted with a party seemingly bereft of values pushing a candidate that frankly represents the scrapings of the electoral field. Thank you National Party....who the hell CAN I vote for out of this sorry lot? It won’t be your offering that’s for sure.

By UrsulaTunks from Grafton on 16/11/2011 at 4:23PM

It also concerns me that they're happy to 'ignore' the situation in relation to the false swearing of a Statutory Declaration. I think people are forgetting that if you are aware of a 'corrupt act' and fail to report that 'act' then you are also guilty of an offence under the Independent Commission Against Corruption Act 1988. If the police, or ICAC, are in fact conducting an investigation and they uncover 'other' corrupt acts then anyone else involved who's failed to report these acts will also be subjected to criminal charges. On the bright side though, those that do come forward with their knowledge of any alleged acts before they are brought to light by an investigation, will covered by the strengthened whistle blower provisions in that same Act. I wonder if this possibility is even relevant? I'm so glad I never worked for him.

By wade2460 from Grafton on 16/11/2011 at 8:56PM

I would be keeping the lowest profile ever if i had pending criminal charges... out of sight out of mind...not a high profile image !!! Chris seems to think he has it won.. I think the Nats have made a wrong choice .....