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Brimbank Labor's oldest platform

News that former City of Brimbank mayor Charlie Apap has been convicted for indecent assault puts the spotlight once again on some of the more unsavoury history of the ALP in Melbourne's western suburbs, as a number of press reports show.

Labor Party identity Apap, 70 is known locally as a rent collector. He was found guilty in the Sunshine magistrate's court of putting his hand down the back of a 20 year old mother's jeans and underwear while collecting her rent.

Adding insult to injury, as the Leader reports "The landlord made a subsequent application for lost rent money due to the tenant giving insufficient notice before vacating the premises".

Apap is no stranger to the court, having previously been involved in a dispute over unpaid printing bills for Labor candidates at a Brimbank council election. At the last election five councillors did not declare any contributions to their electoral campaigns.

One of the councillors, Ken Capar, subsequently got into hot water at a New Zealand conference while on a council-funded junket for the Keilor Cemetery Trust. According to reports Capar remained drunk for the full three days of the conference, and was unfortunate enough on his return to wake up and see the headline "I was drunk" plastered on the front pages.

According to the local Star newspaper two women reported alleged sexual advances by Cr Capar. The story continues

"Cr Capar admitted being intoxicated on Thursday 10 October during the last day of the conference but in a letter to the Keilor Cemetery Trust he objected to allegations which included making inappropriate sexual advances to female and male delegates."

To cap it off hotel security staff later found him in possession of certain items that had been reported missing by other delegates.

Sexual harassment and theft by a councillor would not normally be rewarded. Capar resigned from the Cemetery Trust in disgrace but remains a sitting Brimbank councillor, no doubt grateful for the complexities of trans-Tasman litigation.

Chairwoman of the Trust at the time was Brimbank's Deputy Mayor Kathryn Eriksson, forced to endure the full three days of Capar's ratepayer-funded extravagance. With talk of police charges however she defended her colleague and in doing so submitted herself to public humiliation, saying

"It's a disgrace that we (the trust and council) can't communicate between ourselves. To have people turn around and say that we're going on junkets just because of one person behaved inappropriately, I find it really sad."

Indeed it is. Even more sadly Deputy Mayor Eriksson is also known as the wife of former Labor Minister Andrew Theophanous who became the first sitting member of parliament to be gaoled for bribery, conspiracy to defraud the Commonwealth and corruption.

Evidence submitted at his trial alleged that in rorting the immigration system he wasn't just seeking money, but also sexual gratification. An NCA tape recording has him saying "Maybe next week or towards the end of the week we might have a meeting, you know, see if I like her."

Channel 9's Sunday program quotes Theophanous from the secret recordings soliciting sexual favours. "…and she is prepared to have some times with me but keep her mouth shut completely then we will do it for $100 for a year." [A discount from the standard illegal fee he was asking for from clients].

Theophanous is still seen at Brimbank Council meetings, where he occasionally bumps into his close factional ally Hakki Suleyman. Suleyman is father of Brimbank councillor Natalie Suleyman; he runs the local migrant resource centre and in his spare time works as electoral officer for Planning Minister Justin Madden.

Suleyman was the subject of a formal complaint to the council in 2005, describing his behaviour toward a woman at a council meeting as "angry, rude, confrontational and abusive" to the point where she had to ask the CEO for protection and to be escorted to her car.

A number of metropolitan papers report an alleged assault by Suleyman on a woman handing out leaflets in the street. According to the Age

"He was pulling me and I was shaking back and forth at the force. I just saw his face and I thought, 'He's going to hit me'. I then started to panic and I screamed at the top of my voice, 'You leave me alone.' And he backed off."

The Herald Sun report of the incident mentions welts and cuts left by Suleyman on the victim's arm while "A day later, his son Mehmet Suleyman, who worked for former police minister Andre Haermeyer, allegedly attacked a young man with a screwdriver -- an incident police are now investigating." The report also mentions a fist fight between the younger Suleyman and Brimbank councillor Sam Tabban, but that's another story. Stay tuned for that one.

The press reports taken together paint the ALP in the west as a party of misfits and sexual predators using intimidation in the exercise of their power: the power of the rent collector over the young tenant, the power of the drunken councillor, the power to grant or deny a visa, and the power of sheer physical force.

Suleyman daughter Natalie shares with Charlie Apap the dubious distinction of being a former mayor of Brimbank council. Along with her current duties as councillor, she works as electoral officer for the now-discredited former Police Minister and MP Andre Haermeyer. For a time she worked alongside convicted criminal Craig Otte in the same office.

Haermeyer came to prominence again more recently when the Herald Sun reported police sources alleging he tried to influence the outcome of a rape investigation by using his influence over "top cop" Noel Ashby.

Ashby for his part said it was appropriate to keep Mr Haermeyer "informed" because Mr Haermeyer had a professional relationship with the woman. Perhaps you can work that one out.

The story makes allegations about the role of the Victorian ombudsman in the case and concludes by stating the obvious - there is no crime and corruption commission in Victoria capable of investigating the misdeeds of our elected representatives.

And don't they know it.

The Editor
Midweek Xpress
December 11, 2009

Dear David

On Wednesday December 9 you published an article HAVING A LEND OF US - Politics hurting library plans which was a very interesting insight into the author's mindset. That you have allowed her a free reign to present her opinions unhindered by any regards to the facts is a matter of concern. Of course we cannot blame you. How were you to know that she was engaged in what one might describe as a delusional dialogue with herself. Cr Duncan-Strelec has shown that her fragile state of mind seems to be a nurturing ground for fanciful suggestions and thoughts.

That you have allowed her nine of the ten paragraphs in which she rails against anti-relocation forces (nice one Amanda sounds like being a step away from membership of the Congolese Liberation Front or some similar organisation). Her argument is based on being a resident of Lavington and a regular user of the Lavington Library once a fortnight when she picks up her mother's talking books. It is not a very persuasive argument    far from it. Cr Duncan-Strelec maintains that the present Lavington library should be temporarily relocated until a 'comprehensive assessment' of library services of Lavington is nothing more than a platitude that is borne out by the fact that Cr Duncan -Strelec hardly goes to council meetings anyhow. Even though she has one of the most powerful jobs in council, Chair of Planning and Development she has not chaired a meeting since she was elected in September. Such is her contempt for council that she rarely puts in an apology for her absences from such meetings. Most of the other councillors don't seem to be concerned about it. A case in point is the article HAVING A LEND OF US - Politics hurting library plans. She had time to strut her stuff in your newspaper but a few days previous couldn't spare the time to attend the council meeting when four people spoke at a public forum on issues regarding the relocation of the Lavington Library.

Yet she had the audacity to say 'I, more than most involved in the debate, am aware of the shortcomings of our current library.' She justifies her assumptions on highly speculative observations: 'I have observed that most of the vocal minority opposing the relocation are neither residents of 'my suburb' (Borderlines parenthesis), nor use the library on a regular basis like I do.'

Cr Duncan-Strelec uses her 'allegiance' to Lavington in a very cynical way. She couldn't give a tinkers cuss about Lavington, didn't Samuel Johnson say patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. Cr Duncan Strelec uses a type of provincial patriotism to seek favour with her constituent base and that's about it. Yet David you have allowed her a platform that she 'is right in there' because she says so and it requires repeating to savour the nuances of her unbridled hypocrisy. 'I, more than most involved in the debate am aware of the shortcomings of our current library,'    Why? Because every fortnight she goes there to pick up her mother's talking books. That's all she needs to support her argument. She doesn't just dash into the library grab a few talking books and rush to the counter. No, she observes    considers. Her eyes and mind in unison. Her mind bubbling with thoughts and intellectual insights.

Cr Duncan-Strelec has never attended any public meetings regarding the Lavington Library or the consultations nor a forum that have been held since the idea for relocation was first mysteriously mooted early in 2009. Yet she says 'I see many of the same names and faces opposing the library who also opposed the childcare centre being built on the 'edge' (Borderline's parenthesis) of Fromholtz Park. I don't know where she got that one but it certainly wasn't terrestrial. For example it was standing room only in the gallery at the Monday council meeting held on December 7. A vast majority were opposed to the relocation, most lived in Lavington/North Albury and most used the Lavington Library. One can only speculate how Cr Duncan- Strelec can see something she has never seen     perhaps it has something to do with the paranormal. In that case there is a legitimate excuse for the councillor's behaviour.

One of the most telling aspects of the political psyche you included in your article is you allowed Cr Duncan-Strelec and her ability to contradict herself
   one wonders if she's aware of what she's saying. In paragraph two she states that the current library should be relocated on temporary basis until a comprehensive assessment of library services in Lavington is undertaken, then in paragraph ten she says "We need to use this time to seek out a large, greenfield site and build not only an environmentally sustainable building with a library that services the needs of our residents for the next 20 years." (That's almost how the Zauner brochure describes the building). In other words what Cr Duncan is saying is the Lavington library should be relocated to a greenfield site, that proposed by Zauner on a temporary basis for a period of twenty years until a comprehensive assessment of Library services in Lavington is undertaken. Is twenty years a temporary measurement of time. One would suppose that when placed next to eternity twenty years is no more than a blink of a fly. Perhaps Cr Duncan-Strelec has a different concept of time. To those however restrained by what one may call the 'average lifespan' twenty years is almost a quarter of one's life so in the strictest sense it is not temporary at all.

One thing that puzzles me David is Albury City Council are renown for their comprehensive assessments. They don't take much time at all certainly not years    a few days at the most. Sometimes a meeting followed by a slap on the back is as comprehensive as is required. Didn't Albury City Council have a comprehensive assessment when the present library was built in Lavington. That's why they made provision for it to be expanded at a later date.

As for her comment that the debate had been hijacked by failed Albury City Council election candidates    how many election candidates did she have in mind. Of course the whole debate has also been hijacked by 'perennial council bashers,' was another slur. The Albury City Council have an aversion to criticism. They don't like it at all and believe those who engage in it have numerous personal deficiencies. Fair enough.

No doubt Cr Duncan-Strelec is awaiting the results of the survey taken a month or two back, this nice little bit of push polling with it's loaded questions, the trouble is will the survey be an accurate reflection of the residents and people who use the library. What's to stop someone from sitting in front of the computer and filling in the survey till the cows come home, likewise with the printed survey. The whole thing sounds very dodgy. Very dodgy indeed.

So David while this is not, in this instance, a comprehensive argument about not always believing what you're told, the greatest problem we have with the article is the caption Having a lend of us because I think that in this instance Cr Duncan-Strelec is having a lend of you and having a lend of those poor sods who are inclined to agree with her rather incoherent and erroneous rationale she uses to explain her position on the relocation of the Lavington library.

That's why we're posting this letter in the hope (forlorn though it may be) that Cr Duncan-Strelec will come to her senses. Your an honourable man David why don't you just say to her    friendly like and with the utmost discretion in some quiet corner   'No more bullshit Amanda.' Maybe then she might come to her senses.

Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year David.

Oh and by the way David, if you see her perhaps you could give her this list of books to read when she next visits the library to get her mother's talking books. Don't worry if they haven't got them on the shelves they can always get them in through the inter library service.

Lies! Lies! Lies! The Psychology of Deceit
by Charles V. Ford.
338 pgs.

Plaques of the Mind: The New Epidemic of False Knowledge
by Bruce S. Thornton.
282 pgs.

The Politics of Lying: Implications for Democracy
By Dave Bartlett, Lionel Cliffe, Maureen Ramsay.
236 pgs.

The Linguistics of Lying & Other Essays
Harald Weinrich
176 pp.