KEY POINTS:
Tennessee Williams could have made a meal of this.
His play Night of the Iguana revolved around characters reaching the ends of their ropes.
In Sydney, New South Wales Education Minister John Della Bosca and his wife, federal MP Belinda Neal, have increasing reason to regret their night at Iguanas, a Gosford bar and restaurant.
Under investigation by police, the State anti-corruption watchdog and federal parliament's privileges committee, the couple's political future is looking ever more dodgy.
Worse for the State Government, the scandal over allegations of abuse and threats by the two Labor MPs is now lapping at the feet of Premier Morris Iemma, a close personal and political friend of Della Bosca.
And in the bizarre circus that the night at Iguanas has become, the allegations of wine-fuelled abuse, foul language and threats have overflowed into Iemma's broader political agenda and threaten one of his key and most controversial projects.
If new claims of Iemma's role in the aftermath of the affair are true, the Premier's own future could be doomed.
To recap: Iguanas staff alleged that they were abused by Della Bosca and Neal after they were asked to change tables when they dined with friends on June 9. They also alleged the couple threatened to have the bar's licence revoked.
After the alleged fracas, Della Bosca drove home in his car, despite earlier promising State Parliament he would not get behind the wheel again because of an impending six-month licence suspension for speeding offences.
Staff swore out statutory declarations to support their allegations.
Della Bosca and Neal denied the claims, and produced statutory declarations by friends to prove their rebuttal. Iguanas later withdrew the allegations and apologised to Della Bosca.
While this was exploding, it was revealed that Neal had been suspended for two matches after allegedly booting a rival soccer player, and had told a pregnant Liberal MP her baby would be born a "demon" because of her evil thoughts.
Within days Della Bosca was suspended by an embattled Iemma after it was learned he had drafted the Iguanas apology and had failed to include this in a statement to the Premier. Della Bosca admitted driving, because he did not want to wait for a taxi.
From there it has been a downhill, surreal, spiral.
Neal, who was ordered by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to undergo anger management counselling, continues to deny all the allegations, including her "demon" threats to Opposition MP Sophie Mirabella.
But her remarks are clearly audible on parliamentary tapes, and she has now been referred to the privileges committee.
Meanwhile, the Iguanas affair has been referred to both the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption and the State Police, who have launched a full investigation into the conflicting statutory declarations.
If anyone has lied, they could face up to five years' jail.
Yesterday it emerged that one of Neal's staffers, Melissa Batten, had quit after being questioned by police for five hours. More, her statutory declaration was one of three withheld by Neal, despite Batten being the only one with Della Bosca and Neal when the alleged fracas broke out.
Neal made a brief statement to the House of Representatives yesterday promising full co-operation with the police investigation and a statement to Parliament on its conclusion.
In Sydney, the heat was turned on Iemma. The embattled Premier was faced with new allegations that a member of his staff had unsuccessfully tried to dig dirt on the Iguanas staff, particularly any connections with the Liberal Party.
Iemma said the staffer had been seconded to Della Bosca's department and he had no involvement with him. Iemma also refused to deny to reporters that he knew of the three withheld statutory declarations, but later said it would be inappropriate to provide a running commentary on a police investigation. Later, during question time in State Parliament, he denied knowledge of them.
For its key players, the night at Iguanas could be sharpening into the night of the long knives.
