Things are getting shaky, very shaky. There must be a lot at stake here, because despite all the sins of Hakki Suleyman and Justin Madden that have come to light, Brumby refuses to act.
In the recent Ombudsman’s report, nobody was more dreadfully implicated in the corruption at Brimbank Council than Hakki Suleyman, and his daughter Natalie Suleyman, and of course by implication, Justin Madden. It is really atrocious how the Suleymans were allowed to abuse a community for many years. And as damning as the Ombudsman’s report is for the Suleymans, and for Justin Madden, the report only scratched the surface of what has been going on in Brimbank for many years.
And what is Brumby’s response to all this? Let’s sack Seitz! Let’s sack the Whistleblower.
Come on, come on! Stop treating the journalist like idiots. Stop treating the community like idiots. Most of all, stop treating Labor MPs and Labor members like idiots. All of these people are relying on Labor to act responsibly. Instead, Labor is gambling on the hope that most people have not read the Ombudsman’s report. After all, as engrossing as it is, it is more than 200 pages in length. And Seitz comes out smelling like perfume compared to Hakki Suleyman. Yet, from Brumby’s actions to date, you’d think that the majority of the report was about Seitz. Don’t be fooled.
Sacking George Seitz is no action at all. Seitz committed political suicide that fateful day in 2008 when he got up in parliament and lit a match, then threw it on Labor Unity’s tinder box. It should have ignited in 2005, when concerned residents wrote to Madden, and when Vogels spoke in parliament, about the atrocious behaviour of Hakki Suleyman and the Brimbank rorts. But, conveniently, Madden chose to ignore all of these concerns, and labelled anyone who raised them as “politically motivated”. The consequences for Labor in 2009 are far greater than they would have been had it acted in 2005. There has got to be a lesson in this for Labor, somewhere.
By standing up in parliament and blowing the whistle on corruption in Brimbank, Seitz put an end to his career. But by this one action he also did more for the western suburbs of Melbourne than any MP has in decades. Everybody knows he is the master branch stacker, but this wiley old fox is now a hero of the western suburbs. He would have known he was committing political suicide by taking this action, so he must have been prepared for what is now coming to pass. He knew he would be gone for blowing the whistle and for no other reason, but Brumby would like you to think otherwise.
Why sack George Seitz now? Seitz was plastered all over the front page of The Age for branch stacking in 2006, but Labor chose to sit on its hands then. Despite the damaging allegations in 2006, Labor even changed the rules, with the help of Bill Shorten, so that Seitz wouldn’t have to retire prior to the last election. The Ombudsman’s report is far, far less damaging to Seitz than The Age’s front page report was back in 2006. So why Sack George Seitz now? Why not back in 2006?
Clearly, Brumby’s actions are designed to take the focus off Hakki Suleyman and Justin Madden. His actions are also designed to punish the whistleblower. They will send a strong message to anyone who thinks about taking similar actions in the future. Couple this with Bob Smith’s threats to investigate the Ombudsman, and you’ll see that Labor is making a mockery of the whistleblower legislation. Labor’s actions have shown that whistleblowers will not be protected and that the Ombudsman will be forever compromised. How can the Ombudsman possibly hope to be truly independent after these actions?
Regardless of Bob Smith’s little political investigation, regardless of how much Labor harasses, intimidates, and humiliates the Ombudsman, the corruption outlined in the report on Brimbank did happen. You and I both know that, don’t we, Bob?
Labor’s actions have only provided further evidence of why we desperately need an independent crime commission (requiring both majority government and majority opposition support to appoint and to sack the CEO). Bring it on.
Come on, Come on! Let’s stop the argy-bargy. You're not fooling anyone, Brumby. Let’s deal with the real problem. Sack Hakki Suleyman and Justin Madden and let’s be done with it.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
What soccer club are you from, Justin?
Justin Madden is famous for his prowess as an AFL footballer. Ironic, isn't it? Now he's become infamous for his association with soccer clubs, the Cairnlea Soccer Club in partiular.
You know Cairnlea Soccer Club. It's the one that is a big feature of the Ombudsman's report. It's the one that Hakki Suleyman, Justin Madden's electorate officer, is associated with. The one Hakki's daughter gave all of that public money to. The one Justin Madden turned a blind eye to back in 2005, when Vogels raised it in parliament, and when a concerned resident wrote to him about it in 2005.
Now Justin and the rest of Victoria should know a little bit about the pain and suffering his inaction has caused a community in the western suburbs of Melbourne. The ramifications of Madden's inaction continue to this day.
Madden's failure to act certainly had an impact on the 2008 Brimbank City Council elections. The following comical, yet tragic, incident reflects the impact of Madden's inacation. This was observed by a number of people at the Sunvale polling booth on election day.
A flustered man came up to a group of campaign helpers who were handing out how-to-vote cards for Sam David (If you want to know more about Sam David you can read about him in the Ombudsman's report – he was affiliated with the Suleyman faction – and there's not a lot to like about this man). The flustered man asked, “What soccer club are you from?”
The campaign workers told the man that they were from Cairnlea Soccer Club, then asked why he wanted to know. The flustered man said, “ Well, Sam David told me to turn up at this other polling booth, but when I got there it was being manned by campaign workers from another soccer club. Now I don't know which polling booth I am supposed to be at.”
The funding that the Council provided to Cairnlea continues to have ramifications. Favours were called in for Brimbank Council election day. People associated with Cairnlea were only too happy to hand out for Sam David. Afterall, they now have a wonderful facility thanks to Madden's man Hakki and his daughter Natalie Suleyman.
In return for the facility at Cairnlea, Hakki became more powerful. He could rely on the soccer club to provide him with campaign workers for the Brimbank Council Election. He could also rely on the soccer club to provide him with a big pool of ALP members, who would come in handy for the ALP's pre-selections. Of course, those associated with the Cairnlea soccer club are extremely loyal to Hakki. Why wouldn't they be? Despite having a dreadful track record (including owing $14,000 to the Melton Council, which has not been repaid to this day), Hakki was able to swing it so that Brimbank City Council tipped in more than a million dollars to this club. The Cairnlea Soccer club loves Hakki Suleyman, and not because he was a public officer of the club, and his son was a committee member of the club. They should also love Justin Madden. Madden is intrinsically linked to Hakki. Madden gave Hakki credibility.
It's interesting, isn't it? When you think about it? Public money, given by Council, through Natalie Suleyman, and indirectly through Hakki Suleyman, has provided the ALP with a stronger power base. A soccer club full of election volunteers, full of ALP members, all willing to do Hakki's bidding come the ALP pre-selections. All that devotion to Hakki and it was bought with the public's own money. It's diabolical. And it was probably all planned out of Justin Madden's own office.
You know Cairnlea Soccer Club. It's the one that is a big feature of the Ombudsman's report. It's the one that Hakki Suleyman, Justin Madden's electorate officer, is associated with. The one Hakki's daughter gave all of that public money to. The one Justin Madden turned a blind eye to back in 2005, when Vogels raised it in parliament, and when a concerned resident wrote to him about it in 2005.
Now Justin and the rest of Victoria should know a little bit about the pain and suffering his inaction has caused a community in the western suburbs of Melbourne. The ramifications of Madden's inaction continue to this day.
Madden's failure to act certainly had an impact on the 2008 Brimbank City Council elections. The following comical, yet tragic, incident reflects the impact of Madden's inacation. This was observed by a number of people at the Sunvale polling booth on election day.
A flustered man came up to a group of campaign helpers who were handing out how-to-vote cards for Sam David (If you want to know more about Sam David you can read about him in the Ombudsman's report – he was affiliated with the Suleyman faction – and there's not a lot to like about this man). The flustered man asked, “What soccer club are you from?”
The campaign workers told the man that they were from Cairnlea Soccer Club, then asked why he wanted to know. The flustered man said, “ Well, Sam David told me to turn up at this other polling booth, but when I got there it was being manned by campaign workers from another soccer club. Now I don't know which polling booth I am supposed to be at.”
The funding that the Council provided to Cairnlea continues to have ramifications. Favours were called in for Brimbank Council election day. People associated with Cairnlea were only too happy to hand out for Sam David. Afterall, they now have a wonderful facility thanks to Madden's man Hakki and his daughter Natalie Suleyman.
In return for the facility at Cairnlea, Hakki became more powerful. He could rely on the soccer club to provide him with campaign workers for the Brimbank Council Election. He could also rely on the soccer club to provide him with a big pool of ALP members, who would come in handy for the ALP's pre-selections. Of course, those associated with the Cairnlea soccer club are extremely loyal to Hakki. Why wouldn't they be? Despite having a dreadful track record (including owing $14,000 to the Melton Council, which has not been repaid to this day), Hakki was able to swing it so that Brimbank City Council tipped in more than a million dollars to this club. The Cairnlea Soccer club loves Hakki Suleyman, and not because he was a public officer of the club, and his son was a committee member of the club. They should also love Justin Madden. Madden is intrinsically linked to Hakki. Madden gave Hakki credibility.
It's interesting, isn't it? When you think about it? Public money, given by Council, through Natalie Suleyman, and indirectly through Hakki Suleyman, has provided the ALP with a stronger power base. A soccer club full of election volunteers, full of ALP members, all willing to do Hakki's bidding come the ALP pre-selections. All that devotion to Hakki and it was bought with the public's own money. It's diabolical. And it was probably all planned out of Justin Madden's own office.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Justin Madden: politically motivated
Justin Madden said he ignored the information about Hakki Suleyman because he thought it was “politically motivated”.
Politically motivated? Even if the Liberals are politically motivated, wouldn't you still take the concerns raised seriously, Madden? They have raised these issues since 2005.
What about the letters from concerned residents, who have been writing to Madden about these issues since 2005!? Were they too, “politically motivated”?
Politically motivated? For Labor Unity, it seems that anyone who doesn't agree with its view of the world is politically motivated. It's strangely familiar, this claim that residents are “politically motivated”. For years now, the residents of Brimbank have been putting up with Natalie Suleyman and her supporters claiming that anyone who sought to challenge or criticise her (or her father) was “politically motivated”. Now our very own Labor MPs have decided to quack from Suleyman's old hymn book: politically motivated, politically motivated – there are no rorts – it's just those dastardly politically motivated residents of Brimbank again.
For Labor Unity, it's not just the Liberals that are politically motivated. Any resident that seeks to challenge it, or expose a rort, is “politically motivated” .
Are we politically motivated because we don't like the fact that Suleyman and her cabal decided to give a soccer club with a strong association with her family a ton of public money? Are we politically motivated because we never liked or accepted the fact that Natalie's father was receiving a rent free building for many years? What about former Councillor Ken Capar and his dreadful behaviour at a conference in
Politically motivated? What's the motivation? Motivated for what purpose? To bring Suleyman down for what purpose? What did the residents have to gain politically?
Politically motivated? Have they stopped to think that maybe we just want a fair go? Have they stopped to think that some of the people who wrote these letters have half a brain and maybe we just wanted the rorting to stop. HELLO! Maybe that's the motivation.
Funnily enough, many of the people who tried to get something done about the rorting at Brimbank are ex-Labor members or ex-Labor voters. Some years ago, one of them tried to join a local branch of the Labor party, but it turned out to be branch-stacked, but he didn't know it at the time. Labor played games with his membership and said he applied too late for some deadline, so they relegated him to a city branch. It seems Labor didn't really want the likes of us being members of its party. They must have thought we would have exposed the branch stacking. Of course, they were right. We would have.
Labor Unity is so blinded by its own thirst for power and by branch stackers that it can't think straight: there's an enemy behind every door, a red under every bed. Anyone who criticises or opposes it is "politically motivated".
Maybe it would help if Labor stopped getting its advice from the likes of Hakki Suleyman and Stephen Newnham.
But who really has the strongest political motivation here? It has to be Madden. He has wanted to protect his branch stacker at all costs. He only turned on him a little bit when it got too hot in the kitchen, after the Ombudsman's report was released. But even after all the evidence on Hakki, Madden is still backing him (after all, he now says that Hakki didn't interfere in council affairs, and that he was like any proud father). Madden makes me want to puke.
Madden is the one with the strongest political motivation. He is the one who has been protecting a politically motivated branch stacker for years. Now everything that comes out of his mouth has the underlying motivation of saving his own political career.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Documents show Madden knew everything almost 4 years ago
Justin Madden is claiming that he knew nothing about the activities of Hakki Suleyman, his electorate officer, raised in the Ombudsman's report released on 7 May 2009. Of course, that's what he is saying; he is running for cover. But nothing could be further from the truth. Documents show that Madden knew Hakki was involved in all sorts of shenagigans with the Brimbank City Council almost 4 years ago.
For example, on 8 September 2005, the Hon. John Vogels raised concerns about Hakki Suleyman's involvement in the Cairnlea Soccer club scandal (now a major feature of the Ombudsman's report), as reported in Hansard. He spoke on this issue for almost 30 minutes! At one point, Vogels stated:
The Minister for Sport’s part‑time assistant is Hakki ‘Harry’ Suleyman, the father of Cr Natalie Suleyman and the former public officer of the Albion Rovers Soccer Club. The vice‑president of the Albion Rovers Soccer Club committee of management is Mehmet Suleyman. He is the brother of Cr Natalie Suleyman and the son of Mr Hakki Suleyman.
How could the mayor vote for a decision to give $650 000 to a soccer club when her father and her brother are part of that soccer club?
That was September 2005. Now Justin Madden is saying the first he knew of any of this was the Ombudsman's report of 7 May 2009. We hold correspondence from a very concerned Sunshine resident who wrote to Madden on 2 June 2005:
The Suleyman family is currently involved in conflict of interest allegations as reported in the local press (“Mayor: leave my family out of it” the Star, 10.05.05 p.5). The story involves the mayor's role in a Council vote to benefit a sports club with alleged long-term links to the Suleyman family. Other irregularities have been reported on the issue which are revealing.
Now it seems Mr Suleyman is confronting and intimidating members of the public gallery at Brimbank Council meetings.
This has been on the public record for nearly 4 years. Like Madden, we have known what is going on for many years and we know that Madden's lack of action is due to the benefits gained from branch stacking.
Planning Minister Justin Madden now stands accused of misleading the parliament over his knowledge of the activities of Hakki Suleyman at Brimbank Council. Suleyman has worked in Madden's electoral office for a number of years. The activities have been well documented in the public domain - and brought to the attention of his departments - over those years.
Everybody knows Justin knew everything.
For example, on 8 September 2005, the Hon. John Vogels raised concerns about Hakki Suleyman's involvement in the Cairnlea Soccer club scandal (now a major feature of the Ombudsman's report), as reported in Hansard. He spoke on this issue for almost 30 minutes! At one point, Vogels stated:
The Minister for Sport’s part‑time assistant is Hakki ‘Harry’ Suleyman, the father of Cr Natalie Suleyman and the former public officer of the Albion Rovers Soccer Club. The vice‑president of the Albion Rovers Soccer Club committee of management is Mehmet Suleyman. He is the brother of Cr Natalie Suleyman and the son of Mr Hakki Suleyman.
How could the mayor vote for a decision to give $650 000 to a soccer club when her father and her brother are part of that soccer club?
That was September 2005. Now Justin Madden is saying the first he knew of any of this was the Ombudsman's report of 7 May 2009. We hold correspondence from a very concerned Sunshine resident who wrote to Madden on 2 June 2005:
The Suleyman family is currently involved in conflict of interest allegations as reported in the local press (“Mayor: leave my family out of it” the Star, 10.05.05 p.5). The story involves the mayor's role in a Council vote to benefit a sports club with alleged long-term links to the Suleyman family. Other irregularities have been reported on the issue which are revealing.
Now it seems Mr Suleyman is confronting and intimidating members of the public gallery at Brimbank Council meetings.
This has been on the public record for nearly 4 years. Like Madden, we have known what is going on for many years and we know that Madden's lack of action is due to the benefits gained from branch stacking.
Planning Minister Justin Madden now stands accused of misleading the parliament over his knowledge of the activities of Hakki Suleyman at Brimbank Council. Suleyman has worked in Madden's electoral office for a number of years. The activities have been well documented in the public domain - and brought to the attention of his departments - over those years.
Everybody knows Justin knew everything.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)