36 dead in flooded mine

Have Your Say

We welcome your comments on this story. Comments are submitted for possible publication on the condition that they may be edited. Please provide your full name. We also require a working email address - not for publication, but for verification. The location field is optional.Read our publication guidelines.

Submit your feedback here:

Search for more stories on this topic on Newstext, our news archive service. Click here

Video

Opposition ready to put the boot in on Neal

Watch this Video NOW!

Kelly Rowland `works it`

NEWS.com.au talks to Kelly Rowland about her solo career and "cousin" Beyonce.

Latest videos

Tools

KEVIN RUDD is taking the extraordinary step of sending Labor MP Belinda Neal to anger management counselling in a bid to end uproar over the raging member for Robertson.

Ms Neal has agreed to get help so that "these types of incidents don`t happen in the future".

But she denied she needed the classes, saying she would take them to "get better at resolving conflict".

She said the Prime Minister saw it as "the best way to draw a line in the sand and move on".

But the Opposition won`t move on. Next week in Parliament it will demand Ms Neal give a full account of what happened at Gosford nightspot Iguanas last Friday.

And Liberal backbencher Sophie Mirabella is considering whether Parliament was misled when Ms Neal twice denied making abusive comments to the pregnant MP - but later withdrew them.

The chief issue centres on events at Iguanas, which is in Ms Neal`s electorate, and whether in a clash with staff she swore at and threatened them and management.

She and husband John Della Bosca, the NSW Education Minister, have denied they behaved unacceptably, although Ms Neal conceded she "may have raised my voice".

"I think there is a fault in that I wasn`t able to dissipate a conflict in a way that was satisfactory to everyone," she said on ABC radio.

But there was still tension with the restaurant: "Whether or not I go back to Iguanas is something I will consider at a later time."

Mr Rudd, in Japan yesterday, dropped his foreign policy priorities for a 20-minute phone discussion with Ms Neal.

He later told reporters: "I spoke to Belinda Neal today and I`ve said to her that there appears to be a pattern of unacceptable behaviour.

"Furthermore, what I`ve said to Ms Neal is that in reflecting on that, that it`s important that this be dealt with by her appropriately in the future.

"She has indicated that as a result of our conversation that she`ll actually be seeking counselling to assist in her own management of her relationships with other people.

"I`ve also reminded her that none of us, none of us, are guaranteed of a future in politics."

The "unacceptable behaviour" mentioned by Mr Rudd, and his Deputy Julia Gillard, was a reference to Ms Neal telling Mrs Mirabella, 36 weeks pregnant, that her baby would be a demon, the Iguanas incident and Ms Neal`s sending off from a women`s soccer game for rough play, followed by a two-week suspension.

Of the send-off, Ms Neal said yesterday: "It was a minor incident and as a result the referee made a decision and I guess referees make good and not so good decisions."

And Ms Neal also questioned whether she was fouled at Iguanas, when eating with friends.

"All I did was make a legitimate complaint about the table being cleared and the chairs taken away before the group had finished," she said.

Of the Iguanas incident she said: "I should have handled it in a way that decreased the conflict and I think I need to - the Prime Minister and I are on agreement on this - we need to do it in a way that decreases the conflict."

Share this article

Have Your Say

Submit your feedback here:

Search for more stories on this topic on Newstext, our news archive service. Click here