I am not sure if Noel is taking the piss or what?
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/letters/great-treasurer-or-pretender-20090616-cgi8.html

I REFER to the interview with Justin Madden (Insight, 13/6) and the statement that one senior Liberal "suspected that Madden had not been near his electoral office in years".

As a member of the Victorian Legislative Council, I was in Parliament on November 20, 2003, when Justin had responsibility for a Road Safety (Amendment) Bill for the Government. The sitting went all night, with Justin answering inane questions from the Opposition.

At 7am the next day, the House adjourned for breakfast. I sat next to Justin. He told me that he had returned the previous day (November 20) from a Commonwealth Games meeting in Jamaica and, without any sleep, had gone straight to Parliament. He said that he hoped the sitting would be finished by 9am as he had a meeting in his electorate office with a lady who wanted to discuss her disabled son. He said he would not miss that meeting for anything.

That is the quality of Justin Madden.

Noel Pullen, MLC 2002-06, Cheltenham

Having told us he wasn't going to Keilor, because politics in the west is not for the faint hearted, and well his heart must be...
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/17/2601107.htm

He says he is considering a move to the Lower House but has not made up his mind.

"Today is not a day for speculation on the politics of the Upper or Lower House in the future, but I will be talking about that, I would expect, in the next day or so," he said.

Madden is moving to Lower house of Essendon. Hopefully at his expense! Keilor did not want him.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25652254-661,00.html

Hope there is no room for Hakki or Natalie, in his office, If he wins. BIG IF!

Keep pulling Pullen. His letter made me dry reach! Labor is trying to re-invent all of its rogues. They're all nice guys now.

GUess WHo wrote:
Madden is moving to Lower house of Essendon. Hopefully at his expense! Keilor did not want him.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25652254-661,00.html

Oh no don't transplant the problem here. Judy Maddigan is bad enough, bloody hopeless local member. We don't need someone with baggage!!

So that great footballer Justin Madden has taken his bat and ball and gone home.

Typical.

Let's see if the voters up there are more astute than they are down here.

The great statesman of Essendon.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/madden-i-want-to-lead-labor-20090617-chzo.html

STATE Planning Minister Justin Madden has declared himself a possible future premier as he announced last night he would move from Parliament's upper house to the safe lower house seat of Essendon.

The move marks a dramatic shift from just last week when Mr Madden told The Age he wanted to stay in his upper house seat of Western Metropolitan and ruled out a mooted move to the Keilor seat expected to be vacated by the controversial George Seitz.

But last night, in response to questions about whether Mr Madden may be involuntarily shifted to Essendon, both the Government and the ALP were at pains to paint the move as the minister's decision.

Right faction chiefs have been allocating seats ahead of today's closure of nominations for pre-selection for electorates around the politically-troubled Brimbank municipality.

A central figure in the factional negotiations is federal MP and Right faction boss Bill Shorten. Last night Mr Shorten welcomed Mr Madden's move to Essendon, where he said he would boost Labor's firepower.

Statesman, too. wrote:
The great statesman of Essendon.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/madden-i-want-to-lead-labor-20090617-chzo.html

STATE Planning Minister Justin Madden has declared himself a possible future premier
[/b]

He has to win the seat first

Madden has that one quality that all great Victorian Labor leaders have - an ability to watch corruption flourish right under your nose.

Go for it Justin, see if you can make 15%.

Justin Madden has again ignored a vote of Parliament re the DACs and said he can declare himself the Respomsible Authority cutting out Councils and residents. Plus being given the power to approve high rise apartment blocks providing they put in just a token social housing flat. Are we heading to a Ditatorship?
This power to a man who admitted on TV that he did not know anthing wrong was going on in his electoral office? How can we have any confidence in him running his huge department? Well we don't. To add insult to injury, he announces he wants to be Premier. How on earth could he run the State?

Who can forget the political interference in the Council by the suleyman faction.

Now what were the actual decisions made on 11 July 2006? The Minutes will show that they were

1. Cancel the multi million dollar pool building contracts and the ensuing cost penal;ties

2. A 0% rate increase for Brimbank residents for 1 year from the cost savings

Politically crafted and signed off by the Suleyman faction.

The impacts of these decisions were

1. The Sunshine pool and leisure centre were to be closed forever
2. Staff were pulled together by the CEO and managers the enxt day and offered redundancies. tears and anger were the outcomes.


Then came a Rescission Motion from Miles and this was seconded by Costas in the chamber

Then union involvement via the CFMEU and meetings betwen mayer suleyman and martin kingham

Then Justin Madden came on board with this little pearler below.

And they say the evidence is "thin" about Hakki's involvement in the Pool!!!

__________________________________________________

Media Release from the Minister of Sport and Recreation, Mr. Justin Madden.

Go to http://www.dpc.vic.gov.au/domino/Web_Notes/newmedia.nsf/798c8b072d117a01ca256c8c0019bb01/ 4a1e3ff3c4134971ca2571ab00053f47!OpenDocument


FROM THE MINISTER FOR SPORT & RECREATION

DATE: Thursday, July 13, 2006


BRIMBANK SHOULD REVERSE SUNSHINE POOL DECISION

The Minister for Sport and Recreation, Justin Madden, today called on Brimbank City Council to reverse its decision not to proceed with a much needed swimming pool in Sunshine.

Expressing his disappointment, Mr Madden said the Bracks Government committed $1.48 million in June 2004 to ensure the future of the Sunshine Swim and Leisure Centre but the Council had not kept its part of the deal.

“The Council’s decision will have an adverse impact on the local community, which has been crying out for a quality aquatic facility to meet its sport and recreation needs,” Mr Madden said.

Mr Madden said the project had suffered costly delays over the past few years, but until now the Council had gone ahead with its plans to build a quality leisure centre for the whole community to enjoy.

“It’s incredibly disappointing that, at the point where the builders are ready to commence construction, the Council has decided not to proceed with the project.”

Mr Madden said the Bracks Government had invested $14 million in the redevelopment of six swimming pools in Melbourne’s western suburbs since 1999, stimulating more than $59 million worth of community aquatic facilities in the area.

Other projects in the west and north supported by the Bracks Government include:

· Maribyrnong Aquatic Centre – a $17 million project with a Bracks Government grant of $6.75 million;
· Ascot Vale Leisure and Fitness Centre – a $13.3 million redevelopment with a grant of $1.8 million;
· Altona Leisure Centre – a $10.6 million redevelopment with a grant of $2.5 million;
· Broadmeadows Leisure Centre – a $2 million redevelopment with a grant of $660,000; and
· Reservoir Leisure Centre – a $3.2 million redevelopment with a grant of $800,000.

“We are committed to ensuring all Victorians have access to quality aquatic facilities because they’re vital to healthy, active communities,” Mr Madden said.

“The Council’s decision is disappointing and for the sake of the local community and I urge the Council to reconsider at the earliest opportunity.”

http://www.savesunshinepool.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=542

Save Sunshine Pool



Joined: 12 Aug 2003
Posts: 169

Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 2:25 pm Post subject: Pool to close - $10 million wading pool cancelled...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After 4 years of planning and well over $1 million dollars of Brimbank ratepayers money spent, eight Brimbank councilors in an emotionally charged rush of blood last night voted to cancel the proposed $10 million redevelopment of the Sunshine Swim and Leisure centre!

To further punish the community groups and unions fighting for a pool complex that every other Victorian community of an equivalent size has, the eight councilors have revealed a hidden agenda to close the whole Sunshine Swim and Leisure Centre complex!
Some of the more bizarre facts from last night's chaotic and seriously pre-mature council decision include:

- The Council is proposing to close Sunshine Swim and Leisure centre completely and shift the resources to the Northern part of the city. The overlay of Socio Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) scores on Brimbank's demographics shows, however, that by far the most disadvantaged area is the Sunshine Pool catchment area.

See table: http://www.savesunshinepool.com/newsletters/2006/july12.htm#table1


- There are significant income and health inequalities in the southern end of Brimbank and it is in urgent need of an excellent mix of active recreation and leisure infrastructure around which health promotion and prevention options can be designed. The Sunshine community’s capacity to find resources such as money, petrol and time to travel out of area is also much lower than the Sydenham and St Albans areas.


- Councilor Margaret Guidice in what appeared to be a slip of the tongue revealed that many of the councilors had voted in camera to close down the Sunshine Swim and Leisure Centre in its entirety. This will see the loss of jobs for ASU staff and the closure of swimming lessons, activities and the gymnasium in Sunshine for the long term!

- Labor councilor and Mayor Natalie Suleyman again condemned and belittled the Trade Union movement for supporting our working class community. And all this from a person with ambition for higher office and ALP pre selection.

Listen to audio: http://www.savesunshinepool.com/audio/SuleymanvsTradesHall.mp3


- Bruce Mildenhall and Justin Madden have previously stated that the State Government would definitely be prepared to consider a submission from Council for a Stage 2 deeper leisure water pool project at Sunshine and provide funds for the project.


- The five day old Community Picket line officially appealed to the council on Monday 10th July with a conciliatory submission that council approach the State Government for funding of a second stage to the project which would see a leisure pool added to the plan instead of just a single wading pool. The submission was completely ignored by council just like everything else the community has put forward and on 11th July in a pre-meditated process council cancelled the contract.


- If the councilors had been cooler in the crisis and approached the State Government requesting the funds for this project instead of proceeding with the demolition of Sunshine's three outdoor swimming pools, the community picket would have gone home and a win/win for council and community would have been achieved.


- The CEO apparently did not advise the councilors about the hundreds of thousands of dollars that the council will be liable for when Kane Constructions sue them for canceling their work agreement.


- The council have continued for two years to completely ignore expert advice from the council reference group of Spring 2004 that Sunshine requires three pools including a deep water leisure pool.


- Sunshine has the least access to aquatic services in Victoria and the Suleyman faction have decided not only to cancel the pool redevelopment but also intend to close down the pool site completely. They are burning Sunshine’s few active recreation services and providing the next generations with a bleaker future than ever.
See distribution of pools in Melbourne: http://www.savesunshinepool.com/pools_in_melbourne_rally2.jpg

- Last year's $85,000.00 'Brimbank Aquatic Strategy Sept 2005' is now in tatters.


- The eight Councilors who voted to cancel the Stage 1 contract have yet to provide any expert evidence to support their position that a three pool complex in not needed at all in Sunshine. They have never rebutted the findings of the Reference Group chaired by Bruce Mildenhall in Spring 2004, that a deeper water leisure pool is needed.


- The council is being extremely negligent with the community purse and have wasted over $1M of dollars on a project they clearly are unable to manage as costs have escalated from $7.6M a few months ago to $9.5M plus GST recently.


- The Minister for Sports and Recreation Justin Madden advised that Brimbank Council undertake a "full and thourough planning process to ensure that the community is consulted broadly" and that masterpanning and extensive consultation were a condition of funding. Listen to Justin Madden's announcement: http://www.savesunshinepool.com/audio/madden.html


- Council have refused to consult with the community and again, instead of discussion we see bully tactics from the dominant faction at council which will lead to the loss of over $1 million and the removal of essential community services.


- The three Harvester Ward councilors voted together to continue with the project but were outnumbered by councilors who want to see the project scrapped and the money shifted for use toward more facilities in the richer Northern part of Brimbank.


- The highly paid Brimbank CEO Marilyn Duncan, who is responsible for the community protest created through lack of consultation and master planning, was visibly rattled at last night's council meeting with her lips and hands trembling as she saw the 'biggest project in Brimbank's history' fall apart as an emotionally charged group of new councilors decided to 'make Sunshine residents pay' for asking for the same type of services supplied to communities all over Victoria. Mismanage a project Marilyn and this is what happens... If you had implemented Minister Madden's funding requirements none of this would have ever happened.


The big question is Why? Why would you cancel a $10 million project after a 5 day community picket requesting “approval in principle” to modifications to a plan and a longer term funding commitment?
Why have the ruling faction of councilors decided to destroy a $10 million project in ten minutes, at the cost of over $1 million dollars to the community?

Can this be blamed on a community picket that lasted 5 working days? A picket with wide community and Trade Union support that logically requested that a plan for a deeper water pool be completed before worked commenced? A community requesting that the council approach State Government for funding the pool to save the burden on council money...

There 'must' be more to this decision than meets the eye, its too crazy.

Whatever the reason, the fact is that we still have the least aquatic facilities in Victoria and we must continue our demand that this unfair situation in the southern half of Brimbank be corrected.

Last Stand Pool Rally 11.30am Sunday

On Sunday we will rally and let the council and State Government know that we will never back down from this fight for what is rightfully ours under a Fairer Victoria.

Please come along and help us show the rest of Victoria that as Sunshine residents we will not lie down and be belted and bullied.

We will have a speaker who is a descendant of one of the Eureka Stockade miners to read the Eureka Oath. Ironically the gentleman was brought up in Sunshine and grew up using the Sunshine Pool which was built by the hands of this community.

Did you know that the hole for the 50 metre pool was dug out by a local with an earth moving machine, and then the deep end was dug out by volunteers? They did this because the council was going to do nothing so the people just got in there and started digging. They made it happen.

If we don't fight we lose, we have no other option with this council who refuse to talk to us and willingly neglect the needs of the community while charging us massive amounts in rates.

Event: Last Stand Community Pool Rally
Location: The Sunshine Pool in Kennedy St. Sunshine
Time/Date: Sunday 16 July 2006 11 30 a.m.

Be there or get nothing.

Download the Rally Flyer to print out and hand around here: http://www.savesunshinepool.com/pdf/last_stand.pdf
_________________

What hope does the Brimbank Council have of operating independently when the factional chiefs decise who will be in Parliament and Council.?

Justin is still dominated by Hakki and his faction

___________________________________________________

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/editorial/policy-switch-to-sprawl-ends-farsighted-2030-vision-20090618-cltr.html?page=-1


Mr Madden tries to make a virtue out of necessity

LEST anyone think that Planning Minister Justin Madden is an embattled figure in the ALP, he has a message for them: he wants to be leader. It may be doubted whether this is what Premier John Brumby had in mind when he said earlier this week that he and Mr Madden had matters to discuss. Their discussion was to have concerned the Planning Minister's future, it is true, but supposedly with respect to what seat he would occupy in the next Parliament.

Mr Madden had been under pressure from Labor's Right — the factional alignment he and the Premier share — to move from the upper to the lower house. The Right's powerbrokers wanted him to run for Keilor, the seat that will be vacated by factional heavyweight George Seitz, but the minister resisted this. He will run for Essendon instead, and in the course of announcing this to Age reporter Royce Millar, Mr Madden also declared himself a possible future premier. The minister insists that the Essendon option is his own idea, and his Government and party colleagues publicly concur. The reality seems more complex. Legislative Council president Bob Smith has nominated for Mr Madden's seat of Western Province with the blessing of the Right — but it is doubtful whether this happened with Mr Madden's knowledge. To many people, it looks as though the faction cracked the whip.

Mr Madden, like the Premier, has been at pains to distance himself from factional chiefs linked to the Brimbank Council scandal and from the associated party dispute over branch stacking. And, he has previously been acknowledged as a man who could become Premier. The minister's latest attempt to present himself as a man in control of his future, however, has only produced another reminder of the power of factional bosses.

Madden condemns himself as the inept boss of an out of control employee - one Hakki Suleyman. Does that mean Hakki never took instruction from Madden?

Which begs the question -

do electorate officers of elected MPs work for the Parliament of Victoria, paid out of Victorian state revenues to do local electorate work and answer constituent enquires at the direction of the employing MP?

Or

Are they employed by the Parliament of Victoria, paid out of Victorian state revenues to do the work of their MPs local political party?

I'd love to see the time devoted to each. No wonder neither MP or electorate officer can distinguish their roles.

Pay the piper wrote:
Madden condemns himself as the inept boss of an out of control employee - one Hakki Suleyman. Does that mean Hakki never took instruction from Madden?

Which begs the question -

do electorate officers of elected MPs work for the Parliament of Victoria, paid out of Victorian state revenues to do local electorate work and answer constituent enquires at the direction of the employing MP?

Or

Are they employed by the Parliament of Victoria, paid out of Victorian state revenues to do the work of their MPs local political party?

I'd love to see the time devoted to each. No wonder neither MP or electorate officer can distinguish their roles.

Double dipping - being paid for both when working on one or the other is a real problem for ratepayers / taxpayers

http://www.sunshine.asn.au/component/option,com_remository/Itemid,46/func,fileinfo/id,225/


"I am disappointed that there does not seem to have been a balanced appraisal of the work I have performed for the public good in the Brimbank and Keilor region and the respect I have obtained over decades as a community activist." (Hakki Suleyman)

Watch for the wrongful dismissal action from Mr Defteros coming soon.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/madden-staffer-sacked-in-probe-20090806-ebhx.html

A KEY player in Premier John Brumby's dominant Labor faction has been sacked from his taxpayer-funded job in the fall-out from the Brimbank Council scandal.

Hakki Suleyman, long-time staffer to Planning Minister Justin Madden, has been dismissed after a parliamentary investigation found he was "unable to perform the role of electorate officer".

"Although you have indicated that you are prepared to redeploy to another office, the Parliament is unable to identify a suitable vacant position."

http://www.sunshine.asn.au/component/option,com_remository/Itemid,46/func,fileinfo/id,225/

"Mr Suleyman made strong criticism of SunRRA and its alleged agenda to engage in what he described as racist behaviour towards certain groups."

I think he is referring to those filthy ALP bastards, the ethnic branch stackers.

What Hakki says wrote:
http://www.sunshine.asn.au/component/option,com_remository/Itemid,46/func,fileinfo/id,225/

"Mr Suleyman made strong criticism of SunRRA and its alleged agenda to engage in what he described as racist behaviour towards certain groups."

I think he is referring to those filthy ALP bastards, the ethnic branch stackers.
Mr Suleyman would hate the fact SunRRA stood up to him and exposed Bigg St
and Natalie Suleyman.

I believe he and Capar have been down the racist path before.
I don't know anyone that would respect a stand over man.