No matter how hard they try, there are some people who just don't ring true to me. Take Lee Rush for example, the father of Scott Rush, an Australian lad who was yesterday sentenced to spend the rest of his life in jail by a Bali court, after being convicted of trying to smuggle heroin from Bali to Australia.The boy's parents could almost be poster-children for a Family Values advertising campaign. The next stars of "Seventh Heaven", perhaps. Appearing in court in a suit that gave every appearance of being deliberately chosen to be too big for him, Scott Rush looked the very essence of the product of fine, upstanding, middle class Australian parents.
The parents plight evoked sympathy. There were no calls of "Where were the parents'?" or "What were the parents doing?" as there usually is when the children of working class or single parents get into trouble.
Oh no, it was "It's the parents I feel sorry for."
It would be easy for a tear to come to your eyes, as his father tells the "Australian Story" television audience the following:
"It was not good to have the idea that one of our children had been detained in an overseas country and we knew nothing of the legal system back in Australia or ever seen inside a detainment centre within Australia."
In relation to his jailing: "it was extremely unnerving in the beginning unknowing the type of criminals that Scott would be associated with, both international criminals and local Indonesian criminals."
You claim to know nothing of the Australian legal system, and were worried about the type of criminal your son may mix with in jail.
Mate, your fresh faced, 20 year old son committed 16 crimes in Queensland over two years, most stemming from an addiction to illicit and prescription drugs.
His offences included drug possession, fraud, theft and drink driving. There is also an arrest warrant out on him for allegedly stealing money from the Commonwealth Bank. He had been using cannabis since he was 15, as well as heroin, ecstasy and prescription drugs. He began using amphetamines three years ago at the age of 17.
I would have thought you were an expert on how the Australian legal system works.
Don't try and make out that you and your son are any better than the others. In fact, the parents of some of those convicted with him, have behaved with more dignity and less self-righteous hypocrisy, than you have.
So far you have blamed just about everyone for your sons plight. The Australian government and the Australian Federal Police have constantly come in for harsh criticism from you.
For example, you have repeatedly said that when a travel agency informed you that your son was going to Bali, you became suspicious. Extract from The Age.
"When a travel agent left a message early last year that his ticket to Bali was ready, they had a gut feeling something was wrong. Their son had no passport and no money to pay for a holiday - Lee Rush believed his son was being recruited to courier drugs....After the travel agent's phone call, Lee Rush had contacted Brisbane barrister Bob Myers, who in turn spoke to a Queensland policeman seconded to the Australian Federal Police. They provided details of their son's flight, pleading that he be warned off participating. The family believed he would be stopped from boarding the Bali flight. Failing that, they hoped he would be arrested on his return to Australia."
Nowhere in this or any other report have I seen you state that you tried talking to your son. In fact, it is obvious that you didn't even try.
Extract from "Australian Story".
"Scott had made contact with me prior to leaving Sydney by an unidentified hand phone, mobile phone, it was, "Hey dad I'm alright". He never indicated to me that he was going to Bali, he just indicated that he was okay and somehow or rather he found out that I was chasing after him. And he sort of tried to feel happy but was annoyed at the same time, possibly because he may of felt that I was not allowing him to grow up as a teenager and make his own decisions." Note: The spelling mistakes are not mine!
Yet Bob Myers, your barrister friend who you claim said, "Leave it with me old mate," told the press, "it's the AFP that have got the blood on their hands, nobody else".
I have a few more issues. In relation to one of your many attempts to shift the blame onto the Australian government, you said -
"since he's been detained in an overseas country they expect me to ensure that Christine and I finance his welfare and health and hygiene. One moment he's an adult and next moment he becomes a dependent again."
I am an Australian tax payer, and like all Australian tax payers, I know full well that every youngster knows Indonesia's attitude towards drugs. Your son has 16 drug related convictions, don't tell me he was naive about drugs and the risks of smuggling.
Yet it appears you expect the Australian government to finance your sons needs! Personally, I wouldn't give you or your son a cent of my hard and legally earned money.
It has been reported your son took to drugs because he couldn't live up to your expectations of him. Having read many of your comments, I can understand why those reports have surfaced.
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Till tomorrow...
...Wherever you may be - be safe!
