By Ian Neubauer
Prime Minister Rudd has refused to defend Belinda Neal, the Federal MP accused of bullying staff at Iguanas Waterfront Bar on June 6.
The Prime Minister and Treasurer Wayne Swan purposely walked out of Parliament on Monday to avoid voting on an Opposition motion calling for Neal to explain the events surrounding the Iguanagate Affair.
And while Labor used its numbers to kill the motion, Neal’s political future looks more uncertain than ever after Opposition justice spokesperson, Christopher Pyne, said he was considering referring Neal to the Federal Police over the alleged violation of section 139 of the 1995 Criminal Code Act.
The act states it is an offence for a public servant to menace another person. Neal is accused of threatening to use her political muscle to revoke Iguanas’ liquor licence after staff asked her party to move to another table.
Neal’s husband, NSW Education and Industrial Relations Minister, John Della Bosca, who was also involved in the affray, has been stood aside pending the findings of a police investigation.