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Friday, 08 May 2009 |
 John Brumby's continued failure to establish a crime and corruption commission, especially after the ombudsman's explosive findings at Brimbank council, is a tacit admission that criminals have a foothold in the Victorian ALP and by extension, in the Victorian Government.
One of the most shocking revelations in the ombudsman's report is just how closely criminal elements are aligned with the upper reaches of Victoria's Labor government.
It is clear, based on the government's response to the Ombudsman's report, that the crimes perpetrated by Labor's Unity faction in Brimbank will go unpunished, and may well be rewarded.
Labor's Unity faction has long been regarded as a notorious "mafia-like" organisation composed of criminally-aligned figures, able to flourish due to Victoria's lax electoral laws and a lack of will by the government to confront corruption in its ranks.
It's "godfather" Bill Shorten was mentored by the cartel operator, billionaire Richard Pratt.
Unity's "captains" in Victoria include the Premier John Brumby, Planning Minister Justin Madden, Minister-in-Waiting Theo Theophanous, Parliamentary Secretary Telmo Languiller and Attorney General Rob Hulls.
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. In our view it is rightly a sacking offence, since the activities have been well documented in the public domain - and brought to the attention of his departments - over those years.
Former Minister Theo Theophanous, recently charged with rape yet still sitting in the upper house, now stands accused of corruptly influencing the Brimbank Council through his electoral officer, who coincidentally was a Councillor at the time.
MP Telmo Languiller, grand facilitator of the corruption at Brimbank, has written character references for a drug dealer and gun runner associated with underworld figure Carl Williams. He also stands accused of raising false invoices to facilitate branch stacking in the ALP.
The list goes on. The disgraced former Police Minister Andre Haermeyer, whose office was central to the shenanigans at Brimbank Council, was even rewarded for his efforts by being made Victoria's Trade Ambassador to Frankfurt.
This is what's behind Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu's remark that Brimbank Unity is "a cesspit of Labor mates, mates directly connected to the heart of this government and engaged in breaches of public trust, breaches of the Local Government Act, breaches of the Electoral Act, intimidation, bullying, political corruption and misuse of public funds."
It explains why the crimes at Brimbank will go unpunished, and suggests the perpetrators will be ultimately rewarded.
This ombudsman's report into corruption at Brimbank provides the most compelling evidence yet of the urgent need for a wide-ranging Crime and Corruption Commission in Victoria, though it has not even scratched the surface.
SunRRA now calls for the following actions to be taken immediately
1. The sacking of Brimbank Council
2. The sacking of the Minister for Local Government
3. The sacking of the Minister for Planning and Community Development
4. The appointemnt of an independent adminsitrator for 10 years to break down the corrupt political and administrative culture currently surrounding Brimbank Council
5. The establishment of an independent Victorian Crime and Corruption commission |
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