THE former Dubbo announcer labelled a "serial con artist", "Dodgy Dene" and "the cross country conman" says some schools have expressed an interest in hosting a visit from him as part of a travelling roadshow through which he plans to tackle depression and bullying.
While he had yet to receive a booking for his service, Mr Broadbelt said some government schools near where he lived on the NSW south coast had expressed an interest in his roadshow.
"I have no bookings yet, I am still finalising the materials," he said.
Dene Broadbelt, who has also gone by the names of Dene Mussillon and Harrison O'Connor, was an announcer at Dubbo's ZOO FM and the driving force behind the failed Infinity Music Festival.
He declared himself bankrupt last October with debts of a quarter of a million dollars, $100,000 of which he said he owned up to.
Meanwhile, Mr Broadbelt was adamant his planned roadshow was not about money and he would conduct the school visits free of charge.
An overwhelming percentage of respondents in a Daily Liberal poll asked if they would trust Dene Broadbelt to speak at their child's school answered 'no'.
Asked why he felt schools would accept him as a guest speaker given his history, Mr Broadbelt said: "The idea isn't to go too much into my financial history but rather to talk about how bullying, depression, anxiety and silly mistakes can affect young people's lives".
He said if talking to youngsters about his experiences could encourage them to reach out for help it would be "a good thing".
Mr Broadbelt's comments came as he issued an apology over a suggestion made in a media release he had "the backing of Lifeline" to take his roadshow to classrooms.
Lifeline's head office told Fairfax Media he did not, but had contacted Lifeline's marketing team and was subsequently offered wallet cards to distribute to raise awareness.
"We often provide such collateral to members of the general public who wish to promote awareness of our crisis support services; however, these people do not have our authorisation to represent Lifeline nor are they authorised to speak on our behalf," the spokesperson said.
"We have not expressly provided Mr Broadbelt with authority to use the Lifeline name."
Mr Broadbelt issued an apology and correction to the earlier release saying he was not sponsored, nor was he an ambassador or did he have any professional affiliation with Lifeline.
"They've confirmed the stuff (print material) is on its way," he said.
Originally published as 'Dodgy Dene' forced to issue Lifeline an apology by The Daily Liberal.
