Corby informant paid $120,000 cash, court told

A former friend of Schapelle Corby was paid "something like" $120,000 in cash by Today Tonight for a fabricated story, a defamation jury heard today.

Jodie Power was also given an all-expenses paid holiday to Canada with her two children by the current affairs show, Stuart Littlemore QCF told the NSW Supreme Court.

A defamation case brought by Mercedes Corby, sister of the jailed Schapelle Corby, opened this morning.

In his address to the jury of three men and one woman, Mr Littlemore, QC, representing Mercedes Corby, said that Today Tonight's presenter Anna Coren, reporter Bryan Seymour and the supposed informant Jodie Power had been involved in a conspiracy to fabricate an untrue story in February last year.

He said that between them they had presented Mercedes Corby, an ordinary Australian, with nothing to answer for other than being Schapelle's sister as "a drug smuggler".

Mr Littlemore said that Ms Coren and Mr Seymour had conspired to create "the most sensational program they could buy, telling lies".

He said the program had gone to air in Sydney, and the network had broadcast it all over Australia. The story had been picked up by Sky News and Ms Coren had promoted the program on 2day FM.

Mr Littlemore said Ms Power had been paid "something like $120,000 in cash" and had an all expenses paid holiday to Canada with her two children.

But Mr Littlemore said Ms Power hated Mercedes Corby, who had once been her best friend and she had celebrity status from appearing on television. She had been moved by revenge, he said.

Mr Littlemore said the unfortunate fact was that Ms Power had her own "personal problem with drugs".

The case continues today.

Related:

Corby loses sentence appeal
Convicted Australian drug smuggler Schapelle Corby has lost a final appeal to have her jail sentence reduced.

Corby may serve 9 more years before transfer: Indonesia
Convicted cannabis smuggler Corby has served less than four years of a 20-year sentence.

Jail work could cut Corby's sentence
THE convicted drug trafficker Schapelle Corby may be eligible for a prison job that could shave years off the 20-year sentence she is serving in an Indonesian jail.

Public housing rorts cost $53m a year

People who rort the NSW public housing system are costing taxpayers up to $53 million a year, prompting a new crackdown by the state government.

It comes after recent investigations found people owning as many as 16 properties or running two businesses were claiming assistance through the public housing system.

Tenant cheats have now been given a three-month amnesty period to come forward and correct their tenancy details, including their income, or risk being sent to jail.

NSW Housing Minister Matt Brown said the Tenancy Fraud Bill 2008, to be introduced into parliament on Thursday, would give the government new powers to pursue cheats and frauds.

"Public housing is a scarce resource, and it's my job to ensure we allocate it to those with genuine need," Mr Brown told reporters.

"What this new law is all about is cracking down on cheats.

"We're going to crack down on cheats who own homes, businesses, boats and then expect the taxpayers to subsidise their rent as well."

The new powers will allow the Department of Housing to cross-check with other government agencies, to see what assets public housing tenants own or what businesses they may be operating.

The legislation will also allow the government to go after illegal occupants of public housing who are not tenants.

A new offence of failure to notify change of conditions will be created, with the maximum punishment being a jail sentence.

Mr Brown said the $53 million lost each year could go to providing an additional 200 homes to people who actually needed them.

The current waiting list for public housing in NSW is around 40,000.

"I just can't believe that anyone thinks they can get a taxpayer subsidised rent when we've got people in real need, the aged ... some homeless people, people with disability," Mr Brown said.

"I think they are pretty rotten to think they can get a house, subsidised by the taxpayer ... and deny many people who are in need of homes."

Recent examples of fraud include a tenant in Sydney's eastern suburbs who was claiming public housing assistance while running a painting and decorating business and owning 16 investment properties in NSW and South Australia.

The owner of two real estate agencies, who was also a director of a finance company, was also recently caught rorting public housing assistance. That tenant now owes $16,000 to the department.

"If people are driving around in fancy BMWs and wanting a Department of Housing home, then they are ... looking at the wrong type of home," Mr Brown said.

Quote: With this new draconian law the authorities may then send someone to jail who owns nothing but who may have made a common mistake of "failure to notify change of conditions" or use this legislation to simply get rid of "illegal occupants" who from my understanding are usually just mentally ill people who don't know how to apply for public housing themselves but who reside with others. Then the authorities can give the tenancy to someone else.

I strongly suspect this is not about the alleged two recent examples of fraud quoted above but simply an 'umbrella' to be opened up to catch anyone. If those above people misused the system then why not just make them pay for their mistake instead of threatening every other law abiding public housing tenant with losing their tenancy for minor discrepancies or misconceptions?

What we also need is proof of the alleged fraud quoted above and why the authorities couldn't get their money back from people who they say had "16 investment properties" and or "two real estate agencies" and not just the say so of the NSW Government. People do get sick of government propaganda and coverup's by the NSW government who has left public housing rot just like the hospitals and any excuse will do to kick people out so that they can claim there is sufficient public housing when there is not.