Matt Brown reveals devastation over ice charge

Disgraced former NSW police minister Matt Brown has told of his devastation after being charged with ice possession candidly conceding: “I’m a f***ing idiot, I played Russian roulette with drugs.”

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Disgraced politician Matt Brown said “I’m a f***ing idiot, I played Russian roulette with drugs” after being charged with ice possession.

The party-loving former NSW police minister told The Daily Telegraph in an exclusive interview: “The arrest was a wake-up call I have needed for years, my problem is with depression and alcohol — not drugs. I have battled these demons for years and now I have to accept I need help.”

The 46-year-old father of two went on: “I’m a f***ing idiot, this will affect my family, I am so sorry for the pain I have caused them — one of my children is young, one is an adult, this will effect them for sure.

Former NSW police minister Matt Brown admitted he’d played “Russian roulette with drugs”. Picture: Zak Simmonds

“I messed up, I tried the drugs I found in a satchel on the floor, I recognised it as ice, I had seen the drug being taken before, so I took the chance and tried it, a decision made on alcohol.

“I was not high, I was just sick.

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“It was a very silly mistake, I regret it, I’m a fool … it was a lack of judgment on my part satisfying a curiosity I have long had.

“I did not purchase drugs. I wouldn’t know how to.”

Brown was caught with a packet of the drug and a glass pipe on a night out at a casino in Queensland.

He appeared at Townsville Magistrate court on Tuesday and pleaded guilty to drug charges after being arrested at the Ville Casino on Monday.

Matt Brown said he has a problem with depression and alcohol. Picture: Alix Sweeney

Security spotted the former Labor MP, who resigned as police minister in 2008 after allegedly dancing in his underwear and simulating a sex act at an office party, trying to hide the pipe in a pot plant.

The court heard security officers found a small chip seal of meth on the floor about 9.55pm which video surveillance footage revealed has fallen out of his front pocket.

When questioned by police he claimed he found the 1.5g bag on the ground in the city and decided to experiment with it.

He was later seen removing the glass pipe from his bag and trying to conceal it in a plant pot outside the casino.

Brown lost his seat in parliament in 2011 and is now a Kiama councillor.

“I’ve had a backlog of issues with career problems, my career plummeting, a long use of alcohol dependency that have effected my decision-making process,” he added.

“It’s time now I take full responsibility for my actions.”