ALP's brothel owner charged: [1 All-round Country Edition]
Monica Videnieks, Brendan O'Keefe, Megan Saunders, John Stapleton. Weekend Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 06 Sep 2003: 6.
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Abstract
Mr [Neville Hilton] -- president of the ALP's nearby Albion Park branch and the Throsby Federal Electorate Council, junior vice-president of the chamber of commerce and a long-serving Australian Workers Union official -- was the ALP's "man in town".
Almost a year on, the Hilton accusations have exposed the same old troubles between the Left and the Right factions in the Illawarra, and the close nature of Labor's politics in the region. Hilton and his wife Sandra Herbert-Lowe are close friends with Labor hopeful Gino Mandarino and his partner, Ms [Sharon Bird], who recently won a rank-and-file preselection for [Cunningham].
Ms Bird, Mr Mandarino and Ms Herbert-Lowe all worked for former Throsby MP Colin Hollis. Ms Herbert-Lowe now works for federal frontbencher Mark Latham and has denied any involvement in the brothel's operations.
A FORMER senior-ranking Labor Party official was charged last night with employing two children to work as prostitutes in his Port Kembla brothel.
Neville Hilton, 64, who co-owns the Southern Belles escort agency, in the heart of the NSW south coast industrial town, faces two counts of owning and permitting premises for child prostitution, two counts of obtaining benefit from child prostitution and two counts of inciting acts of child prostitution.
He was released on bail and will appear in Port Kembla local court on October 9.
Mr Hilton -- who denies the allegations -- this week resigned from the party and from his deputy vice-presidency with the Port Kembla Chamber of Commerce.
The charges, which carry a possible jail term, relate to claims that a 13-year-old girl and her 14-year-old friend worked at Mr Hilton's Wentworth Street brothel for a period of 10 days last month.
Wentworth Street, by day, is nondescript, lined with boarded shops and dreary pubs. But by night, when the "girls" come out, the street takes on a sleazy and harsh new life.
Allegations that the two young girls ended up working at the brothel has shocked and baffled authorities.
The claims have not only rocked the girls' families, but also the ALP.
Mr Hilton -- president of the ALP's nearby Albion Park branch and the Throsby Federal Electorate Council, junior vice-president of the chamber of commerce and a long-serving Australian Workers Union official -- was the ALP's "man in town".
The allegations have come at a time -- and place -- Labor can least afford.
The working-class Illawarra, once one of the safest electoral regions for Labor -- has bucked at the party it once trusted.
Last October, Labor lost the "unloseable" Cunningham by-election ending the party's 53-year reign in the seat.
Decades of factional warfare, branch-stacking and interference from the unpopular party machine came to a head when Greens candidate Michael Organ rolled Sharon Bird, the unpopular candidate anointed by Sussex Street headquarters.
Almost a year on, the Hilton accusations have exposed the same old troubles between the Left and the Right factions in the Illawarra, and the close nature of Labor's politics in the region. Hilton and his wife Sandra Herbert-Lowe are close friends with Labor hopeful Gino Mandarino and his partner, Ms Bird, who recently won a rank-and-file preselection for Cunningham.
Ms Bird and Mr Mandarino were originally both aligned with the Left faction, but jumped to the Right in order to improve their chances of gaining a seat.
Ms Bird, Mr Mandarino and Ms Herbert-Lowe all worked for former Throsby MP Colin Hollis. Ms Herbert-Lowe now works for federal frontbencher Mark Latham and has denied any involvement in the brothel's operations.
"She does a good job and I don't believe in discriminating against people because of their family connections," Mr Latham said this week.
Premier Bob Carr and NSW party secretary Eric Roozendaal were not so kind.
Mr Hilton was regarded as a key backer and "numbers man" for Mr Mandarino in his ambition to win preselection for Throsby, held by former ACTU president Jennie George.
The shocked families of the two girls at the centre of the allegations said "life has been just bloody awful" since police told them their daughters were embroiled in prostitution.
"It really is your worst nightmare," the 13-year-old's uncle, "Frank", said.
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