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GRADUATION CEREMONY PAGE 2
MOE’S MIGHTY MURALS A number of murals have sprung up around Moe, including one of hometown hero and Matilda’s goalkeeper Teagan Micah. Local artist Maddi Horrocks has painted the works, in collaboration with Nigel McGrath. STORY - PAGE 26
Northe sentenced
FORMER Member for Morwell, Russell Northe will spend at least the next 12 months in jail. Mr Northe was sentenced to 21 months jail in Melbourne’s County Court last Wednesday, with a non-parole period of 12 months. The disgraced former MP previously pleaded guilty to two charges of misconduct while in public office. Mr Northe was charged after using taxpayer cash for administration purposes to fuel his gambling addiction. His actions, where he falsified a number of documents and set up fake expenses between 2019 and 2020, were described by Judge Michael McInerney as “sophisticated, protracted and brazen”. Mr Northe was also charged late last year with 45 offences following an investigation from the Independent Broad Based Anti-Corruption Commission. These charges were dropped in January 2023 after he entered a guilty plea to misconduct in office.
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Mr Northe falsely claimed $175,813.40 in public expenses, which he used on gambling services. It is estimated he accrued gambling debts of around $400,000. The court heard how Mr Northe made more than 3000 bets alone in 2019, producing a net loss of more than $180,000. The 57-year-old pleaded guilty to two misconduct charges in the Latrobe Valley County Court in September, following a number delays as he was deemed psychiatrically unfit to stand for trial. At his sentencing last Wednesday, his lawyer Christin Tom mentioned Mr Northe had been granted leave from a psychiatric ward to attend his hearing. Given this, Mr Tom argued a prisonsentence would only be detrimental to Mr Northe’s already crippled mental health, however, Judge McInerney saw otherwise. “Having regard to the gravity of your offending I have decided that the only appropriate sentence ... is that of imprisonment,” his Honour said.
“In my view, no other sentence would be appropriate. “Analysis would demonstrate that it is unique in Victoria for a Member of Parliament to be charged with this offence. “The prosecution have submitted that the offending in this case is in the upper range, and therefore deserving of a sentence of imprisonment.” The guilty plea saved Mr Northe from more time behind bars, with Judge McInerney stating the former MP would have been sentenced to 36 months with a non-parole period of 22 months had he pleaded not guilty. Mr Northe sat in court while his sentencing took place, not uttering a single word. He appeared totally inconsolable as he sat alone in the dock, weeping for virtually the entire 90 minutes his sentencing took place. Stooping low in a chair and with his left hand covering his face for most of the hearing, Mr Northe looked a shell
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of the man most had known as the local member of 16 years. His appearance gave a tell-tale sign of a man who had been to dark places, and when approached by reporters before entering the court just before his sentencing commenced at 10.30am, all the former MP could muster was a meek “not today thanks”. With most expecting Mr Northe to be handed a community corrections order, the final verdict was met with some shock from the gallery. “The defence, while accepting the classification of the criminality, have submitted, in all of the circumstances, that an appropriate sentence can be effected by way of a community correction order, without incarceration,” his Honour said. “I find that your criminality was sophisticated, protracted and brazen, in that you must have presumed, given your standing, that your applications would not be checked.
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