I was offered seat before murder, says Reba Meagher
FORMER Minister Reba Meagher has revealed that she was offered John Newman's seat of Cabramatta five hours before he was murdered
The stunning fresh evidence was delivered at the enquiry into the conviction of former Fairfield councillor Phuong Ngo for Newman’s murder.
Ms Meagher, who was Cabramatta MP until resigning in the dying hours of Morris Iemma's premiership, told the inquiry that John Della Bosca had telephoned her at 12 noon on September 5, 1994.
He told her to meet him at 4pm.
She arrived at the meeting with her friend Joe Tripodi to be told by Mr Della Bosca that she should choose whether she wanted to stand for Cabramatta or the seat of St Mary’s at the 1995 election.
Mr Della Bosca, then general secretary of the NSW Labor party told her that the seats would be vacant and to consider her answer.
She said he gave her no indication of what problems there were with the sitting MPs.
At 9.30pm that same day, Newman was shot dead in the driveway of his Cabramatta home.
Ms Meagher said that at 11pm, Mr Della Bosca rang her and told her to meet him at 9am the next day with her answer.
She chose the then-vacant seat of Cabramatta and won the October 1994 by-election, holding the seat until she resigned earlier this year.
Ms Meagher said the reason she was offered Newman’s seat was because she had agreed to stand aside from running for the senate in favour of Belinda Neal.
But the inquiry was told that Mr Della Bosca had given evidence at Ngo’s murder trial denying that Newman would not be standing in the 1995 election.
Mr Della Bosca had said that on September 5, 1994 he had lunch with Ngo and offered him the Cabramatta seat at the 1999 election.
Ms Meagher left the Supreme Court at Darlinghurst hand-in-hand with her boyfriend, former Channel 9 reporter and ex-government spin doctor Adam Walters.
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24616009-5006009,00.html
