http://smh.com.au/articles/2004/08/14/1092340533093.html?oneclick=true
I've cheated: 'Family man' MP's bombshell
By Jim O'Rourke
August 15, 2004
The Sun-Herald
A prominent federal MP and self-styled family campaigner has admitted on the
eve of the federal election that he has cheated on his wife.
Ross Cameron, member for Parramatta, one of the Howard Government's most
marginal seats, has four young children with his wife Genevieve.
Mr Cameron, 39, who is close to Prime Minister John Howard, has marketed
himself in previous election campaigns as a staunch family man with deep
Christian convictions.
He regularly allowed himself to be photographed with his wife and their
children, including their three-year-old twins.
Mr Cameron is a founding member of the Parliamentary Christian Fellowship
group and a proud member of the Liberal Party's right wing.
In an article in yesterday's Good Weekend magazine, the MP, who entered
Parliament when the Howard Government won office in 1996, revealed: "I have
been an unfaithful husband."
While declining to detail how his infidelity had manifested itself, Mr
Cameron did say: "My wife has had some pretty good reasons to walk away, and
it's frankly pretty amazing she hasn't already."
The MP even invited supporters in his electorate to change the way they
vote after forming their own judgements about him.
"If my constituents want to vote for a great family man, they should
probably vote for the other guy," the Good Weekend article said.
Parramatta, in Sydney's west, with a margin of 1.1 per cent, is crucial to
Mr Howard's chances of holding on to power.
Mr Cameron, parliamentary secretary to the Treasurer, is a strong grassroots
campaigner with a good record of community service in his electorate. That
work has helped him sneak in at the past three elections.
Yesterday morning the tall MP was campaigning in his electorate, as he does
each Saturday.
He was manning a small Liberal marquee at the Bungaree Road neighbourhood
shopping centre at Toongabbie.
Dressed in a blue blazer, open-neck check shirt and casual pants, Mr Cameron
answered questions from locals while his office staff hovered nearby,
handing out Liberal Party pamphlets.
Mr Cameron told The Sun-Herald his comments in Good Weekend were correct,
but he was reluctant to add more detail to the revelations.
"I feel I'm just trying to hold my family together," he said. "So I'm not
going to be adding anything to the story.
"I just want to get on with my job."
When asked if he was still living with his wife and family at their house in
Oatlands, near Parramatta, he said: "Yes."
Mr Cameron was asked why he had made a decision now, on the eve of the
election, to be honest about his personal indiscretions.
"I feel I've said my piece in the story," he said. The MP was again asked
why he went public. Before politely ending the interview, Mr Cameron said:
"The other journalist [at Good Weekend] asked me that."
In that article Mr Cameron said he wanted to speak out because the reality
of his life does not match his image.
"I think people are entitled to have a more unvarnished view of who I am if
I'm asking them to vote for me," he said.
He also said he wanted to correct the perception that he was "as good as my
family photo looks".
"I don't want people to feel like I'm using Christianity or my kids to get
re-elected," he said.
A spokesman for Mr Howard said the Prime Minister would make no comment on
the issue.
The ALP's candidate in Parramatta, Julie Owens, also refused to comment on
the revelations.
*Please secure Irony Meters before reading on*
PM Howard did make a comment later in the day that was reported on the
evening news. He said he wasn't going to judge the randy hypocrite (my
words there) because...are you ready for this....he said he "wasn't the type
of person to go around moralising!"
*KABOOOOOOOOOOOM*
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