Once a high flying minister, now a broken man.
It was a significant error of judgment on my part, but it was an honester.
In two thousand and nine, he was found guilty of corruptly receiving secret commissions and jailed for seven years. In twenty ten, he was found guilty on five charges of official corruption and five charges of perjury and jailed for an additional seven years.
And there's a whiteboard there and it's got Operation gum Nat and the officer said that's you.
And he said, and this is the plan to get you out of here.
My name is Gordon Nuddle and this is my story.
The man behind the Rose Episode four. Hello, my name's Patrick Condrey. Disgraced former Beaty government minister. Gordon Nattle has spent six years in jail, more than five of those in maximum security, with the worst of the worst. But that nightmare is about to end with the innovatively named Operation gum Nut and the impact on his children and
grandchildren of his guilty verdicts and time behind bars. For the first time, Lisa Nuttle and her brother Andrew speak publicly about the impact on themselves and their families since their father was locked away. More than fourteen years ago. Gordon Nuttle has not been paid for taking part in this podcast. After almost a year at Palin Creek Prison Farm, following more than five years in maximum security, Gordon Nattle was eligible fool parole.
When my parole was granted, there was a problem. I got a call from the manager to come down to his office and I went down and but no one goes to see the manager, you know.
And I get invited in and hello, Gordon, how are you? And please sit down? I thought, I'm an inmate. What's going on here? You know?
And he said, we've just heard on the radio that your parole has been approved.
He said, we haven't been advised.
And he said, we've just said on the Macquarie radio that it's been approved. He said, I've got no other information I can give to you at this time, he said, but all the details are being released on air as we speak. I said, okay.
Come as a bit of a surprise.
Well it was, because what happened was after that I went back to my dormitory and we had a TV screen up on the wall and there it is splashed all over the TV. But I've been groud in my parole what the conditions of my parole were.
The whole box and.
Dice Gordon Nuttle is about to walk free.
So he was quite embarrassed by that.
So obviously then the media were aware of the date I was to be released, so they had to devise a plan to get me out of there.
So the prison authorities had to devise a plan.
Yeah, the prison authorities wanted to devise a plan to get me out of there because they don't want the media hanging around a prison farm, and that makes a lot of sense.
So he called me back down.
He said, right, you're going to be released at one minute past twelve in the morning. We worked out a plan to get you out of here. He said, we expect the media to be down at the front gate, and they arrived the afternoon, the Sunday afternoon. The media arrived Sunday afternoon would have been freezing cold that night, tell you. And he said, so we're going to get you out of here one minute after midnight, which is ironic because that's when my parole finished yesterday, one minute
up to midnight. So about quarter to twelve that night, prison officer came and got me from the dormitory took me down to the main office where my clothes were, and there's a whiteboard there and it's got operation gum Nut.
On the board and the officer said that's you. And he said and this is the plan to get you out of here.
A well oiled machine.
Yeah.
Yeah, So they had a prison guard down at the front gate chatting to the medias at cord to twelve ten to twelve at night. I got changed. It took me out this back gate and then we headed towards New South Wales border and then there was a message on the two way to turn around. So the cards you two him and heads back towards Bodesert. So it just looked like a car was traveling in the night, going past media is being chatted up by the person.
Did you drive past the meeting?
We drove straight past and the prison officer said, no waving, no worry about that.
So we drive along and we get.
Past the township of Wrathdowney and there's a police station there and once we got past that, there was another message on the two way all clear. So what they were going to do There was an arrangement with the police at Wrathdowney that if the media got hold of the fact that that was me in the car and they chased us.
The cops were going to slop them. I don't know, I.
Wonder what pretext, but that we're going to stop them. So they got me to Boy Desert, threw me out of the car. The guy you didn't throw me out me?
Well, kid? So that was that was the release, my release from after six years and a few days or whatever. Are you.
The best day except the birth of my children and my wedding, best out of my life was so exciting I'll never forget because we had it all planned and they were doing They called it Operation gum Nut was the name of this, the secret operation to get Dad out of Pale and Creek with as little fuss and media attention as possible. And we thought that was really funny. Operation gum Nut. Yeah, yeah, So we thought that was stuff, and we were so grateful to the people at Pale Creek.
And you obviously got four warning that Gunnut was.
Happening, so we knew what was happening. And the pickup time was at midnight at the Bow Desert Post offic and my brother I remember we were going to leave at eleven, so he came here and we tried. I tried to have a little sleep before because I'm an early bird, and I remember it was absolutely freezing that day. It was a day kind of like today, and it was a little bit yeah, just chili and stuff. So
we were driving out. We were so excited and we're sitting there outside the boat as at post office, so there's no one around at midnight watching Mick Fanning get attacked by a shark. That was the day that Mick Fanning got attacked by the shark. My brother's watching the surfing and he said to me, oh my goodness, look at this. And we were watching it live happening, waiting for the car to come around. We didn't know what
car hed bean or anything like that. And we're sitting there with our hoodies on and beanies, and we thought, gosh, we must look a site like sitting outside the boat as at post office in the middle of the night, and.
The local coppers didn't.
They did drive past at one point and we just kind of slumped down in our seats.
It was so funny.
We were laughing, but we were so excited, and then the car came that they were he was in it was like a little rab four or something, because I remember that's what they took him. They took him out to Pale and Creek in some similar car, and he thought he was really fancy. And I remember it stopping at the lights because a couple had stopped their prior and we'd sit up in our seats and no, not Dad,
not Dard. And then finally this car came around and it slowed down and it did a yew in it pulled up beside us, and oh my goodness, we jumped out of that car and it was so exciting. Like I used to say that to Dad. I said, was in so much misery, but that day is going to be the best day, Like we're going to have the best feelings that day, and it was so exciting.
I remember sitting watching the surfing in South African, seeing Mick Fanny get attacked by the shark, which was pretty I'll never forget that night, Holy shit, excuse me, sat out front of the post office there in Lisa's car, tinted windows or not knowing what the hell was going on, seeing a police car drive around us.
They obviously knew what was.
Going on, and he literally they pulled up behind us. He got out of the car and got in to our car and yeah, yeah, I just couldn't stop trying to hug him, and yeah, tears were flowing, and another another surreal moment. Just didn't realize it was happening right there and then.
And I just got a brand new camera, so it had the bluetooth and the screen and everything. And Dad was amazed because before he went away, there was no iPhone, no iPod. So we used to explain all of this stuff to him, no bluetooth like that in a car.
Then take the second exit.
It was just amazed by the technology in the car and everything.
And then did you hug him?
Obviously, Oh my goodness, hugged cried. There was just it was just so exciting, you know. It was just and the guard was smiling, and he's just like, let's go, let's go home, you know.
Oh without Yeah, I'm sitting in the back seat. And of course there's all new gateway motorway, and you know, and they are told gates are gone, you know, they're all gone.
There's no doll gates there or anything.
And she said, oh, now we're on the news section of the motor no bloody idea where we were, and there's this bloody car with a screen on it and naps.
In it and all the rest of it must have been surreal. It was.
It really was actually the fact that I was going home. You know.
By the time we got back to my daughter's place at Boondal, it was about halpus one.
In the morning.
I had to report at seven am to the prole office. And at five o'clock that morning, my daughter came and woke me up and said, she said, all the media are arriving and they're out in the front of our house across the road.
And I said, okay, talk.
To me about the emotions when you first got back to Lisa's house after a successful operation Gumnut.
It was so, I said. We got to Lisa's bad upas one two o'clock. The little ones, Lisa woke them up and they're half asleep and they give grand the grandkids, yeah, three of them, three of the twelve give Granddad a hug and they went back to bed. And the son in law is there and he's dressing game. I got a photo somewhere him saying get ade of me.
I've lost all this weight you know, I'm skinny as a rake and still not looking overly healthy, and a lot of tears and sort of an unreal feeling that you're actually home, but it wasn't home. I was with my daughter, but I didn't have a home. I'd sold that in our haste to destroy me, sold on my assets and took all that.
We came back here, and we've got a grunny flat downstairs.
We'd kidded that all out for Dad, so prior.
To him coming home, the parole board had to come and approve that he would be living here. So they had to come and do an inspection of that place and everything and ask and talk to us and look at the flat. But we decked it all out and had filled the pantry with all his favorite things.
And what are his favorite things?
Oh, just like I had things like tim tans, and like he loves dark chocolate, and all those things he didn't have while he was there, not that he was. Took much to please him, because you know, you don't. You don't get a lot while you're away. And I'd done the bathroom and I had you know, his deoda and toothbrush, all of that nice nice body wash and
that sort of thing. And I remember we put the garage door up and my husband was standing there in his flannel at pajamas and his dressing gown, looking at tree. And we've got this great photo of them shaking hands and this joy on Dad's face, you know, And then we went in and we.
Just had all had a copper and just talked.
And it was so nice. My kids were all still asleep. Then we tried to get a little bit asleep, but we were just buzzing. And I remember I must have gone to bed about three o'clock, and at four o'clock I heard a door slam and I looked out my window and the media had started arriving. And by five o'clock both sides of the street were absolutely packed with media. So we just pulled all our blinds down, and Dad came up, and then the kids got up and they
were so excited. And I've got this beautiful photo of my eldest her bedrooms, just their dad knocking on her door. And see she's a redhead, and my dad's a red head, so she's kind.
I wouldn't know because he know.
What is Yeah, he's ball now, But when she's always kind, of been the favorite because of the red hair. I reckon and he knocked on the door and he open I've got this beautiful photo of the two of them hugging.
It's just it was such a joyful day.
I'll give you an example of how tough it is, or not tough, but how overwhelming it was. I had to report to the prole office at seven am, and that was to avoid the media again, but they are out front of Liss anyway, and.
At this stage you're not allowed to talk to the meeting, not at all. You've been forbidden from talking to the media for fourteen years.
That's as part of my parole conditions. And if I spoke to the media, I would break it. My parole would cancel my prole and probably return me to jar. So it's pretty serious stuff. So I'll get to the pro office at Champs, I'd sign all the documentation come out. And my son said to me, he said, let's go and get something deep. So in the usual now Australia, we went to McDonald's and at McDonald's have got these
screens where you punch in your order. I'd never seen that before, so I didn't have a clue what that was about. I went to the men's room and then I went to wash my hands. I couldn't find tap because it's all censor and I didn't know that. So I'm looking for a tap. I can't find out how to wash my hands, and I knew that there was something that would make this thing work. I finally worked that out, and then there was this dryer where you
put your hands down, so I didn't know. I'd never seen one of them before, and I just started thinking, how am I going to function?
How am I going to function? And it was really scary.
So we go to the driver's license Department of Transport to give my driver's license and I go in and you need three forms of ID. I'd managed to get a Medicare card before I was discharged from prison, and that's all I had. My license had expired, so that's not considered a current form of identification, and that is all I had. So I've got a letter from with my photo on it, my release.
Letter from Chart.
So I show that to the lady and she said, mister Nodle, we know who you are. We know who you are, but that's not acceptable idea either. So you need three forms of ID. You've got one, I said, I haven't got an electricity account. I haven't got a rate to notice I've got She said, we need to know where.
You're living, you know.
And I understand that she's only doing a job, and she's actually a little bit upset for me. And I'm getting frustrated, frustrated and upset and upset, and my daughter she put her arms around me. She said it'd be all right, dad, You're right. And the lady said, look, let me go and talk to my supervisor. So the supervisor come over and she said, hi, mister Nuddle, how I mean they are really good people, really polite, said I understand we've got a problem, and I said yeah.
And I said, but I need my license. I said, I want to be able to get around. And she said, okay, So I'm going to ask you a few questions and if you answer them correctly, we'll be able to get over the hurdle and I can authorize it. When was the last time I had a traffic infringement? And a couple of other questions. So fine that we got through all that and I got my life license, but it was really traumatic. It was all Lisa said, Dad, you
were just stunned, and you look out of place. You look and you were looking around as if to say, what do I do? And I thought, I got home, and I thought, I've come from being a minister of the crown full of confidence.
Good at what I do to this? To this, you know? And yeah, it was really hard, really really hard.
And I took him to the Transport department to get his license, and he was just it was so hard because he's out in society. People were recognizing him at that point, and it was just a lot of stimulation,
you know, you can imagine almost overwhelming, overwhelming, overwhelming. And then that night we had a roast because my cooks a great roast, and I remember we put a tarp hole and we had I've got a big back downstairs, big back outdoor area, and we put a tar hole and upside because there was still media and stuff there, and we put the tarp hole.
Not they play cricket. And it was just a great, great day. So it was a really really good day.
Do you think, given the day you've just described, do you think it was worth it to get new kids, in his words, into the property market.
No, absolutely not. No, I would have rather rent for the rest of my life than deal with that. It was.
It's so traumatic. I still have so much trauma. I have flashbacks every single day. There are things like even this morning, I was I felt sick, not because I was worried about you, but just remembering. There's not a day that goes by that I don't remember something.
Yeah.
No, it was not worth it, not worth it at all.
Do you think if he'd asked you before he made the arrangement with Telbert, would you have said yes?
Probably not, because I don't like taking things from people in that way, like I wouldn't ask my dad for money in that respect. Or I would have said, no, Dad, don't worry about that. Well, you know, it's something for us to do as we get older, you know. I mean to be very honest, it wasn't even something i'd thought about at that point. I was single, I was
living my best life. I was in my twenties. I you know, it was beginning of my career, and I was working at Mount Saint Michael's at that time and doing really well there. I was traveling, so it wasn't something I'd even considered buying a house.
It was not even on my radar.
Yeah, so I would have said, no, Dad, don't worry about it, you know. And even now I would say the same thing, just because I wouldn't. I don't want that from my dad, Like it's not important to me. Stuff's not important to me. Wouldn't have mattered to me, you know. So yeah, I would have said no. But if he insisted, I would have said, make sure you put it in the register. Isn't that the whole point?
Put it in the register? You know, even though I understand why he didn't, But yeah, that would have saved a lot of heartache.
Given all that you've been through, and if you can compartmentalize the emotion of it all, you've obviously done research into it and you're aware of the situation. Do you think he was guilty?
No, No, I don't. I don't think he was guilty of a crime. I think he wanted to help his children. I don't ever think that he had intended to do anything for Ken Talbot. I don't believe that at all.
Do you think he was unfairly treated because of who he was?
Yes? I do, I really do.
He took or he borrowed the money from Ken talbot to help you kids out. He was in maximum security for five years, prison farm for almost one, and then another eight years on parole. Was it worth it?
No, I guess not. You could say that, Yeah, we didn't really didn't know what was going on until all this came out, So yeah, it's hard to say that. Yeah's a difficult question.
Lisa said the other day that when he was first charged, he was offered a deal by the DPP. Yes, and as a family you advocated that he plead not guilty because he hadn't done anything wrong. Correct in hindsight, what would you say to.
Him now we know how the system and the law works.
Would say, take the deal?
Definitely, because that seems to.
Be the way to go.
You just followed by their rules and you'll be looked after. You go against them and they will come at you all guns blazing.
Do you feel he was hard done by.
Extremely Yes, considering what goes on and what you see reported these days with people with certain politicians and that what they do and what they get away with and nothing even happens, so yeah, very much so. Especially the sentence is huge considering and knowing that they wanted to give him twenty one years, not just fourteen.
He's pretty Yeah.
Do you think he did anything wrong?
No? Probably a bit naive, that's about it really. I mean, I don't see how how he could have helped one of the richest men in Australia can Talbot with any favors. I don't think hen really needed favors. It was pretty well established as already. So yeah, no, not really, No, I don't think he's done anything wrong at all, just being a bit naive.
I think what was the biggest surprise for you when you got out?
The change in technology without a doubt, you know. I had to go and see a specialist and the specialist said to me, what's your email addressing? I said, well, I don't have one, and she said she kind of couldn't comprehend that because they send all their bills via email, you pay online, and I didn't know how to do any of that. So my daughter took me to We went to Chimpside Shopping Center, went into an Apple store.
An iPad.
I think a lot of people these days would wish to be in that situation because of the technology.
Yeah.
Yeah, But the other side of the coin is, of course.
Kind of overwhelming, but people had started to do banking online, so all the banking was online, and I really felt quite illiterate, to be honest, and it's kind you've got to learn. And I'm not a guy with a great deal of patients at the best of times. And my daughter said, Dad, you're going to have to learn to be patient.
There is so much to learn. I got five years of tax returns.
I got two letters from the tax office over two years, finding me for not doing.
My tax treeto. So I had to write.
To them and say, I'm kind of incarcerated at the moment, I can't do it, and no doubt they would have checked that to make sure that. So then they waved the fine. Next year, I've got another fine, so the same You know I'm here, so.
I get out.
I've got five years of tax ree terms to do. The Public Trustees is still controlling my money and charging me an arm and a leg for a period of six six years while I was inside, and I didn't get control of my money for another two years from the Public Trustee. So over an eight year period they charged me over one hundred thousand dollars in fees and charges. Public trustee. That was a battle just to get control of my money again. So all these things when you
get out just hit you in the face. And then you're getting your car to drive. Oh, all these new tunnels and oh, hop in that lane.
And also you're in a dunnel before you know it, you know, So you've got to learn all that if you're driving around.
And how old are you at this stage? Sixty two?
Yeah?
Yeah, And so you've got to As I said, you really feel quite illiterate, and it really is.
For how do I do this?
And I'm just lucky that I had people around me at the time who were able to guide.
Me and help me and get me there.
What was the worst of it?
Uh oh, the worst part for me.
There were so many bad things, but the worst part was the day they took him away. I'll never forget that day and that I can close my eyes and I can smell that room, I can see the colors, I can see those twelve people when they said guilty, because I had to say it, however many times. It was so many times I had to say it because of all the individual charges and the breath. I'll never forget the sound my dad made at that point because he was in the dock area and we were.
Just behind him.
There was a glass like a bustic partition, and I just collapsed on the chairs and they had to take me out, but I couldn't stand. I couldn't listen to the guilty that many times. And then I came back in and when they took him through that door and had him cuffed, we saw him get cuffed.
That was the worst moment.
And then the next probably forty eight hours until he was moved to Wolston, were really hard because he was in the watchhouse and it was just awful. It was the middle of winter and it was I was worried about things like is he warm enough.
I rang the watchhouse and said, can we.
Bring him in some clean socks and all sorts of you know things. What they said no to start with, and then they allowed. They said we can't give him anything, but then they allowed us. They said one of you can come in and see him, and so my husband went because he didn't want me to see Dad in there. It's like Dad had no shoes on and he was very distraught and just yeah, probably a way that I'd never seen my dad before.
So that was probably the hardest.
I was just sitting here thinking now, like when they took him away, it was they took our best friend away. Not only our father, but our best friend. That's what killed me the most, was that my mate was gone and I couldn't just go over and see him. I couldn't just just give him a call and ask him for advice or talk shoot the beeze about the football or cricket or what was going on. That was all gone. It was totally gone.
Six weeks before his parole ends. Yes, he got a cancer diagnose, he did. How does that make you feel.
I'm devastated.
It's not fair.
He's been through so much and now like he's at the end, he's about.
To, you know, be free. Because you have to remember, he's been on prov for eight years. He hasn't been able to leave the state without permission.
You know.
For the first many months, he couldn't go to the Bowls Club, he couldn't drink alcohol, he couldn't go there were so many restrictions placed on him that we had to fight for, even when he used to come and visit me down here. Once he finally moved to Woodgate, he had to get permission to come and see me and my kids and my husband.
So it's unfair. It's just shit. It's shit because we.
Finally got him back, and who knows what will happen now, because it's not good.
It's stage four. It's not good, you know.
And you learn to value like I value every minute I spend with my dad, you know, big lesson that you learn like this, those simple things. Every holiday is my kids and I go up there.
We go up to see Dad. And to think that now that's tainted by this as well, Yeah, it's just shit. It's not fair.
Do you think I know you're not a medical person, but do you do you think his diagnosis is in any way, shape or form linked to the amount of time that he spend in maximum security and the issues around them.
I think the well, the oncologist has said that the oncologist and the urologist have both said that the cancer on his kidney has been there for over a decade. And I do believe that stress can do things to the body. There's no history of cancer in Dad's family. He is the healthiest person. You know that I know when you know when he was away he was working out he was so healthy, like, you don't drink, you don't do anything bad. You know, you don't need bad food,
you don't do anything like that. He's seventy and he's got not on heart anything, blood pressure, medication or cholesterol and nothing like. He's so fitty, keeps up with my son who's so active, and his other grandsons.
And yeah, but I do think.
That that probably I can't help. But wonder if the stress had something to do with that, because I think, yeah, stress does things to the body. Yeah, and that makes me upset to think that, But who knows.
He knows.
The prognosis is good.
Yep, yeah, it is if his body responds well, and hopefully it does. The immunotherapy is really good. I believe it's a really great treatment, and I've heard amazing things about it and I've read lots about it. So I'm hopeful that he's still got some good years left in him.
And we've told him that.
So but yeah, I just what was your first reaction when you heard?
Oh, I just couldn't believe it. I sobbed because.
When he had the lump in his neck, when he found the lump in his neck, straight away he made the appointment with his GP, and he said he was here, and he said, what do you think that is, you know?
And I said, I probably assisted, like he knows.
And even right up until the morning he went to get his test results back. He'd gone to the doctor at five thirty because his doctor starts at five because he likes to play golf at midday. So and his doctor's been he's my GP as well. He's been our GP for a long, long long time. And the appointment was five thirty, and it got to six thirty, and I leave for work about quarter to seven, and I said to my husband, this isn't good.
This is not good. He should be home by now. He's not waiting it to see the doctor at five thirty, you know.
And then I had just I was my first day back at work. I'd just gotten finished a second round of COVID and he called me down to the flat ten minutes before I went to work and he told me, and I just cried, and I cried, and I cried, and I cried, and I cried, and I cried and I cried and yeah, and then I just said to him, well, we just got to do one, just like it was when he was away, I just said, we can't zoom out.
You've just got to look at the next thing.
We had just do the next thing, because if you zoom out, that will break you, you know. And that's how I felt when he was away. I couldn't zoom out to six years. I had to just look at the next week, what was ahead of us the next week, you know, And that's what I think we have to do. Now, Let's just see how things are after this first round of treatment, and then we'll you know, so.
The real for mine anyway, looking at it from the outside, that you know, the lights at the end of the tunnel. And he got, Gordon, your dad got this terrible diagnosis of a kidney camps.
Yeah. That was another kick in the guts, wasn't it. Yeah, not good. Something that we definitely didn't expect because Dad's always looked after himself. He gets his six months checks, so he does all everything that he should be doing. Everything that you see on the TV in here, on the new you know, on the radio. You know, when you're at a certain age, you need to go and get this checked, you need to go and do this, do this, and he does that, and he does it
like to the day. He basically when it's due. And I remember he called and I was at work and I couldn't take the call. About five minutes later, I
checked my phone. It was a message saying, please call me and I need to talk to you, and something inside me then knew something had gone wrong, something was wrong, and I rang him and he asked me if I had a couple of minutes to chat and I said yes, of course, and he told me, and my whole body just basically slumped, sunk, and I just thought, what not again?
You know what what now?
Sort of thing?
And I cried. I sat in my office at work, and as he cried, rang my wife and told her. I was in tears on the phone to her. But about an hour after it, after he told me, I was, I was walking at work and I thought myself, you know what stuff this we've he's I can say, weave, but he Dad has gone through Helen back. This is a walk in the park compared to what he's been through.
And knowing he's fighting spirit and abilities that he can do, he will and we will get through this and they come out the other side again.
What's the biggest toll. It's taken on you the whole from God way.
My health, my mental health definitely. You know, I struggle with a lot of anxiety and depression and there's a lot of complex trauma there. So health is yeah, my physical health and mental health definitely.
When I was very.
Thin for a long time when Dad was away, just stress and I got really bad dermatitis on my hands, like I couldn't hold the steering wheel on my car. Just things like the gastritis and things like that. So the health definitely, the health, but also just being away from my dad and what he missed with my kids when they were little.
That really that's sad.
My sister got married in that time he missed that, so the things he missed were hard and I think, yeah, you can't get that time back, and were more than made up for it now, you know. And I used to say to Dad, like one we'll sit on the deck and say, can you believe that happened?
And we do. We do do that sometimes, you know.
But I'm proud of my dad. He's so strong, so strong mentally. He used to say, like he'd buy himself a little treat once a week in there, he'd buy himself like a pack and of chocolate biscuits or something from when they did their buyaps. But he would only allow himself one day because he'd say, I need to keep my self discipline, like I need to keep my mind strong, you know. And that's inspiring, that's really inspiring.
So yeah, so that's the biggest toll I think.
And I just believe that those like I have bad dreams of him going back and stuff like, those things will never go away.
I just you just learn how to manage them, you know. So yeah, that would be the biggest thing.
What impact has his prison set it had on your sisters, yourself and your families.
Well, I went through a huge depression where to the point where I couldn't wasn't even able to work, I couldn't get out of bed, struggled to eat any food. I lost extremely a lot of weight. I was down to like seventy six kilos and usually away eighty eighty something skin and bones basically.
And at what stage did that affect you? Pretty much?
Probably about a year after So a year after first sort of really that's when it sort of really sunk in, Like after all the appeals were knocked back and everything like that, because it was always I always hopeful that one of those appeals would have been successful and it just wasn't. And that's when it really hit. And yeah, mentally physically, I was grateful. Towards the end of the sentence, I met my now wife, which she was just amazing. She changed my life when I met her, pretty much
turned it all around. The positives came back out for the brighter future type thing was there and I knew it was going to be okay. As for Lisa, my older sister, she struggled a lot because she was dumped, like she was lumped with all the work that had to be done behind the scenes. She was one doing it and I could see it affecting her. Same thing, just to stress the weight loss that you know, the testing times at home, all those sorts of things. You know,
she had the three young children at toime. I didn't have children at the time, so in a way that was quite easy for me. But sister she was up north, so she sort of should come down when she could. Yeah, it definitely definitely took a huge toll on all of this a lot.
Yeah, what would you like the public to know about Gordon Nuttle. This is the man that dominated the headlines at the time for being charged for taking secret commissions. What would you like the public to know about Gordon Nuttle?
The mean, I think a lot of the public and now understand what actually happened, especially with all the stuff that's going on around like in other states with the other politicians and all these little secret deals that you hear going on what have you, And they can see with this bit and think, oh my god, like this guy has been absolutely persecuted for what.
What do you think the public should know about? Good and nut only me.
He's the most loving father, grandfather, would do anything for anybody.
He's just a really.
Kind hearted person and family is the center of his life. And that's what I think people don't really understand. And even if you look back at what he did, it was all for his family.
And that's what I think. Dad his whole.
Like my memory of my dad growing up, he was the one like every Saturday or Sunday afternoon we're in the backyard playing cricket wrestling in the pool. Like he had to go away a lot for work, but he never ever we were the center of his world, center of his world. And we remain the center of his world.
Andrew, when I've spoken to him, he talked about the biggest thing for him was not being able to ring you while you're in jail and ask for advice and have a chat talk about the foot.
He talk about bolts really hard.
There was a couple of difficult family times when I was away. You're only allowed a six minute phone call, but that includes the introduction. You know, this is called being.
Recorded blah blah blah blah blah blah.
And there's one or two phones for every sixty guys, so divide that through the day. You don't get a chance to talk to the kids much. And if they do need help, and they do need advice, you can't give it to him. So being at home, the first thing I wanted to do when I got home was bond with my grandchildren, all of them, and reconnect with some people who I considered really close as friends.
I've got some friends that I've known.
Thirty forty years. You know, we're really it's about four or five of them. They used to come and visit me and support me and write me letters and all that sort of stuff. And Kim always said, my youngest daughter. She said, you belong back at Wegate. She said, the people up here I've.
Always cared for you and always, you know, felt that you were part of the community up there.
And every Christmas I would get a card just while you're in jail. Yeah, well I was away, I'd get a card signed by forty or fifty people from the balls club here we go, which was just beautiful.
You know.
And so we made the decision that I was home at least as for about three months in Brisbane. So I had to apply to move residents peter Woodgate and they approved that. It took a bit of time, but they approved that. You know, my prior conditions were pretty restrictive and pretty onerous.
Andrew also talked about the psychological toll that you being in jail took on him.
Yes, I think I think I think some of my kids handled it a little bit better than others, but they all felt it. We're very look, I'm really close to my kids.
I love my kids, and I suppose, you know, I got into trouble because I was trying to look after him and Ken. And Ken at the time understood that, you know, he'd been through one marriage and into another and he had children in both marriages, and Ken. Ken was just a kind person, you know, and we just talked about it and I said, I just want to get these kids into a home, Ken, you know.
And given all you've said over the last a little while, and given what your kids have seen, if they had their time again, they wouldn't if they knew where the money was coming from, they wouldn't take it.
No, of course, none of us.
And you wouldn't. You wouldn't have asked how.
I wouldn't have asked Ken for it. And it was a it was an error of judgment. I have never I've never shied away.
From that as an individual.
But we're all ymman and we all get things wrong sometimes. But it was not It was not.
It was not croment, you know.
And I think most people understood that. People shook their heads in disbelief and that that it could have evolved into that. Again, it comes back to the processes and the systems that we have in place that you know, sometimes innocent people get a bad deal.
Do you believe you were innocent?
I know I was. I didn't have to believe it. I knew it, and I knew at my heart, and.
Even up to the last day of the first trial, I honestly didn't believe that I would be found guilty. But coming back to life after being released after a few months, I came up to Woodgate and it's a great place for healing for me and still is. It's a small community. I was welcome back and open arms. It was just a wonderful feeling. I remember the first time I went to the Violin Green and had a little practice. One of the ladies came up and said
welcome back and gave me a big hug. And that afternoon I went into the club because by then I was allowed to drink two point oh five. I went into the club and there's a big fellow there with Blake and coming game from behind, I mean this massive, big bound and said welcome back, you know. And it was just overwhelming, to be honest, And the people, the people of Woodgate and the Lawn Bowling Fraternity have helped
heal me enormously. And the peace and serenity of Woodgate, and you can walk along the beach, you can go for a walk at night and feel safe, and.
The beauty of the place all helps heal. The soul. And I remember one day I got on my bike and went for a bicycle riding. The next day one of the boys saw me and he said, he said, I saw you sitting on a chair looking out at the ocean yesterday, and he said, I thought a lot about you and how you must be feeling. I said, how does it feel, I said, at peace? You know, finally, you know I'm at peace.
M The Man Behind the Rose podcast writer, producer and host Patrick Condren. Sound design and editing Mark Wright. Graphics by Jason Blandford. The Man Behind the Rose is a seven years production