06 - The Future

Once a high flying minister, now a broken man.

It was a significant error of judgment on my put 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.

There's a lot of things that I had no idea about and shocked me.

I'm glad that dad had the chance to tell his story.

I want to go to an Irish pub and I want to drink Guinness, and I want to sing.

My name is Gordon.

Nuttle, and this is my story.

The Man behind the Rose. Episode six. Hello, my name's Patrick Contren. Thanks for your patience and understanding around the delayed publication of this chapter. In this final episode, Gordon and his kids Andrew and Lisa look to the future, a future they sometimes had trouble glimpsing during their father's fourteen year sentence and more recently his diagnosis of stage

What's the future hole, I think I've got twelve grandkids. I think that's finished. So that's helpful.

Look, I hope for me.

That now that I've been able to tell the world my side of things, that I can rest more easy in my mind. That at least people can make their own judgment, but you make it based on information on both sides.

Why was it important for you to tell your.

Story because I because I haven't been allowed to. I haven't been allowed to for fourteen years. I haven't been able to say to the people of Queensland, this is what really happened, and this is what you need to hear in terms of how I was treated, how it was done, and for what purpose? You know, I just ill. I still it still beggars me to I don't understand why and for what purpose, you know, other than people's own egos and to enhance their own careers and reputations.

Has it eaten you up?

I don't think it has. I won't say I haven't been angry about it, but it certainly hasn't eaten me up. I have embraced life, I'd like to think, to the fullest. Since I've come home. I've had some lapses where, you know, I've kind of found things a little bit tough, but.

In what way.

Well, the struggle I had with the parole Board, the struggle I had with the Public Trustee. You think you finished jail, but you come home and I've got these other battles you know, And so I had to get through them as well. And then I had to fight regarding my superinnuation. You know, there was a few battles I still had to overcome when I got home. So, but all those battles are one and done.

I finished.

Is the future Rose? Is the future bright? From your perspective?

Yeah, it is very much so.

Even though even though I'm not well, as I said, I have a full life.

What does that entail?

Well, entails well, certainly entail. My balls were fairly large.

I love my lawn balls. I think people already know that by now.

But you know, I've got Jane in my life, and I've got my kids, and I've got my grandchildren, you know. And the other thing is I have some very very close friends. And through all of this I distinguished very much between friends and mates and acquaintances, because when you go through something like this, you find that that old attitage you can count your friends on one hand as a truism. And there were people who I thought were really close to me deserted me as quick as anything.

How would you.

Encapsulate the journey that you've been on. It would have started in two thousand and set up a chart.

Yeah, challenging is probably an understatement. I don't like using the word character building. I don't think it's character building at all. It was hard and difficult, and at times I felt it was insurmountable, but you managed to overcome it, and you managed to overcome it because of the people in your life and people around you, and the strength

And I'd get a card or a letter. It kind of just put a bit.

More petrol in the tank to keep going. Just come on, you can get there.

You can get there, you know, because.

Unless you've been in there, unless you've lived it. Despite how I've described it to you, you can't imagine it. You can get a bit of a picture, but it's even.

Worse than that.

You know, it's horrible.

It's horrible.

And so when you get these letters and when you get these visits and when you get these cards, the littlest thing taste gives you that strength to take the next step forward.

How important has your family been for this.

Gen enormously everything everything. I married very very young. I was only about twenty to shy at twenty one, so by the time I was forty, my youngest was fourteen. So I've grown up with them very young.

And I have.

Loved being a dad, loved being a granddad, and loved the fact that as a family were all close and we've all worked that day. You know, we've worked at it. It's easy not to but we worked at it. So you know, as I said, my life is full. It's a saying in their happiness is knowing that you have everything already or something like that. But I do, and I sit here and I think, well, what else do I need in life? You know, I'm in the best of despite my challenges with my health, I'm in the

And of course, on that note, you were the health minister around Giant Patel at the Bunderberg Hospital and you're getting you're not at the same hospital, but you're getting treated for your cancer.

An irony that and there's another irony as well, you know, your views on the judicial system and the bowls Club, your beloved Bowls Club is on Kangaroo Court.

Yeah, it's an irony, isn't it there? But look, you know, our balls club here in Woodgate is kind of the hub of the community here, so we get lots of people. You know, at the moment, we've got many many people up from down south escaping the window. You know, the place is full. That's why there's so many people around, because they're escaping the window. But they come here because

And you're not bitter and twisted, No, not at all.

As I said, I yes, I get angry and upset about what's happened. But if you get bitter and twisted at each other inside, and then you forget what's what's around you and what you've got and the beauty that is there, you know.

So what is your day entailed? You get up and go for a walk along the beach. I mean now that you're now that you're a free man.

Yeah, I don't have to report in anymore. I have out the back beautiful.

I've got a lovely garden at the back, and I like to sit out there and have a couple and.

Look at my birds.

There's I've got a bird feeder and a bird bath, and you sit there and look at nature. So out the back is a bit like the bush, and out the front the beach, you know. So I've got it all. And so in summer it will be a swim. I always go for a swim on the first day of spring. The water's fresh, mind you, Yeah, like my day in tails, the fact that it's peaceful.

You know.

You get up, have my Kappa and go for a walk or a bit of a workout in the gym and balls is probably four days week. But I do want to know that I'm able to and free. I do want to travel. I haven't been able to go into state without permission, so that process was just ridiculous. So I didn't even try to apply for that. So yeah, I kind of like to do a bit of travel now that I can.

And you're the local Bowls champion, I believe.

Yeah, I've been fortunate enough to win it a couple of times, and I think I can hold my own on the green from time to time. But those people in the bowling fraternity, in the region that I live in, Bunderberg region or the Wide Bay region, I've just been so wonderful people.

As I said, it's always surprised me.

People I don't even know who come up to me and just say it's lovely to see you here, or isn't it good to be home, and all that sort of stuff, and it just feels the heart and feel the heart. So yeah, I feel very blessed to be where I am and have what I have in my life.

A lot of people in your position would be bitter and twisted. They would be more angry than you are.

What does that say.

I'd like to think that I have a stronger character than that, and that having come through what I've come through, i am.

I'm more round it. As a person.

I would have to say that I've had a fairly eventful life if you kind of look at it, I always felt my career in politics finished too early, and there is so much more I would like to have tried.

To have done.

And I'm really proud of what I did achieve while I was in there. We were the first state in the country the band smoking in pubs and restaurants and clubs and out on the footpath.

We led the.

Way and I'm really proud of that. I'm really proud of the fact that while I was a Health minister we introduced the fact that every baby has to have a hearing test. I know they're not big things in the world, but they are important to people. And that was the beauty of the health portfolio, that there are a lot of good things you could do.

What was the highlight of your time in politics?

I think being pointed to the health minister it was a big deal because I knew it was an opportunity to do some really good stuff. There's a lot of a lot of people get in there and they get the folio and they get gun shy. They get gunshy and they're frightened to do anything because they're worried about what the media might say, or what the premier.

Might say or whatever.

There's a few couple of things that I perhaps would have done differently.

Not organized alone with Ken Tellbam.

Oh, well, that was definitely one of That was the low point. But that wasn't about politics. That was the whole thing. The whole thing about all of this is none of that was about politics, you know, it was about personal family stuff. Yeah, And I think people generally need to understand that. You know, when you're a minister of the crown, you're not perfect. You're going to make mistakes and you're going to get things wrong. But you're

Do you feel better?

Feel better? Now? It's been.

To be able to tell my story and tell people what really happened.

People will make their own judgments about that.

Do you care what people think?

No?

I don't, because in my heart of hearts, I know who I am, and I know that what I've told you today and over the last few days that that's exactly what happened.

So if people.

Choose not to believe that, that's up to them. But I have to say that's not the experience I've had from the wide in general public. They've been outstanding, outstanding. Just in closing, I'll tell you one funny story.

I'll decide if it's funny.

Yes, you can decide if it's funny.

I mean, and this is not a plug for Woollies, but I've in Willies. I'm doing my grocery shop. This old fellow, Hey, hey, he's a farmer, you know, mate, mate. And he comes right he said, you're you Gordon Addle? And I said yeah, And he says, Mom, come over here, come over here, Mom a top of his voice and he's yelling.

Everyone's looking around. You know this quake is you know? This is this Gordon Noddle.

They put him in jail.

He didn't need to go to jarl.

He's a real good lake.

And everyone's looking.

But but the purpose of saying that story is that that how wonderful and beautiful people were towards me. No one has ever come up to me and said you're a tossa for what you did. You know, they've been nothing but kind and generous in giving of good wishes to me. And I found that he put my faith.

Back in into people.

But what it choses. People aren't stupid.

They know when someone's been stitched up, they know when someone's been taken.

For a life.

People aren't silly, and they know they can see through all that they know. And that's what gave me heart. It's a lot of heart, you know, because I thought, what if I'm not accepted, what what do I do? And I thought, well, put my toe on the water and see what happens. And there's been nothing but wonderful.

Surely, after we finished that interview, Gordon had a bad response to his latest cancer treatment and our plans for catching up with two of his kids, Lisa and Andrew had to be put on hold for a couple of weeks, but as you'll hear, he's bounced back. Both Lisa and Andrew say they've been surprised at the public's response to their father's story, as well as their own reactions.

I'm glad that Dad had the chance to tell his story and I think it just gave hopefully gave people a bit of an insight into some of the things that went on and some of the like the other side of the story, because obviously we only ever see the one side on the news, the biased side. So yeah, it was good for Dad to be able to speak openly, yeah, and tell those truths.

Yeah, definitely, just glad that he got to get off his chest. Really, I think you were holding in a lot for a long time, and now that you've was, and now that you've it's almost like a therapy session for you. But it is serious because there's a lot of things that I didn't that I've listened to that I didn't know about, I had no idea about, and shocked me. And yeah, no, I'm just glad that you got it out there. And even different people have said to me, you know, how good it is and how

You know.

But that sort of thing like that's sort of I'm glad that's been able to get out there and people have been able to hear and sit, yeah, what actually or your side of it as we say, Yeah.

I probably didn't even realize myself about getting it off my chest like that. And I've been able to talk about it, you know, as it went on, you know, on and on and on with the podcast. It was hard because I had to relive it. But but the fact that I've been able to do that and tell my story is I really feel a lot of weight off my shoulders, to be honest. And as you know, out in the shed, I've got a dozen box plastic boxes of all the material and all the stuff that's there.

And that was it.

You know, that was a chapter in our lives that's gone now. And for all of us as a family, just to burn the bloody thing and let it go and move on, you know, that's I think that's going to be really important for us and have a bit of fun and have a bit of fun with it.

Yeah. I mean when this was first spoken about, it was I was very skeptical, and I because basically, I mean, we'd all that enough and it's been going on for so long and the parah was like, yes, finally finished and then this. But it has come across really good, and I'm glad that we've done it for your sake, for your mental well being too, because you were you're

Yes.

But I think too, like Andrew said, those boxes have been sitting there for a long time, and you've wanted to go through them, and you would start and you had to put it down, you put it away, you know, And I feel like this was probably the best much like more. I don't know. I just think it's more cathartic that way because you can just talk through things.

Yeah.

I just think it was a really good way to do it.

Yeah.

Do you think it for it, Yeah, very much so. But more than I thought, to be honest, Pat, I I didn't realize.

That there was so much kind of bottled up inside and to be able to now that I've told it, I don't kind of have to repeat it all the time and tell people what was it like?

And I go and listen to the podcast That's what it was like. But the fact that I've done.

It opens this door for me to do all these other things I wanted to do. You know, I've always wanted to go to over to England and what's the Wallabies play England, Scotland Island and Wales. It's always been a dream of mine. I want I want to go to an Irish pub and I want to drink guinness, and I want to sing, and I want to go to those games and listen to how the English sing, you know, and be part feel part of that. I've always wanted to do that.

We're not confined by your parole or.

I'm excited about the prospect of doing it, to be honest, and I think there's a window of opportunity. You know, I turned seventy this year, so between the age of seventy and eighty, while you've still got a fair bit of get up and go in.

You I want to get up.

And you need to make it quicker than that. Ye set yourself a go up in a couple of years time. It don't wait because because it won.

Well, I started the journey because I went to a passport application and the guy said, he said to.

Me, he said, oh, where's your passport?

And I said, mate, I haven't got a clue. He said, oh, well you're going to have to start from scratch. And I said, all right, well what have I got to do? You know? He said, well, you need your birth certificate, and you need your driver's license, you need this, and you need photos.

But I was excited about it.

You know the fact that I was going to after fifteen twenty years, I'm going to.

Get a pasport. And that's that's.

It's quite funny that I'm going to get a passport. So so yeah, so I really want to do those two trips.

So I really want to go.

And is that because you told your story now?

Yeah? Yeah, it's done, it's finished, and and people people will make their own judgments about that. But I know who I am, and I know I'm a good person. Yep, And I tripped along the way. But I'm not a bad person, and that's the key for me.

You Know, one of the things that's come back to me from folk is, you know that they felt listening to the podcast, that you've done the wrong thing, that you were caught courts the wrong word, that you were caught, and but that the five and five and a bit years in maximum security was the thing that universally people said was a poor.

Well you've got it. You've got to let it go.

Now we've done it, and I don't want to look back on that anymore. Given that we've done the podcast and we've told the story, people can see it for what it is and we'll make their own judgments on that.

I really, really really want.

To spend whatever whatever time the Good Lord's given me on this earth to enjoy every moment of that every day. And that's that's my goal now, to grab it to watch. I'm watching my grandkids grow, you know, they're all coming out of childhood into younger.

Young, getting taller than.

You, Yeah, young adults.

And the fun that granddad has with that, not so much Mum and dad, but the fun granddad.

Has with that.

But it's lovely to watch that part of my life now unfold and to see that and to see I've also got little grandchildren, so I've got them at both ends of the spectrum.

And and so.

I've got all that to look forward to. And it's quite you know, it's it's exciting because all the other stuff's done, dusted, put to bed, finished, and we've got all this in front of us, and that's for me, that's the.

Exciting part of my life that lies ahead for me.

We look forward to that too, especially with I mean with their two little girls and four ones to go on. Onely the four year old. She always asked about green Dad, when we see Grendad, when we go to the beach, you know, all those things, and that for me is yeah, it's so nice to hear because I don't have to sit and say he's not around, he's he's somewhere. He's in it. And a place said farm. Yeah, as we would say at the farm, that sort of thing like you're home, and that's yeah, that's something.

Yeah. Yeah.

Well with my kids, I we did, even my dad was in maximum security, we told them it was a farm and that's what they thought. They have no memory of that time. Thankfully because they were so little. They do remember going to Palen Creek, my older one does, but that was a much better environment. So yes, I did have to have that conversation. But I'm really happy

Christmaster Everyone came together to my place. It was so it was fantastic.

Yeah, And it was just nice to see, like they're the things that you want to enjoy, especially when the kids are growing up so quick.

You know.

But like you said, Dad, you've got are the little ones that you've still got all of that to look forward to.

The thrill for me with when your grandkids become teenagers around at fifteen, sixteen, seventeen mark, they're forging their own mates, in their own friends. They kind of don't want to be hanging around old people, but they actually want to come and see me. And I get a real kick out of that, the fact that they want to come and see Granddad, even even the older ones Summers twenty one and Josh is n twenty two's Josh is twenty twenty one, and yet they want to come and see Granddad.

Are they heightened by the fact that there was a time when you didn't know that you would ever enjoy something like that.

Again without a doubt because I missed so much because I was away, And so that you you because now you do have that opportunity. But I think they grasp it too. But not just for the grandkids, but my children as well, and you know son in Laura and.

My daughter and Laura and all of them. You know, like.

We when when a different area any other family. We have ups and we have our downs. But I have to say, the whole experience brought us really close, and we've and we've grasped that and hung on to it.

You would argue that there could be other ways to bring your favor closer.

Yeah, yeah, well you do make a point. You don't make a point.

But it's nice. It's nice to be able to share. Like when I was white, I couldn't share the good moments and the happy moments, and now I can share that, and.

It it just.

It just changes you to this to the joy of seeing that. And I think I enjoy it more than ever because I did miss so much and now that I can.

Share it and see it and be.

Part of it. It's just that Christmas last year, there was many a time where I just sit back in my chair and watch everybody and it was just the most beautiful time, you know. And and Lisa's right, I don't know if all bad stuff hadn't happened, whether I would have appreciated it as.

Much as I do.

And so when you think about now and the future and so much to look forward to, there was so much Patrick that in the past, you probably wouldn't have looked forward to it as much, but you do now you look forward to that, you know, I just I just I kind of grasp life a lot more. And so if you want to look for positives, there are the positives, you know, and that's what we have to do.

It's really important to me.

And the kids have done that too, Lisa and Kim and Andrew, they've all done that. You know, we've all made an effort.

It strikes me that you're all very positive and given the experience that you've all been through over the last fourteen years, particularly well longer than that sixteen years, when you consider the lead up.

To it, how do you stay so possible?

Anything's got to be better to what we had back then, those those last sixteen eighteen years, So how can you not be positive as well? Oh, look at that. We went through so much gloom and just in the trenches basically, and now we're out in the Sun's there, the surfs, there, the ocean. What's there not to be positive about? And there's lawn bars of course, and you're trying to get retribution on yet. No, it's right.

I used to say to Dad when he was away. I used to say, one day we will all sit around and just you know, on the deck or whatever and just say, can you believe that happened? Like that's it seems like a dream, and while of course it's when you really think about it, and I guess the podcast has really made you go back there, but you do think like that. And I think a dad always used to say when he was away, there's people with

Us big time.

Yes, because she goes now, yes.

Things happened, so it's okay, there are people a lot worse off.

Yes, that's right.

You never lost sight of that there was an end though. You would always every converse would have on those great eight minute phone calls would have six minutes, the would always be that this will end. Son, It's okay, this will end. You know, the visits, this will end.

You know.

You always said that, so you're always so that was instilled in well for myself, in me, and so you always knew there was going to be an end to it. So that that was a huge relief, you know, like not relief, I don't know what the word is there. It helped a lot to have you there being that positive person towards it, where you could have been negative all you know, down down down, But no you weren't. There were times, of course, but just to hear those words there was an end, Son, there is an end

Yeah, tell us about your cancer trick. It's late. We've had to delay this because you adversion.

Yeah.

I don't want to dwell on the bad stuff for that. Suffice to say, I've got a really good team around me in terms of medical professionals, and I've had several treatments now, had a bit of a wobbly a couple of weeks ago, but the oncologists and the team have got me back on track, and.

Probably the last.

Two or three days of the best I've felt in about a month. And that's because they've got me back on track.

With and the oncologist thinks that the medication and all the lumps have shrunk.

We're really optimistic that that the the.

Plan that they put us on is working.

You know, despite the fact that there's some wobblies, and that the next step is some scans and then hopefully they're going to come up all right and then u once every four weeks for a couple of years. That's the plan. But the interesting, the interesting thing that both my doctor and the oncologist said to me, we can only give you so much. The medication can only do so much. The rest is up to you. So it's a mindset and.

Staying healthy and what being healthy like you're looking after.

It's the mindset about wanting to do that. So there's another reason to to work really hard at being positive. And as I've often said, the glass are full scenario.

So what do you do to stay positive in that?

Enjoy life?

Mate? I like appreciate it. As I said to you, you know, I got up this morning, what's the sunrise? I probably wouldn't have done that six months ago. I probably would have rolled over and slept in. But but but you want to you want to grab it and you want to enjoy it. And the fact that that people have rallied round the way they have has really

So there's it.

Cans to look forward to having hope is what I think very much.

And so I kind of as much as I can, don't like to dwell on it. There's my tablets having me tablets can't have my treatment. Bang, get on with it as much as I can.

And not lie around feeling sorry for yourself. Like when you are feeling well, you are doing things, you know, like you said, you're on the Gold Cost this week, you're visiting your friend, enjoying those things when you've got when you're feeling well enough to do that.

At the end of the day, you you could have quite easily just huddled into a ball when you got this news and just went downhill real quick, real quick. But instead you went totally the opposite. And that's what even your doctor has said to you, and that in itself, consider you look at everything that we've been through or just spoken about, you could have had every right to roll up into a ball too and just given up. You could have, yeah, exactly, but you turned it. You

Yeah mate, But it's I've always tried to be a bit of a role model for your kids.

As much as I could. I've got things wrong along the way sometimes.

But it's also important for the Green kids to see them. You never you never give up, never give in, and never give up strong, you know, and remember Andrew the some pat school motto, you know, fight the good fight.

You know.

And and that's what we're doing, you know. And so life will be fine. We'll be fine, family will be good, will be all good. And your soldier on and enjoy it.

And I think too, when dad's positive, like we just take your lead, you know. And you know you've had some times recently where you have been really down, but that's when we step in. We can step in and go noight, come on, like Saturday and I said you're going to bars today, You're going to bars? Yep, Yeah, I'm playing balls. And it just changed, you know, you just and I think, yeah, we've learned that through this

It's a six minute phone call, that's right.

Like I think, thank God you're time with us, you know, and we can you know, just be around.

And yeah, when we started this process, you know you wanted to tell you your story. You think you've told your whole story?

Yeah, I do.

Pat, I never expected everybody to agree with me. I never expected everyone to say that he deserved it or he didn't deserve it or whatever. My goal was to say, this is my this is me, and this is my side of the story. You choose to believe or accept what you want to. But as I said, I wear my heart my sleeve. I think most people know that, and I am who I am, and I think I've tried to express that over the whole podcast and just be realistic about what really happened and what the future holds.

It's just nice to feel like you've had your say, you know, no matter who listens to it, have you left anything?

Ah see, that's a good question, I think. Look, being realistic, there's probably bits and pieces here and there, but the main thrust of the story and the main part of the story has been told. There will always be bits and pieces you kind of miss here and there, but the core of it, the core of it, and the core of what happened, and the core, the core of how it all transpired, has been told. And for me that I've achieved that goal.

And what matters to is that it doesn't give a rat to what people think about it, you know now, it's it's because it's yeah, exactly. It wasn't about that. It was about you telling this your side, getting it off your chest, and us as a family moving moving on from it all that's true, putting it behind us, moving forward, looking forward to the future, being together, being happy, positive, everything that is happening. And yeah, just I'm glad that

Hadn't done it, you probably would have always thought, ah should I know, you know, like maybe I should have maybe never quite would have made peace with it.

Yeah, I definitely think you've come to a bit of peace in yourself.

There was there was a time, there was a time when I looked at it and I thought, I don't know if I want to do Yes, I remember anything I remember that will it be too painful. And as Lisa said earlier in this episode, I'd open a box and I'd start and then i'd close it, I'd walk away. And if I did that once, I did it half a dozen times. But I thought, I'm not a quitter,

Chloe's listened to it, did she She said to my eldest daughter, she's sixteen, nearly seventeen, and she said, to me, it was really interesting because Chloe's very fiery young lady.

She's a redhead.

Yeah, I like her like her grandfather. One day, I was in the kitchen just doing whatever mum's stuff, and she came and she put her arms around me. She said, I've listened to the podcast, and I'm really sorry that you all went through that. It was so heartfelt. And

Read it.

Pat, Thank you so much for listening. I hope you found it as insightful as I have. And as always, it's an honor to have been entrusted with telling a family story.

My name's Gordon at all, and this has been my story.

I'm Patrick kunt 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 News production