a prominant ALP former federal Minister and Northern Territory Chief Minister, Bob Collins might have suicided to avoid facing pedophile charges.
An alleged victim was 12 years old and has reported first haveing sex with Bob while in Parlaiment House. "Quite a few kids from school were going on an excursion to Canberra. My family couldn't afford the excursion and he (Collins) offered to pay. I was very excited. My parents thought it was a great opportunity."
"There was a plane strike on. The rest of the class went to Canberra by bus but he somehow got a flight and took me by air."
The then Labor Cabinet Minister took the boy to his Canberra home and told him they had to sleep together.
Mr Collins then had sex with him at the home, the man said.
"I knew nothing about sex, nothing about masturbation. I knew nothing about my body."
He said the Senator was on the Film Censorship Board at the time and took him to his office in Parliament House where he again abused him while they watched pornographic movies.
The man said he was too embarrassed to tell anybody about the abuse until complaining to police earlier this year.
"I felt guilty. He had spent so much money looking after me."
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The Australian Labor Party has had problems to do with this issue in many states in the recent past. Yet media reporting would have it that it was former Governor General Hollingworth who had a problem, although it was admitted Hollingworth never was accused of being the problem, only not pursuing a pedophile when he had been Anglican Archbishop. What has the ALP leadership done to address its problems?
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Call to halt state funeral for Bob Collins due to child sex claims
By Tara Ravens, Kim Christian and Susanna Dunkerley
OPPOSITION is growing to plans for a state funeral for former federal Labor minister Bob Collins, who died last week just days before facing court on child sex charges.
The Northern Territory coroner will investigate Mr Collins' death, amid speculation he may have killed himself.
Mr Collins, 61, died in Darwin on Friday following a battle with bowel cancer, three days before he was due to face a committal hearing on 21 charges involving children dating back 30 years. The charges were withdrawn after his death.
He also faced a separate child pornography charge in the Northern Territory and three child sex charges in the Australian Capital Territory.
Territory federal Labor MP Warren Snowdon said the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet had offered Mr Collins's family a state memorial at St Mary's Cathedral in Darwin on Saturday, and plans for the service had begun.
However, federal Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey said he was not impressed with the plans for a state funeral given the "heinous" allegations against the former minister, senator and territory Labor leader.
"The most heinous allegations that could be made are that of potential interference with children," he said.
"I find the whole issue repugnant.
"Ultimately, a person is innocent until proven guilty and former ministers are certainly entitled to proper arrangements but from my own personal perspective I find the whole issue repugnant."
The territory's opposition Country Liberal Party (CLP) also said the state funeral should be called off until the child sex abuse allegations against Mr Collins were resolved.
"It's very concerning that there are significant and unresolved matters at a time when our community is grappling with the notions of child sexual abuse," CLP acting leader Terry Mills said on ABC radio.
"Because these matters have been unresolved, the very nature of them being unresolved makes it a very difficult proposition for us to as a community contemplate a state funeral.
"A state funeral is a mistake until we have resolved these unresolved issues."
Mr Mills also said an investigation was needed into speculation Mr Collins committed suicide before his committal hearing was due to start on Monday.
"The strength of rumours of various kinds concerning Mr Collins do need to be investigated," he said.
"I'd ask that there be an inquiry and a thorough investigation so we can have those questions properly answered."
Family friends said last week Mr Collins died peacefully in his sleep.
A spokeswoman for the Northern Territory Department of Justice said the coroner would be investigating Mr Collins's death, although she could not confirm if he would be looking into claims he deliberately took his life.
"The death was reported to the coroner on Friday," she said.
"It is a case for the coroner and as such it is being investigated."
According to the coroner's website, a death must be reported if it appears to have been unexpected, unnatural or violent.
It is not the first time there has been speculation over whether Mr Collins has attempted suicide.
His family was forced to deny claims in June 2004 - shortly before the child abuse allegations became public - that the former Labor minister deliberately ran his car off the road in Kakadu National Park.
Mr Collins suffered severe injuries in the crash.
A second alleged attempt on his own life was made in hospital "with pills", according to a report in today's Bulletin magazine.
The spokeswoman was unable to say if an autopsy or toxicology report would being carried out on the body of Mr Collins, although it is usual in all cases referred for investigation to determine the cause of death.
"They won't give out any information about the investigation or the time frames," she said.
Ex-Senator Bob Collins may have committed suicide - report
By Nigel Adlam
FORMER Northern Territory Senator Bob Collins may have committed suicide, according to a report to be published today.
The report, by Darwin-based writer Paul Toohey in The Bulletin, says the Northern Territory coroner is to investigate whether the Labor icon took a drug overdose three days before his trial for child sex offences.
The article also says Mr Collins:
TRIED to kill himself by driving his Toyota LandCruiser into a tree at high speed in Kakadu after the child abuse charges were first laid in 2004; and also
TOOK an overdose of pills in hospital in Adelaide while recovering from bowel cancer.
Toohey told the Northern Territory News last night: "Collins didn't die of cancer - I know that for a fact."
The Northern Territory News learnt last night that the Federal Government is to give the former NT Opposition Leader a state funeral at Darwin's St Marys Cathedral at 9am on Saturday morning.
Mr Collins, 61, died at home in Larrakeyah in Darwin on Friday.
He weighed 200kg at his death despite battling cancer for two years.
Toohey writes that Mr Collins "did untold damage" to his alleged victims, was "consumed by a sickness" and was "the worst kind of hypocrite" when he spoke about the need to keep children safe.
He says a police investigation into Mr Collins' suspected pedophilia was abandoned in 2000.
But his name came up again during Operation Chameleon in 2003 when three unconnected people walked into three different police stations on the same day to make complaints about him.
Mr Collins always strenuously denied the allegations against him and said he wanted to clear his name.
But one victim tells Toohey in The Bulletin that he was 13 or 14 when Mr Collins took him to a house in Darwin and had sex with him more than 30 years ago.
Meanwhile, the alleged abuse victim who spoke exclusively to the Northern Territory News on Monday, last night said he felt "empowered" by telling his story.
I just wanted Collins to admit in court what he had done and to say `sorry'. I feel cheated by his death."
Bob Collins state funeral scrapped
By Tara Ravens and Jane Bunce
A PLANNED state memorial service for former Labor Senator Bob Collins will be called off after the Federal Government today withdrew its offer of a tribute because of new child sex allegations.
Mr Collins' family had already accepted a Government offer of a state memorial service for the former federal minister, who died in Darwin last week, just days before he was to face a committal hearing on child sex charges dating back 30 years.
A Government notice advertising Saturday's service appeared in a national newspaper today.
But today's publication of graphic new details of child sex allegations against the former Hawke and Keating Government minister appeared to change the Government's mind.
Prime Minister John Howard said due to "great public controversy", he had asked his staff to urge Mr Collins' family to reconsider the Government offer.
"What I've done as a result of the allegations that have emerged today is to instruct officials in the protocol section of my department to be in touch with his family and to suggest that in all of the circumstances it would be more appropriate if the funeral were to be private," Mr Howard said.
Mr Collins' family was understood to be greatly distressed by the Government's change of mind, but tonight agreed not to proceed with the offer of a state memorial.
Mr Collins' son Robert said his father had not wanted a state funeral and the family itself had had serious misgivings about the offer. The family had been placed in an "impossible position", he said.
"The family reluctantly agreed after pressure from a number of Dad's former colleagues from both sides of politics," Robert Collins said.
He asked the media and politicians to accept the family's decision and allow it to make its own funeral arrangements.
Mr Howard intervened after Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey said he was "not impressed" with plans for a state memorial, while Labor leader Kevin Rudd also said any service should be private.
The accusations against Mr Collins, who died aged 61 after a battle with bowel cancer, are not new.
The 21 charges he was to face in Darwin on Monday were first laid in 2005. He was also facing child pornography offences in Darwin and child abuse charges in the Australian Capital Territory.
Despite the allegations, the Prime Minister's office contacted Mr Collins' family earlier this week with the offer of a state memorial, which was to be held at St Mary's Cathedral in Darwin at 9am (CST) on Saturday.
But among detailed allegations made public today was that Mr Collins raped a 12-year-old boy in his Senate office in Canberra while watching pornographic videos.
Aboriginal actor Tom E Lewis has also spoken out about the allegations he was raped by the Labor senator when he was 13 or 14 at a house in Darwin. He was due to give evidence this week in Darwin.
"The man is dead but the charges if true are just unbelievable, terrible charges," Mr Howard said.
The Territory's opposition Country Liberal Party (CLP) said the state service should be called off until the child sex allegations were resolved.
"For the sake of the alleged victims and their families the correct course of action is for a private funeral," acting CLP Leader Terry Mills said earlier today.
A spokesman for the Collins family, Darwin lawyer Peter Elliott, said Mr Collins had "denied the allegations completely".
"Bob Collins was completely confident that had the matter gone to trial he would have been vindicated," he said.
"The family is deeply grieving and very hurt that somebody who contributed as much to the territory and the nation as Bob Collins did will be laid to rest with these sorts of untested allegations receiving such prominence."
It also emerged today that there will be an coronial investigation into Mr Collins' death, amid speculation he may have killed himself rather than face court.
Coronial investigations are usually held if a death appears unexpected, unnatural or violent.
Collins began abusing boys 'when he was 23'
By Simon Kearney
SHAMED former Labor senator Bob Collins began sexually abusing boys and young men when he was 23, according to allegations that would have been tested in court had he lived.
The allegations also detail how the severity of his crimes were aggravated because some of his victims were "unable to defend" themselves. His youngest victim was 10 years old at the time of the first assault.
When the charges against Collins were dropped on September 24, three days after the death of the 61-year-old Hawke and Keating government minister, five men were preparing to tell their stories about Collins in court.
Police prosecution documents obtained by The Australian allege that between January 1, 1970, and December 31, 1971, Collins indecently assaulted his first victim, in Darwin, and committed "the abominable crime of buggery" on him.
The prosecution was preparing to try Collins on charges of indecent assault, buggery, sex with a minor, assault where the victim was unable to defend themselves and possession of child pornography. Several other men have made statements to police complaining about his behaviour but their accusations were not considered strong enough to prove the crimes.
One of those, 31-year-old Damien Anderson, told The Bulletin magazine this week that he believed Collins had drugged him in his Canberra apartment on one occasion before having sex with him and on another occasion drove him to a motel where he attempted to have sex with him.
He said he was first seduced by Collins in his Darwin office when he was 17. He said the pair smoked marijuana before performing oral sex on each other. "I don't know why I didn't say no, or run," Mr Anderson told the magazine.
Ben Helwend has described how he was raped at just 12 years of age in the former transport minister's office in Canberra in 1989.
Collins was due to face charges in an ACT court for that allegation, but the first charges relating to Mr Helwend date back to August 13, 1987, when he was 10 years old and was allegedly indecently assaulted by Collins in Darwin.
According to the charges seen by The Australian, Collins indecently assaulted Aboriginal actor Tom E. Lewis between May 1 and 31, 1974. Mr Lewis has described how he was raped by Collins, who then showed him two photograph albums containing pictures of boys - white and black - wearing sarongs.
Other charges relate to the period between December 1983 and December 1985 when he was alleged to have indecently assaulted a male in Darwin six times with the aggravating circumstances that the victim was unable to defend himself.
Between December 1983 and December 1988, Collins was accused of assaulting another male five times, with the same aggravating circumstance that the victim was unable to defend himself.
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