A Disgraced NSW Politician Got His Birthday Cake Shaped Like A Brown Paper Bag Full Of Money
This week, in "Australian Politics is Awful".
Today’s episode of “how fucked is Australian politics” stars property developer and former Newcastle Lord Mayor Jeff McCloy, who resigned as Mayor in August after ICAC heard that he illegally gave secret donations of around $10,000 to two Central Coast Liberal state candidates, Andrew Corwell and Tim Owen, before the 2011 state election. Both Corwell and Owen, with the help of McCloy’s money, went on to win their seats, but have since resigned from the Liberal Party since McCloy’s illegal donations came to light.
A third government MP, Garry Edwards, also resigned from the Liberal Party after it was revealed he’d accepted $1,500 from McCloy, who made all these “donations” in cash because this is an episode of Underbelly: Coasties 4 Lyf, apparently. McCloy told an ICAC hearing in August that he felt like “a walking ATM”, and in one case, I shit you not, he handed over $10,000 in a brown paper bag.
Which brings us to now. McCloy recently celebrated his birthday, and photos of the party found their way online. Have a look at the cake.
Photos have emerged of former Newcastle Lord Mayor Jeff McCloy’s birthday cake. http://t.co/JpKonsVmqv pic.twitter.com/i5H2G3SeCR
— NBN News (@nbnnews) October 13, 2014
Here’s a larger image if it’s difficult to see.
Yep. That is literally a birthday cake shaped like a brown paper bag, complete with hundred-dollar bills. NBN News posted the photos yesterday after finding them on the Facebook page of Newcastle’s Lucky Hotel, a hotel — get this — owned by Jeff McCloy. So not only does the Mayor of Australia’s seventh-largest city go around giving out money in paper bags like he’s in a fucking Dashiell Hammett novel, his main problem after doing that is keeping the ironic celebration of his own corruption off the social media page of the hotel he owns.
This is not a man doing some deep reflection on how his actions were wrong. This is a man about to enjoy some delicious corruption-cake.
McCloy issued an apology after the media picked up on the photos, saying in a statement that “what occurred at my surprise birthday party was a case of bad judgement made by one of the guests who provided the cake.
“I am fully aware of the seriousness of the current ICAC investigation and its ramifications. I sincerely apologise that this has occurred.”