gonzo
03-15-2007, 04:14 PM
Porn king and PM's date expose Brisbane
STRIPPED of its conservative clothes, Brisbane is now experimenting with legal brothels, sex shops, and a blossoming internet pornography industry that has made millionaires out of some and criminals out of others.
But as John Howard has discovered, you never know when you are dealing with a sex-industry insider.
It was revealed yesterday that a woman who was a late invitee to a lunch with the Prime Minister in 2004 took her boyfriend, Scott Gregory Phillips - then a rising internet pornographer facing charges including torture and robbery (he was later convicted) and described by police as a "highly brazen, violent psychopath".
The Liberal Party claims to have had no knowledge Phillips would be attending the two-hour dinner with 20 guests and Mr Howard at a Brisbane winery.
The Prime Minister has yet to say whether he and the porn king had anything to talk about.
But after weeks of mudslinging, the response to the revelation was mixed and the morals crusade appears to have been muted in Canberra, home of the sex industry.
While Labor Treasury spokesman Wayne Swan declared Mr Howard had "been exposed for his double standards", ministers were more understanding. Even Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd said he expected Mr Howard to have "a reasonable answer".
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie, who last week proposed criminal history checks for anyone doing business with ministers, said no politician could know if people they met had records or had "been involved in some spurious activity".
Mr Beattie said Mr Howard and Phillips would not have discussed pornography.
"I have no doubt that the Prime Minister acted honourably and would have acted decently at this lunch," he said.
Phillips graduated from a Brisbane private school before obtaining a law degree. He started a subscriber-based adult website with Greg Lasrado. Phillips is in Woodford maximum security prison.
Lasrado, who, like Phillips, has lost much of his internet fortune, has been charged with dangerous driving while under the influence of a drug. He did not return calls.
Robbie Swan, from the lobby group Eros, said Brisbane was home to two kinds of adult website developers: the retailers who branched into websites that met Australian classifications, and the former IT workers and real estate agents with offshore operations and no conscience.
STRIPPED of its conservative clothes, Brisbane is now experimenting with legal brothels, sex shops, and a blossoming internet pornography industry that has made millionaires out of some and criminals out of others.
But as John Howard has discovered, you never know when you are dealing with a sex-industry insider.
It was revealed yesterday that a woman who was a late invitee to a lunch with the Prime Minister in 2004 took her boyfriend, Scott Gregory Phillips - then a rising internet pornographer facing charges including torture and robbery (he was later convicted) and described by police as a "highly brazen, violent psychopath".
The Liberal Party claims to have had no knowledge Phillips would be attending the two-hour dinner with 20 guests and Mr Howard at a Brisbane winery.
The Prime Minister has yet to say whether he and the porn king had anything to talk about.
But after weeks of mudslinging, the response to the revelation was mixed and the morals crusade appears to have been muted in Canberra, home of the sex industry.
While Labor Treasury spokesman Wayne Swan declared Mr Howard had "been exposed for his double standards", ministers were more understanding. Even Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd said he expected Mr Howard to have "a reasonable answer".
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie, who last week proposed criminal history checks for anyone doing business with ministers, said no politician could know if people they met had records or had "been involved in some spurious activity".
Mr Beattie said Mr Howard and Phillips would not have discussed pornography.
"I have no doubt that the Prime Minister acted honourably and would have acted decently at this lunch," he said.
Phillips graduated from a Brisbane private school before obtaining a law degree. He started a subscriber-based adult website with Greg Lasrado. Phillips is in Woodford maximum security prison.
Lasrado, who, like Phillips, has lost much of his internet fortune, has been charged with dangerous driving while under the influence of a drug. He did not return calls.
Robbie Swan, from the lobby group Eros, said Brisbane was home to two kinds of adult website developers: the retailers who branched into websites that met Australian classifications, and the former IT workers and real estate agents with offshore operations and no conscience.