Justin Madden & Hakki Suleyman

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.