Nothing happened? Plenty happened

Tom Pearson

News Ltd, the co-owner of rugby league, sent Malcolm Noad 
galloping in to the Canterbury Bulldogs camp to spin some a PR 
following rape allegations against some of the club's players 
which caused corporate sponsors to dump the club to the tune of 
tens of millions of dollars. After a decision by the Director of 
Public Prosecutions (DPP) not to lay charges, Noad demonstrated 
the value of his training as a News Ltd executive, telling the 
media, "Lets' believe nothing happened in Coffs Harbour."

Noad's approach is the "let's move on" line favoured by those 
wanting to bury damaging revelations.

The DPP decision on the case — which followed allegations by a 
20-year-old woman that the players raped her in Coffs Harbour 
last February — stated there was "insufficient evidence", i.e. 
there was not enough evidence to lay charges.

The head of the investigation, Detective Chief Inspector Jason 
Breton, was adamant, stating that he "absolutely" believed 
something happened: "That's why we worked almost 18 hours a day 
for ten weeks."

Now Noad — who was appointed on April 1 as Bulldogs chief 
executive following the resignation of chief exec Steve Mortimer 
— is talking up the club's "player code of conduct", as though 
failure to follow some school-yard rules is the fundamental cause 
of the problem.

Let's look back a couple of years and consider the example the 
club hierarchy's "code of conduct" provided and we'll see that 
plenty has happened. Mortimer, and another former player, George 
Peponis, who became chairman, were elevated to their positions 
following the resignation of club president Gary McIntyre in 
2002.

It was the year that the Bulldogs had 37 competition points taken 
away from them because the club cheated the player payment 
system, making secret payments to some players above the 
stipulated salary cap.

It turned out that the extra $900,000 was transferred out of a 
$900 million development project, Oasis, in which the Bulldogs 
were partners with Liverpool City Council. Oasis is huge: a 
35,000-seat stadium, a 6000-seat basketball arena (the Bulldogs 
sponsor the Sydney Razorbacks basketball team), a swimming 
complex, retail and residential developments and a casino owned 
by the Bulldogs.

But rorting the salary cap was only the tip of the iceberg. 
Beneath the surface were kickbacks, conflicts of interest and 
under-the-table deals involving the Labor Party and the 
Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) as well as the 
Oasis project, Liverpool Council and the Bulldogs.

The then Minister for Fisheries and Mineral Resources — and a 
Bulldogs board member — Eddie Obeid, was accused by a former 
Oasis media consultant of promising to fast-track the project to 
beat the introduction of legislation limiting the number of poker 
machines in NSW. In return there would be a $1 million donation 
to the Labor Party.

Happily for all involved ICAC found that "evidence does not 
establish to a requisite degree" that any donation to the Labor 
Party "was ever seriously contemplated by Mr McIntyre"; that 
"there is no evidence that any donation was made to the ALP in 
relation to the project"; and that there are "no findings that Mr 
Obeid ever solicited such a donation".

Trouble is ICAC Commissioner, Irene Moss, was herself entangled 
in the whole mess: her husband, Allan Moss, is managing director 
of Macquarie Bank, an original investor in Oasis which, at the 
time in 2002, was suing the Bulldogs and Liverpool Council to 
recoup bank fees. That's what happens when thieves fall out.

Obeid is still an MP (he is not a minister but is, perhaps more 
ominously, a member of the Government's Legislation Review 
Committee), and father-in-law to George Peponis.

As for the rape case, it will have another effect in this time of 
a vicious political backlash against women. It sends a message to 
women not to report rape, said Sarah Maddison of the Women's 
Electoral Lobby.

"The inevitable outcome of this, regardless of the merits of this 
situation, is that other women who have been sexually assaulted 
will be put off coming forward. We need to start removing the 
suggestion that women are responsible for rape and I don't think 
we've been able to do that yet."