Let Steve Cansdell take his lumps in silence

Click on image to enlarge

The Daily Examiner published an opinion piece last Friday suggesting disgraced former Nationals MP for Clarence, Steve Cansdell, should keep a low profile.

Something that is not likely to happen as it seems Cansdell has plans to re-enter politics and is rumoured to have his eye on the federal electorate of Page, which is currently held by Labor's Janelle Saffin.

I suspect that keeping public accolades (like the tribute dinner) coming is not something his lawyers are averse to either as Cansdell faces the possibility of having to answer before the courts for his admitted wrongdoing.

Cansdellgate isn't going away

Yet another Clarence valley resident has commented on the scandalous matters associated with disgraced former Member for Clarence Steve Cansdell.

Hard to digest

It is not only Labor hackles which have been raised (''Dinner for disgraced MP raises Labor hackles'', January 22). There are a lot of people in the Clarence electorate including myself who feel disgusted with this whole affair. NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell was quick to pick up the phone to the Police Minister, who then contacted the police chief when the Craig Thomson affair surfaced. However, nothing has occurred in respect to the Steve Cansdell affair. Come on O'Farrell, pick up the phone.

Lyne Dobson, Waterview Heights

Source: The Sun Herald, 29/1/12

In which NSW North Coast residents continue to have their say regarding Steve...

Digitally created image sent in anonymously

Fine tribute

COME on Mr Cansdell and Mr Gulaptis and the other National Party members, get real.

Take a deep breath and a deep look at the situation you are creating.

You are aiding and abetting rewards for breaking the law.

Mr Cansdell has admitted he was dishonest by falsifying a statutory declaration to escape a speeding fine.

Something obviously happened.

So, after doing a bit of research, he came forward and resigned.

This in turn enabled him to get his pension.

If he had been sacked he would have missed out.

This electorate has a lot of crime problems at present and as far as I am concerned this incident is setting a bad example for this area.

If Mr Cansdell and his National Party mates had any decency at all they would abandon the dinner and pay the cost of the by-election.

If Mr Cansdell does not go to jail, then why did Justice Einfeld go?

COL BROWN

South Grafton [Letter to the Editor published 26 January 2012]

By suffernofools from Maclean on 26/1/2012 at 8:30AM

Ursula, don't get your knickers in a knot about it darlin', it's not like a civic reception or a street parade where they are imposing themselves upon us. They will be safely out of view of the general public...discreetly patting each other on the back and saying how good a job he did and he was a bit unlucky. They will never get it. No matter how much you jump up and down and scream blue murder, they are so out of touch at how disgusted we are, they would think you are cheering FOR them. Ignore them and maybe the silence will resonate louder than a political protest could. Or just leave your placards out the front of the racecourse with a note attached saying you had left due to lack of interest in the whole thing. [The Daily Examiner online]

By yambaman from Yamba on 26/1/2012 at 8:37AM

Well I usually support the conservative side of politics but a "tribute" dinner for a confirmed liar turns my stomach! Have these faceless politicians no shame, would any self-respecting citizen really attend? I'd expect it from the ALP (aka Craig Thomsen) but from the Nats, who'll I vote for next? [ibid]

By swingingvoter from Palmers Channel on 26/1/2012 at 12:47PM

Could someone from Chris Gulaptis' office advise if his staff are involved in organising this dinner during the hours they are being paid to perform duties for the citizens of Clarence and NSW? Are people paying their $50 during office hours? If so, what other citizens are entitled to use his office in this manner?
Will this MP sign a Statutary Declaration to say his office and staff are not being used in this manner........sorry, I forgot, Stat. Decs. are just playthings these days. [ibid]

By MurrayLees from Murwillumbah on 24/1/2012 at 6:37AM

Two words for John Robertson and Labor: Craig Thompson [ibid]

By UrsulaTunks from Grafton on 24/1/2012 at 8:46AM

Murray Lees you goose this isn't ABOUT POLITICS ! This is about integrity! Are you the same campaign manager who was telling anyone who'd listen during the by election that Cansdell would have a conviction not recorded against him & be the next Federal National Party candidate for the electorate of Page? Have you already negotiated the outcome with the Police? How could you know that before anyone else in the community ? Are you the same National Party member who has been belittling my friend Kath Palmer & her bravery for coming forward? The same Murray Lees who appears to be two or three decades behind the rest of Australia when it comes to the treatment of whistleblowers? THIS IS NOT ABOUT POLITICS - you can't put spin on it based on party politics. If anyone in any party breaks the law the law deals with their transgression - NOT the party spin doctor! & while you're at it tell you're mates to stop defaming me - YES I supported Kath in her submission to ICAC & I would again tomorrow for anyone who needed that support to act lawfully - regardless of who the alleged offender was! And Murray that includes you - if you ever needed my help to do the right thing I'd be here to support you if you . Remember Murray it's an offence under the ICAC legislation to know of an offence committed by a public official and NOT report. So Kath and any others who've come forward over this period are doing what is required of them by law. [ibid]

Member for Clarence: take your pick, 'Steve' Gulaptis or 'Chris' Cansdell

It seems there's a good deal of confusion in the electorate of Clarence as to who the current Local Member is and who might be pulling the Member's strings.

A couple of wags at the local watering hole reckon the surnames Cansdell and Gulaptis along with the given names Steve and Chris have become interchangeable. So much so, says my mate Robbo, that on any given day the local MP might be Chris or Steve. Robbo reckons that's going to come in real handy for the MP over the festival season - the MP can be in two places at once, party-partying (ho ho style) and driving along the Pacific Highway looking for speed cameras.

Click on the image below to reveal how some in the electorate see their local MP.

'Steve' Gulaptis, please stand up

Confused constituents in the electorate of Clarence continue to ask: Who is the local MP? Is it Chris or is Steve still somewhere on the scene?

'Steve' Gulaptis MP gets a chance to prove how effective his representation is for Clarence

The Nationals Glove Puppet for Clarence, ‘Steve’ Gulaptis has his first chance to prove his metal.

The former disgraced MP for Clarence, Steve Cansdell, promised air-conditioning for Yamba Public School on Angourie Road.

The school is approximately 5m above sea level and around 1.5 kilometres inland as the crow flies from the higher sheltering coastline.

Now the O’Farrell Coalition Government and Education Minister Andrew Piccoli has decided Summer cooling of class rooms (which can experience up to 30 degree plus indoor temperatures) is unnecessary because the Yamba Pilot Station on a sea promontory at around 27m above sea level gets a regular ‘breeze’.

So far all Gulaptis has done is bleat in The Tele – time to do more ‘Steve’!

What NSW Nationals 'Steve' Gulaptis MP for Clarence isn't saying

This is what the new Clarence MP 'Steve' Gulaptis was telling The Daily Examiner as he posed for photographs:

Mr Gulaptis said he still felt humbled to be elected, but couldn't wait to get behind the desk and get to work on solving the problems faced by his constituents and the electorate.

Mr Gulaptis said the new Grafton bridge, the Pacific Highway upgrade, law enforcement in Casino and the Lower Clarence, health and employment, especially in Grafton after recent job losses, were key issues he would focus on.

He said as the communities in the electorate are so diverse and face different issues, he would be spending a lot of time travelling and talking to locals about what issues are important to them.

He said his focus in Parliament will be to push strongly for funding on issues facing the Clarence electorate.

Now the election is over and his est. $180,000 plus taxpayer-funded salary package is assured, there is no mention of protecting the Clarence River from inappropriate open cut gold mining and toxic antimony mining –  which have the potential to place underground aquifers and the river system at risk to the detriment of the economic well-being of downstream communities.

Nor is there mention of proposed and exisitng coal seam gas mines, or ground water extraction levels and waste water associated with this industry which are likely to compromise water and food security across the NSW North Coast unless a legitimate halt to uncontrolled industry expansion is legislated. 

Nothing about the O'Farrell Government's intention to complete the power generation infrastructure sell-off which is bound to impact on hip pockets in a region known for its low household incomes.

Complete silence about any intention to fight a proposal which is still being considered by government - replacing Grafton prison with a privately financed, constructed and operated centre.

Not even a mention of Steve's favourite subject - bats! A subject that is in the process of being placed in his too hard basket now he is in office.

One suspects that his vision really extends no further than his old role of managing roads, rats, rubbish and greasing the wheels for the white-shoe brigade.

Clarence MP Christopher Gulaptis's first day on the job

Extracts from Hansard, NSW Legislative Assembly, Friday 25 November 2011

ELECTORATE DISTRICT OF CLARENCE

Election of Christopher Gulaptis

The SPEAKER: I inform the House that my writ issued on 28 October 2011 in accordance with section 70 of the Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Act 1912 for the election of a member to serve in the Legislative Assembly for the electoral district of Clarence in place of Steven Rhett Cansdell, resigned, has been returned with a certificate endorsed by the Electoral Commissioner advising of the election of Christopher Gulaptis to serve as the member for the electoral district of Clarence.

PLEDGE OF LOYALTY

Mr Christopher Gulaptis took and subscribed the pledge of loyalty and signed the roll.
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QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

 Mr CHRISTOPHER GULAPTIS: My question is addressed to the Deputy Premier. ...  How has the Government delivered for regional New South Wales this year, and related matters?

 Mr ANDREW STONER: That is ... a very good question—the first of many—from the new member for Clarence. Welcome to New South Wales Parliament.
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LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

STATE AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

Membership

Mr BRAD HAZZARD (Wakehurst—Minister for Planning and Infrastructure, and Minister Assisting the Premier on Infrastructure NSW) [3.19 p.m.]: I move:

That: (1) Christopher Gulaptis be appointed to serve on the Legislative Assembly Committee on Economic Development in place of Andrew Robert Gee, discharged.

Question—That the motion be agreed to—put and resolved in the affirmative.

Motion agreed to.
 

Clarence By-election 2011 date set

Voters in the northern electorate will return to the polls on November 19 after the resignation last month of Nationals MP Steve Cansdell.

Are the boys in blue dragging their feet in sympathy with the former NSW Parliamentary Secretary to the Police Minister?

Soon after Steve Cansdell was forced by circumstances to admit to the NSW Nats leader and Grafton police that in 2005 he had signed a false statutory declaration to avoid losing his driving license, speculation began to surface that police in the Coffs-Clarence Area Command would be reluctant to pursue the matter because of their prior contact with him as the MP for Clarence and parliamentary secretary to the NSW Police Minister.

Three weeks after his resignation became public knowledge police have still not interviewed his alleged co-conspirator according to The Daily Examiner on 8^th October 2011:

“POLICE are still to decide if charges will be laid against former Clarence MP Steve Cansdell, three weeks after he handed documents to Grafton police showing he falsified a statutory declaration to avoid losing his licence over a speeding fine in 2005.

On Wednesday evening the prime police witness in the case, former Cansdell staffer Kath Palmer, was yet to be interviewed to progress the investigations.

The Daily Examiner yesterday tried to contact Mrs Palmer to see if she had spoken to police, without success.

Police have not confirmed what action, if any, they will take in the matter.

When Mr Cansdell announced his resignation outside his Prince St office on September 16, he said a third party signed a declaration they were driving his car when he was detected at Woodburn by a speed camera travelling 74kmh in a 60kmh zone.

"I had received a speeding ticket which would have cost me my licence," Mr Cansdell said.

"A third party agreed to claim to be driving my vehicle at the time and took the demerit points.

"I regret my actions six years ago, which I took without thought of the consequences."

Mr Cansdell told the media he wanted a "clean slate" in the lead up to the 2006 election….”

Pic from The Daily Examiner

Naive voter writes Facebook defence of Cansdell

·        
Charmaine Patricia Watters on Monday, September 19, 2011 at 9:32am

this is the letter I emailed to our local & all the major papers re their articles on Mr Steve Cansdell. They porbably won't print it because I wrote in support or they will edit & crop it so my letter won't make any sense.

Dear Editor,

After reading the articles in The Daily Examiner, Saturday, 17/9/2011 and The Daily Telegraph, Saturday, 17/09/2011; I feel compelled to write to express a few opinions.
In The Daily Telegraph it says, "When Mr Cansdell went to Mr Stoner on Thursday, he told him rumours were circulating in his electorate which local media were chasing. He then admitted the rumours were true."
If this is true; shame on those local media who were chasing said rumours, there are much bigger issues to address and bigger stories to chase without trying to smirch the image of and bring down a truly hardworking, genuine, decent man and community representative and leader like Mr Steve Cansdell. If it is true, what were those local media thinking when they sought to take the scalp of such a fantastic Member of Parliament and the person most of the Clarence Valley overwhelming chose at the last State election? Tall Poppy Syndrome? This is poor form, why was it that these local media, who aren't identified by The Daily Telegraph, needed to break this story so badly that they just had to devastate Mr Cansdell, his family, staff and supporters like me and numerous others?
As for the National Party and Mr Stoner; do you not realise most of us in the Clarence Valley voted for Mr Steve Cansdell, the man, and not the National Party as such because we knew he had a heart as big as our Clarence Valley and that he was the best person to represent our Clarence Electorate? Whoever the Nationals choose to put up as their candidate in the by-election they will never be as dedicated, brilliant, compassionate, caring, hardworking and have as much integrity as Mr Steve Cansdell. I am praying for Mr Steve Cansdell to nominate as an Independent and if he chooses not to I will understand and >support his decision too. I was stopped for many conversations down the street in Grafton this morning re this issue and people said "we voted Steve in and we want Steve to stay as our brilliant Member for Clarence.
So many people I spoke to said they could understand Steve's decision to step down as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Police but to totally step down shows exactly the great integrity this totally decent man has. In The Daily Examiner's page one article Steve says "It was the toughest decision I have ever made" and "I don't think it would have been honourable to ride it out", shows his absolute integrity. When he says "Sometimes you just have to fall on your sword" Did he fall or did the National Party push him? If pushed by the Nationals; as they say in parliamentary debate, SHAME, SHAME.
As for The Daily Telegraph saying "by resigning before any charge is laid, Mr Cansdell ensures he is entitled to a parliamentary pension of more than $80,000 a year"; in my humble opinion he deserves every dollar of that pension for all the faithful, dedicated, selfless service he has so willingly provided over the last several years to everyone he has helped and compassionately cared for and all the money he has paid out of his own pocket to ensure local children got the academic and sporting chances they were chosen for but their parents could not afford and for all the operations and health services he either paid for or asked specialists to perform pro bono and for all the trials he has faced and now must endure. He was the battlers champion and their voice in the Clarence Valley because he knew what it was like to be a battler and to come from the school of hard knocks, that's why he is so well loved by most of the people in the Clarence Valley.
Where Mr Cansdell says in The Daily Examiner articles he loved his job and loves his community he served; I on behalf of most of the community of the Clarence Valley and all the people he helped without asking for anything in return, just want to let you know Steve, we love you, support you and that you should hold your head up high; you have not let us down.
Everyone has made errors of judgement and you have paid a severe price for a small lapse, a price that is not comparable to such a minor sin. To all those who judge Mr Steve Cansdell harshly, I believe it says in the Bible "he who is without sin, cast the first stone" and to "err is human, to forgive is divine". All people of the Clarence Valley and Australia think of your lapses in judgement that have never seen the light of day because you are not a public figure and be divine and forgive his indiscretion which the legal profession see as serious but maybe us lesser mortals see as an act of desperation brought on by the fear of losing a much needed driving licence to do the job properly he loves for a community he adores because of an accumulation points for mitigating mistakes.
Atticus Finch says in the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee and I to truly understand someone and their choices you have a walk around in their shoes.
Charmaine P. Watters
Grafton, NSW

State Electorate of the Clarence

Charmaine also believes in urban myths:

useless but fascinating information learnt today; SHIT stands for 'stow high in transit' on manure cargo carried by sailing ship in older times; it was dried then transported in the hold where it would get wet, methane would build up as sea water & dried manure mixed. Sailor with latern sent to check hold stores & BOOM! So printed on bags of manure was SHIT, as a warning. 

However, she obviously doesn't believe that breaking the law is more than a trifling matter or in this:

New Nats' candidate - a farmer with experience in renovations

Another National party candidate for pre-selection in Clarence arrived on the scene yesterday and her background suggests she could be just what the doctor ordered for the party to get its local act into gear.

Fiona Leviny

Fiona Leviny, a farmer from Southgate and a contestant on TEN's show The Renovators, stepped up to the plate with her nomination but has her hands tied to the TV show in the immediate future so will be missing from the local scene while the serious business of lobbying for support for pre-selection takes place in the days leading up to the party's D-Day on Saturday, October 1.

Leviny told The Daily Examiner that in the middle of her bid to get National Party endorsement to run for the seat of Clarence she has to travel to Sydney for four days for filming of the final episodes of The Renovators.

Leviny's commitment to the cause is indeed most admirable. She's prepared to do the hard yards, not settling for a second-rate effort like those who say they'll make just a 110% effort.

Leviny, who has a solid background in agriculture and tourism across Australia and overseas, said she would be there to work 150%.

Read the Examiner's report on Leviny's nomination here.

Pic credit: The Daily Examiner

Kevin Hogan denies knowing his 2010 federal election campaign involved staffer on state government payroll

The Northern Rivers Echo 22 September 2011:

The Echo understands that while Mrs Palmer was employed in Mr Cansdell's office she was instructed to work on The Nationals federal candidate Kevin Hogan's unsuccessful campaign for the seat of Page.

Mr Hogan confirmed that Mrs Palmer had worked on his campaign, but he said he thought she was a National Party volunteer and had no idea she was on the state government's pay roll.

"We had 35-40 volunteers working over in our campaign offices in Page, in Lismore, Grafton, Ballina and Casino, with the rosters organised by local branches, and I understood they were all volunteer workers," Mr Hogan said. "I was taken quite by surprise when the Herald called me. It was certainly my understanding that they were all volunteers.

"I met her (Mrs Palmer) in the Grafton office and thanked her for helping out... On a personal note, I quite like Steve, he's a nice guy who did a good job, but he did what he did, and the response was appropriate. A statutory declaration is a statutory declaration," Mr Hogan said.

More allegations are surfacing of improper behaviour by Mr Cansdell and his office.

Locals come out to comment on Cansdellgate

The letters columns in today's Daily Examiner carries an assortment of views about the Cansdell scandal.

In the red corner:
Are we stupid?

How stupid do the political parties think people are?

Fact 1: Mr Cansdell lied to the police with the aid of a so-far-unknown accomplice.

Fact 2: For six years now he has lied to the people of his electorate and has now cost the state of NSW (which, according to the Coalition to which he belonged, is broke) a by-election.

Fact 3: He said he would step down as it was the honourable thing to do, but if he had stayed on as MP and been charged and convicted he ran the risk of losing his pension. Makes one think, doesn't it?

So far I have not heard him apologise to us mugs who elected him, only to his family, friends and party and to protest that he did not realise the seriousness of what he had done to avoid a speeding ticket.

This from a committed, get tough with them, crime fighter.

Now the sting in the tail. It would appear that the National Party is trying to court CVC Mayor Richie Williamson to stand as the National Party candidate for Clarence.

If Mr Williamson is successful it would relieve CVC of an incompetent councillor, a good outcome, but would impose the same ego-inspired incompetent on the Clarence electorate, a not-so-good outcome.

Paul MacDermott, Lawrence

More questions

Why should Steve Cansdell resign with full benefits instead of being sacked?

And you gave this matter a two-page spread and tried to make him sound like a hero ... oh from sexually abused victim to this ... he has fraudulently lied to cover his backside to keep his driver's licence and says "oh, sorry, I had a lapse in judgment".

I would also like to know who the staff member was who he obviously pressured into taking the blame for his law breaking. Speeding is against the law ... if you get caught then you should pay the price.

He is supposed to be a pillar of the community yet he couldn't keep a clean driving record.

How appalling.

I would love to start a petition to say that we, as taxpayers, are totally against this lawbreaking politician obtaining full benefits, ie. a pension, from our hard-earned money.

Michelle Walters, Junction Hill

The candidate

DEX intimates that Richie Williamson is talking with the Nationals regarding possible representation in the forthcoming by-election.

That would be about right. Williamson strikes me as a political prostitute who would sell himself to the highest bidder.

Thomas Macindoe, Yamba

In the blue corner:
Admiration

Steve Cansdell has shown that expediency cannot supplant probity and integrity. Congratulations to him, at such a personal cost. His decision evokes admiration and sympathy. When principle is involved, even compromise becomes capitulation under the instalment plan.

David Brown, Junction Hill

He will be missed

I wish to pay tribute to Steve Cansdell for his dedication to the people of the valley and beyond. He has been an excellent member, with an extremely balanced attitude towards all.

I have had the privilege of involvement with quite a few organisations and as such have had opportunities to see Steve Cansdell in action. I believe he has been an outstanding representative.

Some measure of his fair-minded approach to his responsibilities was at the recent opening of the Grafton U3A Men's Shed extensions and renovations for which he had obtained a grant under the Government Communities Building Partnership Program. He paid a generous tribute to the former government for promoting this very worthwhile fund.

The transgression leading to his resignation is one he will regret. It probably seemed a good idea at the time. No doubt, the manner of his going reflects credit on him. No ducking - rather a quick and decisive move.

He will be missed. However, we should hope that he will continue to serve our community. I for one would welcome that.

David Abrahams, Grafton

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.

A preview of a letter to the editor in The Daily Examiner

Will the notorious right winger who regularly rabbits on in the letters column of The Daily Examiner save himself a bit of time and effort and use the letter that appeared above his name in today's paper as a template for his next contribution?
Today the cereal serial letters writer had free shots at a Minister in the Gillard government, so if he's fair dinkum and even-handed tomorrow's edition will carry another effort from him with paragraphs that begin as shown below. All he has to do is insert the name of his hero, the now disgraced former Member for Clarence.

Admission: The cereal / serial error was due to this writer thinking about fruit loops at the time.

Political Independence: what a difference six months makes

Richie Williamson for Clarence on Facebook 12 March 2011:

Real representation needs to be free of party politics to be truly effective. The people of Clarence deserve a state representative whose entire focus is on the electorate.

The Northern Rivers Echo 17 March 2011:

It is for this reason I am proud to be running as an independent. I will always put Clarence first.

The Sydney Morning Herald 17 September 2011:

Mr Williamson, who stood as an independent, said he would be ''willing to have that discussion'' if approached to stand for the Nationals.

The Sunday Telegraph 18 September 2011:

NSW Politics: prized bull to mincemeat

A Week Is A Long Time In Politics says Clarence Valley Today on Sunday 18 September 2011

Here is Steve Cansdell (4th from the right with hat) winning best celebrity hamburger at the Gate to Plate Market one week ago. On Friday he resigned from the New South Wales Parliament as Member for Clarence after making a false statement on a Statutory Declaration over a speeding fine. What do they say about roosters to feather dusters or is that prized bulls to mincemeat in this situation?
Click here for a trip down memory lane.

*Thanks to Mark for allowing this cross-posting

NSW Police media release re NSW Nats Steve Cansdell

 

Just for the record.....

NSW Police Force media release

Man facing charges after allegedly making false statutory declaration - Grafton

Friday, 16 September 2011 04:53:07 PM

Police are conducting investigations into an alleged false statutory declaration for a traffic offence six years ago.

About 12pm on 28 September 2005, a then 54-year-old man was driving a Ford Falcon along the Pacific Highway at Woodburn when his vehicle was allegedly detected travelling in excess of the speed limit.

A speed camera infringement notice was subsequently issued and mailed to the man’s home address.

It will be alleged on 25 October 2005, the man signed a statutory declaration and nominated another person as driving the vehicle.

Police will allege the false declaration was made to avoid the loss of demerit points and subsequent loss of his drivers licence.

About 11:50am today (Friday 16 September 2011) the man attended Grafton Police Station with his legal representative and was spoken to by police.

Investigations into the matter are continuing.

Clarence lawmaker makes the news on the international scene

The Shanghai Daily has picked up and run with a piece on the Cansdell circus.

Read more here.