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Thursday, 11 June 2009 |
.jpg) Are they telling us something we don't already know?
On May 26 this year the Times of London described Victoria as "the Australian state notorious for organised crime and corruption."
Sunshine residents have understood this for many years, as one of the "safe Labor" communities most affected by entrenched corruption in the Victorian ALP. An Ombudsman's investigation showed Brimbank as a dysfunctional council, gone off the rails under the influence of factionally-controlled state Labor MPs and unelected Party officials with criminal histories.
In effect, the state government's only response to this farce of a council has been to issue a press release. One that has since gone terribly wrong.
Premier Brumby made valuable public relations of his government's claim that it had "implemented all of the Ombudsman's recommendations". A closer look however soon puts the lie to that. In case after case, what was originally an impartial investigation into ALP corruption by the Ombudsman has turned into an "investigation" of the ALP by the ALP itself.
For example, one recommendation from the Ombudsman's report was to appoint a municipal inspector to oversee the running of Brimbank Council. Local Govt Minister Richard Wynne's response was to make a political appointment in Bill Scales, who has high-level Labor Party connections including a stint as Premier Steve Bracks's chief of staff.
Before the appointment Scales was not even a municipal inspector, so he had to be made into one first. Then on starting the job, his first act was to go on holidays to Europe while the council framed its controversial 2009 budget. He remains uncontactable, nor does he appear to have an office anywhere. It is not clear whether he will receive submissions from the public. It is not clear whether he has received submissions from the Minister to "keep a lid" on Brimbank Council's misdeeds.
One thing we do firmly believe: Minister Wynne's choice of Bill Scales has effectively neutralised the Ombudsman's very important recommendation.
This shows clearly why only an independent crime and corruption commission (ICAC) can "flick out the dross" as John Cain put it. It shows why nothing at all has changed at Brimbank Council. It explains why SunRRA has no faith in the Brumby government's response to the Ombudsman's report and is calling for Minister Wynne to be sacked.
Along with Planning Minister Justin Madden for his still-unfolding role in the scandal.
Madden was "delivered" to his electorate officer as a celebrity candidate in 1999 as part of a factional deal. Having allegedly misled parliament about what he knew of his office's involvement in corruption at Brimbank Council, the Minister began to acknowledge that he had in fact received some 130 letters of complaints concerning Brimbank Council and his electoral officer Hakki Suleyman. For his attempted cover up he was recently censured in the State parliament, the first minister to be censured in more than 20 years.
Even so, Madden looks set to be rewarded for his part in the Brimbank scandal, with speculation in the press that he will be preselected to the safe lower house seat of Essendon. Meanwhile Suleyman remains employed by the Victorian Parliament despite the Ombudsman's findings. An investigation into his Justice of the Peace status announced by Attorney General Rob Hulls, has gone nowhere and he remains a JP without explanation despite convictions for assault with weapons.
Another of Brumby's "press release" announcements is that he will introduce laws to stop councillors working as electoral officers for politicians. There are serious doubts about whether he has the authority to bring in such changes to his factionally-riven party. If such laws are to be made palatable to ALP branch stackers, they will most likely contain a loophole for example exempting currently-employed electoral officers, or councillors who work for Federal politicians. Bill Shorten, Brendan O'Connor and Stephen Conroy are among the band of Federals who have their tentacles in the Brimbank Council. Councillor Robert Bozinovski works as an electoral officer for Brendan O'Connor, and as John Brumby will no doubt be telling us soon enough, "that's a matter for Mr O'Connor".
Continuing factional fights within the ALP mean that Brimbank's current ALP councillors remain trapped in a grotesque political play. Like pawns in a horrendous game of chess, they are used to protect and advance the strategies of far more valuable pieces while ignoring their duty to the community. As such they remain important players in the ALP's corrupt Victorian project and as we have seen, continue to flourish under Party patronage.
The Victorian Local Government Act and the "new" Council's "transparent decision making processes" continue to be discarded in favour of the old ALP Rule Book, requiring the Ruling Faction to caucus outside Council as a "voting bloc" before any public debate or decision making occurs on important public interest matters.
Allegations that Brimbank deputy mayor Tran Siu issued unauthorised how-to-vote cards at the recent council elections are supposedly being "investigated" by Richard Wynne's department. We can reveal that in this ALP "investigation", there appear to be signs of deflection. It is an inquiry which has dragged its feet for 7 months without a skerrick of result. Among allegations that documented evidence is being ignored, we confidently predict that the Deputy Mayor's alleged breach of the Local Government Act is to be overlooked, and he remains in line to be Brimbank's next mayor according to the plan.
Right under the nose of "municipal inspector" Bill Scales.
SunRRA will be releasing its own report into the investigation in due course. Until then, our previous predictions that the players in the Brimbank Council scandal will be rewarded rather than punished appear firmly on track.
For these reasons and more we urge all Victorians to support our call for an independent crime and corruption commission to be established as a matter of urgency. |
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