It’s the final day with Adem Somyurek. This will wrap up this week’s hearing. And you will need a drink afterwards as the Panadol won’t ease the migraine this has caused. It starts with a conversation regarding the 60 minutes program about to be aired. Is it about the misappropriation of funds or something more sinister? He states that his career is over, and he is not worried about what happens at IBAC, as he is not a minister.
He still denies that he misused funds for electoral payments for staff as it’s a grey area. It’s a common practice amongst the Labor party. It’s an elitist culture. Is the public as cynical as he says we are towards politicians? Do we not care?
To reform this type of system, it would need to be done by parliament. And we can see them not doing it in our best interests.
Senior ministers and student staffers have contradicted a lot of what Adem is saying. Factional work is a part of electoral work. They were concerned about the misuse of taxpayer funds.
After the red shirts rort, no sanctions were placed upon parliamentarians. It’s all about the numbers. Without integrity, there is no accountability. An external independent organisation with no political influence needs to be setup. Otherwise, the misuse of funds and the misconduct goes on. Even with the legislation passed to prohibit the party-political work, they still did what they wanted. Labor are united in keeping themselves in power. Misconduct runs riot. The Ombudsman may not call it, but I will. It’s corruption. How many more names can he drop? Former Prime minister was a branch stacker. Mark Dreyfus, an MP. Even the letter addressed to IBAC names the Premier Andrews. Will we see him face the commission? The commission has no powers to lay charges, but maybe the police command will finally speak up and show us that nobody is above the law.
Even with the messages, phone calls and encrypted chats, Adem still does not recall or spins it in another direction. Who is not excluded from the branch stacking inside the Labor party? The list is very short.
A condition of employment was to be involved in branch stacking and doing political party work outside of business hours. Factional work is part of employment as well. The young ones signing up were very apprehensive. Racism is also rife. They got their ethnic community representative for numbers only, then worked hard amongst the Anglo-Saxon ministers to have these people removed.
With the branches that are not allocated with factions are autonomous. Safe Labor seats, or marginal seats, are faction allocated. The majority of them are toeing the party line and following the rules of factional control. It stops infighting but also causes a divide in communities. It’s also a monopoly on control and is in short, controlled elections. Our vote doesn’t count.
It’s ok for these power brokers to place people in a branch. They have no chance of winning and fill in the paperwork so they can win it. The influence is mind boggling. All over control and factions. It just does not end. The public have been taken for a joke.
Even with the National executive getting directly involved, with a letter/statement tendered from the Premier, which Mr Andrews says He has lost confidence and integrity in the branch, it still didn’t stop. They were a bit more discreet. Adem has finally had the smug look wiped off his face and is giving it all up. He has already dropped the who’s who of politicians and influencers. Even suggesting that senior members of the upper house know all about it. And yes, the Premier is mentioned once again. Even with the testament to the National Executive, it’s not looking good for anybody. We all see a scapegoat when it shows.
And now we have grants being paid to secure votes. That is a big line that has been crossed. It happened right across the board. Paying grants to create factions. Adem is tripping over his own words, making a meal out of it. They have even corrupted the process to pay out grants. Again, with the factions. Blind faith in people has let down communities and the proper processes. Money has turned these ministers and advisors into leeches.
Adem has been released until 26th November, where he might be called back in to question other witnesses. He is also bound by a confidentiality clause, where he cannot say anything until that date. The commission has mentioned that there are laws being broken. Until next week.
We all need a drink.
