BRISBANE: Former Senator Mal Colston has rejected claims he had been seen in the audience at the taping of a popular Australian television game show.
Colston said whoever spread the story had obviously been confused.
“I admit I was in the audience of a television show, but it wasn’t a game show. It was This is Your Day with Benny Hinn,” he explained.
“And I must admit, after attending the taping I felt much better. In fact the cancer was cured.
“But that could change at any moment,” Colston added, “or so my lawyers….I mean doctors tell me.”

SYDNEY: Hot on the heels of the American TV series Survivor and its British counterpart Castaways, Australians are rushing to invest in a newly created company that plans to specialise in similar ventures.
Founder of Desert Islands Ltd, Ian Spore, said he had been overwhelmed by the response to the prospectus published as part of his plans to float the company.
“I can’t believe it, we’ve just been rushed off our feet,” Mr Spore said.
“It’s a simple idea really, one I thought of while watching the US and UK television series.
“I did a bit of research and found there are close to one million islands on earth similar to the ones used in the TV shows.
“Once we get the company up and running, we plan to take 16 Americans or 16 Britons – perhaps even a mixture of both – to each of those islands, and then just leave them there.
“It’s an attractive investment because we don’t have any of the costs associated with actually producing a TV series. We just dump them on the island and piss off, never to return.
“I initially thought the idea wouldn’t attract much of a response. But Aussies just love it,” Mr Spore said.

PERTH: A Queensland businessman who appeared in the Western Australian District Court on fraud charges was yesterday remanded in custody to appear for trial early next month.
Morris Edison Bezzle, 47, self-employed of Skasie Waters on the Gold Coast, was charged with defrauding 36 old age pensioners from Fremantle in September this year.
At yesterday’s commital hearing, WA Crown Prosecutor, Kenneth Gyprock, said it would be alleged Bezzle defrauded by selling the pensioners non-refundable “VIP” tickets to the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games.
“This elaborate sting involved loading these poor innocent senior citizens onto a bus and supposedly driving them from WA to Sydney to watch the opening ceremony,” Mr Gyprock said.
“In fact, while Mr Bezzle did load them onto a bus, it never left the state and in fact ended up at an old timber getters camp 60 kilometres north of Albany on the WA south coast where – the day after the opening ceremony - they watched a tape of the event.”
Defence lawyer, C. Stanley Hardie III, said Bezzle would vigorously fight all charges.
“My client is the victim of his own good nature and generosity,” Mr Hardie told the court.
“He denies any suggestion that these people were defrauded. At all times he has acted openly and honestly with them.”
Mr Hardie said receipts had been issued to the pensioners which clearly stated that the “VIP” tickets entitled each buyer to a “video in Porongurup”.
He said Mr Bezzle had never attempted to pass off the timber getters camp as “Stadium Australia” and had not led any ticket buyer to believe they were going to Sydney.
He said it should be noted that the caretaker of the Porongurup camp was named Sidney.