Just months after pedophilia
allegations rocked South Australian politics, a former Liberal minister
and candidate for a vital state marginal seat is at the centre of a
storm over a same-sex relationship.

“Mark Brindal is the Liberal MP who claims to have been blackmailed over his sexual relationship with a 24-year-old man,” The Adelaide Advertiser
reports today. “The married father of four had a three-month affair
with the man – who has a mental incapacity – earlier this year,” the
paper claims. “The pair had sex in Mr Brindal’s Unley electorate office
several times.”

“Mr Brindal, 57, told his wife Pam and four
adult children he was bisexual after his ex-lover’s foster carer
allegedly demanded money in return for not going public.” Yesterday’s Adelaide Sunday Mailreported
that police were investigating allegations by an unnamed MP that he was
the victim of a blackmail attempt. “It is believed [SA Liberal Leader]
Mr Kerin was interviewed by members of the anti-corruption branch on
Friday.”

Brindal told The Advertiser yesterday he
couldn’t speak publicly as he was “under special instructions from
police not to say anything.” However, he spoke frankly at a forum in
Adelaide yesterday on same-sex marriage. “Mr Brindal entered a
relationship with a 24-year-old pensioner under the protection of the
Guardianship Board in March,” The Advertiser reports. “The man,
who lives in supported accommodation in the western suburbs, has a
‘mental incapacity’ and his financial affairs are administered by the
Public Trustee.”

No breach of the law appears to have occurred,
but it is where the story may lead that’s causing consternation.
Earlier this year, Brindal announced he wouldn’t seek preselection in
his seat of Unley, stacked over several years. Instead, he announced he
would contest the vital Labor marginal of Adelaide. Adelaide is one of
two vital suburban seats the Liberal Party needs to win to retain
government in South Australia at next March’s election.

Party
heavies breathed a sigh of relief when Brindal bowed to the inevitable
and avoided a messy preselection fight in Unley – and welcomed his
candidacy in Adelaide, where the first term Labor MP, former city Lord
Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith has disappointed many. They were finding it hard
to get a decent candidate. At the moment the South Australian Liberals
are saying they still expect Brindal to contest the seat – but anything
could happen now.