Here in Australia we are going through a mining boom. iron ore is worth Billions to our economy, as is coal and many other resources.

With the financial turmoil the world has been witnessing of late, the gold price has soared, making gold mining a very good business to be in. This has also made things a little more exciting for the weekend prospector.

The weekend prospector, nobody minds them, you see them on the beaches in Summer with their metal detectors, looking for lost jewellery and 20cent pieces. They may be a bit geeky, but at least they aren’t hurting anyone.

There is however one type of prospector that nobody likes, the Golddigger.

The Golddigger, sometimes referred to as the Homewrecker, is someone who preys upon someone else for their money by forming a romantic relationship with them. Basically making themselves a prostitute without the time off.

Typically the victim is a man, who is rich, but aging. There have been some female victims, but it is predominantly men.

One of the most famous cases of a Golddigger was the late Anna Nicole Smith. Anna was a Hollywood “train wreck”, a Playboy centerfold who saw her chance to set herself up for life when she met J Howard Marshall, a Multi Millionaire who seemed centuries her senior and certain to die shortly. They quickly married and when Marshall died, Anna hit the jackpot, the rest is history.

The Golddigger uses whatever charm she can conjur up, to put the victim under her spell. A typical scenario would be a desperate 25 year old female coming on to a 65 year old man, who has lost most of his marbles, but kept most of his cash.

The case I will go into today, is just that scenario, and it involves a public figure known for being larger than life in every aspect. She has an immense ego, a gigantic mouth that is always spitting venom, and seems to have large ambitions beyond her means.

Her name is Sophie Mirabella. She is a vocal member of the Liberal Party, Tony Abbotts “Party Of No”, she is an absolute “train wreck” of a politician. She is also a frontbencher, and the Liberal spokesperson for Innovation, Industry, and Science.

Sophie’s pot of gold, was a man by the name of Colin Howard, a prominent and popular Liberal Party figure from last century. If Colin was Sophies age today, then Sophie would be 3 years old, such is the age difference. Sophie formed a strange relationship with Colin which resulted in her receiving huge financial gains, as well as being directly responsible for her being in the position she is today politically. The downside to it all, is that Colin’s children became completely shut out of his life until the very end, allegedly by his own wishes, and also of course shut out of the will.

When Colin Howard died in a nursing home on September 2nd this year, he died alone.

Sophie first entered Colin’s life back in 1994 when Sophie was 26. Colin, who was then 66 years old, was a QC nearing the end of his career. If Sophie craved a father figure as a partner, she would have chosen someone 20 years younger, with a 40 year age difference it must have seemed like dating her grandfather. I don’t even want to imagine the sex.

Within a year of meeting they were living together, however the nature of the relationship was kept hidden from Sophies family. The couple even went to the extent of leasing a flat, where Sophie could pretend to live if her family visited.

In the year 2000, Sophie moved to Wangaratta in a bid for preselection to enter politics.

Sophie had told Colin, by then  72 years old, that should she win, he would have a place in her staff. At his age, I can imagine, Colin would have been keen to be near someone who cared for him as much as possible.

Colin loaned her a vehicle for her campaign, and also covered campaign costs of $100,000 to assist her in winning the seat.

Once Sophie had won the seat, and there was no longer the need for campaign funding, Sophie decided there was no place for Colin in her staff, and shortly after Sophie was in a relationship with another man.

Colin, went back to living a lonely life, most of his friends had vanished and his only companions were his 2 children, Mervyn and Lesley.

Living a life of extreme loneliness, I am quite sure that Colin would have been holding a candle for the woman he loved and cared for. This was demonstrated when he showed up to her wedding in 2006 nearly 4 hours early, like a desperate man with his arms outstretched.

Sophie had kept in touch with Colin during the few years between her marriage to Greg Mirabella, and her separation with Colin. It would seem that Sophie had good reason to keep the independently wealthy Colin close.

Later in 2006, Mervyn Howard became concerned that Sophie was holding a strange influence over his father, who was at that stage showing signs of Alzheimer’s disease. He based these concerns on conversations with his father.

Mervyn soon discovered that instead of giving Sophie and Greg a blender or a toaster as a wedding gift, Colin had instead given them $100,000, which they used as a downpayment to purchase a house.

Ask yourself this, if you were human, would you accept a $100,000 gift from an ex who was suffering from Alzheimer’s? Most wouldn’t…

Concerned about the cost of medical care for his father, as Colin was clearly going to need special attention for the remainder of his life, Mervyn sent Sophie an email. The email questioned whether Sophie and her husband thought it was moral to accept such a gift from someone who would need money for their future care.

Mervyn later received a typed letter, with a signature similar to his fathers, stating that he wanted no future contact from his children, Mervyn and Lesley. The letter was allegedly from Colin, but there is no way of knowing for sure.

Mervyn later found, that by this stage, his father Colin had done something both unexpected, and strange. Colin, just as his Alzheimer’s was setting in, had signed full power of attorney for medical and financial matters over to Sophie. She was not not only a beneficiary of Colin’s will, but the executor of it also.

How many people do you know that would hand control of their lives and money to an ex girlfriend, rather than their own family?

Mervyn and Lesley lost track of their father at this point, he disappeared from view. Their attempts to get in touch with Sophie were fruitless, as she wouldn’t return any of their numerous calls.

As it turned out, Colin was living 400 metres from the Mirabella’s, in a farmhouse that Sophie was leasing for him, as she now had control of his finances. At this stage Colin was unable to wash or clean his teeth, he was incontinent and unable to look after himself.

Sophie of course, was too busy to look after a needy patient, she had trouble to stir in Federal Opposition with her Liberal colleagues, so Greg would take care of Colin.

We are to believe that Greg Mirabella visited his wife’s ex boyfriend 4 times a day, bathed him, brushed his teeth, and must have changed his bedding due to in incontinence several times (at least one hopes so). Sophie would do the same when she was at home, according to her.

Colin finally resurfaced into his children’s lives, when at long last Sophie called Lesley. This call was not for any noble reasons though, merely to point out that Colin was in hospital after a fall, and was not expected to survive the day.

According to Sophie, Colin had fallen over. From this alleged fall, Colin had the usual injuries one gets when they fall over, a severe fever, concussion, a collapsed lower lung, a urinary tract infection, and he also ended up in the usual coma that someone falls into after a stumble…. Wow, I guess he must have fallen off a cliff…

Miraculously Colin pulled through, and his reunion with his children was an emotional one, and rather than saying he didn’t want to see them, he thanked them profusely for coming to see him.

In April 2010, after many attempts by Mervyn and Lesley Howard to seek answers to the questions they had regarding their father’s medical, and financial affairs, Sophie lawyered up. Sophie told Colin’s children that their father’s finances, his will, and his power of attorney were private matters, and none of their business.

On September 2 this year, Colin Howard QC died, survived by his 2 children Mervyn and Lesley, children who until Sophie Mirabella arrived on the scene, had a fantastic relationship with their father.

Now, as any children would, Mervyn and Lesley are looking for answers to some serious questions. Questions over their father’s care whilst at the farmhouse, questions over injuries from his alleged fall, questions over their father’s finances, and of course questions over their father’s will.

As Sophie Mirabella refuses to answer anything on the matter, the whole sordid saga looks as though it will be played out in court.

It is worth noting, that both of Colin’s children are not seeking money, both are well off.  In fact both have stated that any money that they may receive as a result of contesting their fathers will, they will donate to charity, something Sophie won’t offer of course.

This whole saga made me think of a good idea for a novel and a movie script though.

A story about a man kept prisoner in a farmhouse where nobody knew where he was.

Held by a crazy woman who made him write whatever she wanted written, under threat of beatings or holding back necessary medication. Unfortunately, I realised, it’s already been done.

For those of you who will say this is a private matter, there are a couple of things to note. Firstly, remember this is Sophie Mirabella, one of the fastest to make personal attacks on political opponents, no matter how sensitive the issue. Secondly, Sophie has breached electoral laws. Any donation over $1,500 must be declared, Sophie took well in advance of 60 times that amount and did not declare it, this matter will now be under investigation, and if found guilty, it will be the second time Sophie has been found guilty committing  the exact same offence.

There are those of you who will also say that I am being unfair, and cruel to compare Sophie Mirabella to Anna Nicole Smith, and I guess in a way they are right.

Anna at least had the decency to marry her man, Anna never went out of her way to break up her man’s family, and of course Anna stayed with her man until the end.

Anna clearly has some things that our Sophie lacks. They would be class, integrity, and a sense of decency.

There is a word for people like Sophie, actually there are several… however, there is only one of them fit to print, and that is Trash.

Sophie's Choice