I’m getting more and more nervous about Morris Iemma’s regard (or lack thereof) for the presumption of innocence and due process under the rule of law, as he states that an employee of the NSW Attorney-General’s office is having her employment reviewed after being interviewed and released without charge by the NSW Police.
It’s of a piece with his response to the arrest of a minister charged on child sex offences last month: instead of the established procedure of suspending a person charged with criminal offences until a trial has been held and a verdict been reached, Iemma forced the minister to resign amidst prejudicial remarks that assumed his guilt and may arguably have made a fair trial impossible. [Shaun's excellent post on the Orkopoulos case: (link) ]
The public servant in question is Ikhitmal Hage-Ali, high profile spokesperson for Muslim youth (although not a leader of of any Muslim organisation), member of the PM’s Muslim reference group and recently announced NSW Young Australian of the Year (and up until now favourite for the national award announced this upcoming Australia Day). She was questioned recently regarding a drugs case by the NSW Police’s Middle Eastern Crime Squad, and released without charge while three other people questioned have been charged.
Iemma has not only cast doubt upon her continued employment, but also speculated that her award of Young Australian of the Year might be withdrawn. Let’s just repeat: released without charge.
Virginia Trioli reported on ABC702 radio that they had been told by the Attorney-General’s office that remarks made by Mr Iemma should be clarified with him, while Mr Iemma’s office maintained that his statement was based on information received by the AG’s office regarding their review of Hage-Ali’s employment.
The story keeps widening beyond Iemma, of course.
The Australian reports a long friend-of-a-friend-of-a-cousin-in-law type chain linking Sheikh Al-Hilali, whom Hage-Ali has criticised harshly, to the initial arrest, in what seems largely to be an excuse to air allegations that Hage-Ali was purchasing drugs for personal use.
The Daily Telegraph announces that Hage-Ali’s new blog for News Limited is in hiatus pending further investigation.
Keep up to date with breaking news [link].
Shame she doesn’t play rugby union, then she’d just get a year’s suspension and the chance to become an anti-drug role model at the end of it.
Iemma’s comments are absolutely beyond the pale. The NSW public service has pretty well-established procedures for dealing with this sort of thing. What is she? A Personal Assistant for crying out loud.
She’s been charged with nothing and convicted of nothing, so pending the usual internal bureaucratic clarifications within AG’s, basically this yarn has nowhere to run.
hmmm, why don’t we go the other way…
reality check: youth love drugs. spokesperson for youth… it seems entirely sensible to me.
but, wtf is wrong with these bigoted facists? instead of simply pointing out the sheer stupidity of a mediated guilt-by-association, they play it up for the crowd. we need some LEADERS!!!
This (the ‘drugs bust’) was the front cover story of the Daily Telegraph yesterday and Iemma looked as if he was simply toeing their line. Why the DT has it in for this woman, I don’t know, beyond their generalised attack-Muslims approach to everything. I’m curious about what’s going on behind the scenes. Howard at least had the canniness to say “no comment” when he was asked about it.
Second that, Tig Tog. Iemma’s reactionary politics really give me the shits. No wonder why the libs end up as frothy-mouthed nazi bulldog dickweeds; it’s the only way they can be more extreme than Iemma in this zero-sum today tonight bullshit that passes for ‘governance’ and ‘taking a stand’.
When I first heard this, I was horrified on two counts, firstly here is a chick who has outstanding qualities and is an excellent role model for racial harmony (somethiing in desperate demand in bigoted Australia). And secondly, to think that there is another state other than my own (WA) that exhibits such a high level of incompetance and buck passing within policing and political circles. It appears that the monsters from the deep are still amoungst us.
But just last week the DT was supporting Ikhitmal Hage-Ali over comments made by some in the Muslim community after she was seen sipping champagne. It is amazing how quickly they have turned.
Agree with the sentiments regarding a presumption of innocence.
Let’s not forget the stupidity and waste of drug laws.
Cocaine has not affected her performance thus far, her career should suffer only when her performance does.
Indeed Shaun. A free society allows individuals to treat their own bodies as their property, be it champers or cocaine. Clearly we’re not free enough.
Further proof that it’s not Iemma pulling the strings in Macquarie Street, but rather the unholy trinity of Jones, Zemanek and Laws. Seems you now have to second-guess those ratbags in order to curry favour… even if it means shafting a fine upstanding citizen like Hage-Ali in the process.
I wonder if the same would have happened if the person involved attended Hillsong rather than a mosque (cue conspiracy theories left, right and far right).
(Oh and Mark Hill, I wouldn’t be saying anything about any sort of substance usage – legal, illegal, actual, alleged or inferred – at this point, lest someone produces the mother of all beat-ups from it.)
If she WAS buying drugs, then she should be in gaol.
If she was NOT involved in drugs, then there is no more to say, she reverts to being a public servant who is also a hot looking chick, but has some extra credibility coz she is loathed by religious extremists.
Soon to be a dastardly duo as Zemanek is quitting radio due to health issues.,
No Steve, you may know ‘the bar’ but your understanding of the legal system is scant.
If a person is CONVICTED of buying drugs they MAY spend some time in jail.
This person has not been charged or convicted of anything but treated as if she has. That is the whole point of the post.
Replace Zemanek with Hadley, and the Holy Trinity is complete, and don’t forget the Terrorgraph as well.
Here in WA we have a couple of Try-hards like The West (who are up on Contempt charges AGAIN, after publishing a letters to the editor, which while not mentioning the case directly, caused a Trial to be Aborted.) and Howard (I was a Failure in Sydney) Sattler.
Unfortunately, Govt policy is dictated by shock-jocks and Tabloid Media outlets, and focus groups.
Iemma is a disgrace.
She’s “stepped down” as Young NSW person of the year:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/young-australian-steps-down/2006/12/14/1165685802971.html
Irfan’s take in Crikey:
http://www.crikey.com.au/Media/20061213-The-iDaily-Teleis-tabloid-coverage-of-Iktimal-Hage-Ali.html
Yeah true re Iemma’s behaviour but if Debnam was premier she’d already be in the lock up.
Sad, isn’t it, Shaun. I don’t know how they do it, but the NSW Liberals actually manage to place themselves politically as both more extreme and more stupid.
Kudos, Kodos.
I wonder where Labor would be in the polls if Brogden hadn’t imploded.
If O’Farrell were Leader, and if the Right hadn’t done so much hard work white-anting and leaking and bridge-burning, we’d be comprehensively cluster-fucked. It’s NSW Labor’s only hope that the Northern Beaches Taliban who’ve waited a quarter of a decade to take the Opposition over are patient enough to wait *another* quarter-century to win government.
What Liam said. The Libs should romp home with the election. The only good thing that may come out of the election for the Liberals is that a failure at the polls could loosen the influence of the David Clarke etc have on the party.
I too think this is terrible. Poor kid has had her face in the newspapers for days, had to hand back something she richly deserved, and has lost a lot of her hard won status. YET SHE’S DONE NOTHING WRONG.
Possible scandal brewing. Channel 9 just reported that NSW Labor MP Cherie Burton could be in trouble for not reporting money that was stolen by a staffer (something to that effect). Nothing on the wires yet.
Update: Something from Ninemsn.
Joe2, I don’t claim to know the legal system, nor did I claim to be forecasting the outcome of a brush with it. Reading comprehension ain’t your strong point.
I was stating an opinion: If she bought drugs, she should be in gaol.
In reality the legal system is not noted for its propensity to dish out deterrent-grade punishment. Indeed, punishment of any sort is something from which the common-grade miscreant has little to fear.
If she is not implicated in anything, there is not, should not, and should not have been, any beat-up, any story. In particular any action by the government of NSW, the point of the post which began this thread is the the premier of NSW was way out of order, nobody could disagree with this.
However there may be more to it than we may have first thought, it seems she has returned her Young Australian of the Year award.
Steve there is a story here saying that:
Her lawyer says
Small wonder!
The timing of all this is VERY suss. Was this Smear Campaign designed to prevent a “Terrorist Muslim Criminal” from being announced as Young Australian of The Year ? This would not sit well in Howard’s New Order.
I can imagine how uncomfortable it would’ve been for Howard to be standing there on australia Day Eve announcing this.
What’s the bet that the eventual winner will be a white, Anglo-Celtic, or some other “Govt Sanctioned Ethnic” to take out the gong.
Hmm, either this national manager of the young Australian of the Year awards is as weak as fairy floss, or perhaps there is more to the story than the public knows.
So a few journalists write stuff about a winner. At least they make us aware there is such a thing a Young Australian of the Year.
Could be there is more to the story thought. The public would have given her a lot of slack, on the basis that any enemy of Hilay can’t be all that bad, however her choice of lawyer was a VERY bad blue.
A quick googling of Stephen Hopper will reveal his other high profile clients. It doesn’t auger well for her non-ratbag credentials.
As head of a new “Star Chamber” you couldn’t go past steve at the pub, if he is prepared to leave the bar. Court sessions were “held in secret, with no indictments, no right of appeal, no juries, and no witnesses. Evidence was presented in writing.”
To modernise that, on Steves behalf, we could add damning indications like ‘an award returned’ ,’media whisperings’ and a ‘suspicious defense choice’. The ‘victim’ previously known as the ‘defendant’, would have in her favour, for balance, that she is a “hot looking chick” and “loathed by religious extremists.” This on top of the fact that she has not been charged with anything, but guaranteed a stiff “gaol” sentence if she was. John Howard this is the man for the job.
As for a replacement for ‘young orstralyan of the year’ , suitable to all , we could revisit young Ja’mie King who would fit any government criteria perfectly.
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/heroes/jamie/default.htm
wow, steve at the pub, i can’t believe you are taking such a stupid tough guy hard line with this media-drugs non-case when you have ‘the pub’ in your moniker, which as a social institution has caused so much more grief in Australian social life than illegal hard or soft drugs ever will. wake up to yourself.
Glen, your christian fundamentalist temperance leage attitude is offensive. Do you sit in church & shut your eyes, unable to bear the thought that somewhere someone may be having.. *ugh*.. FUN?
Joe2, are you sour that I pulled you up on a point before & are making juvenile retaliatory commentary? Or do you really have a reading comprehension problem?
The kid hasn’t been convicted of anything, I am not suggesting she be gaoled, sacked, sent on “leave” or be forced to return awards.
The NSW premier seems to be way out of order. There is likely to be a little more to the issue than the public yet know. Why did she return the award? It would be tragic if she returned it coz of the news media storm. However her choice of legal representative is sufficient for cool heads to stop & ponder.
steve at the pub,
errr… christian fundy? is that the best you can do? lol
i’ll play nice
maybe you don’t realise how idiotic it appears when you now pull out the “don’t conspire against my fun” defence in a thread where you have been speaking in law’n'order cliches about the threat of tougher sentences (“deterrent-grade punishment”) for petty drug offences?
I’ve shared a beer or two with glen. He understands beer and fun. Just sayin…
“Joe2, are you sour that I pulled you up on a point before & are making juvenile retaliatory commentary? Or do you really have a reading comprehension problem?”
“No” and “no”, steve at the pub. You have amused me again though……………..
“However her choice of legal representative is sufficient for cool heads to stop & ponder”, says steve.
In a staggering new twist, you have become a spokesperson for the “cool heads”.
Wow, that is funny given your apparent hypocritical and self interested opinion on very harsh penalties for any form of drug intoxication that is not alcohol driven.
Also, that cool heads would “stop and ponder” her choice of legal rep and thus her “non-ratbag credentials” – ‘she’s loathed by extremists, man’ – on the basis of a quick google search of who Stephen Hopper has for clients, is laughable.
Promise to leave now steve, but can I have one more beer before I go?
Yes, I know I’m “juvenile”.
Typically contradictory op/ed by Miranda:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/harmony-from-the-heart-not-law/2006/12/15/1166162317462.html?page=2
Joe2: Interesting that you consider abiding by the law as “hypocritical”.
Glen: You are a beer drinker? A home brewer no doubt, given your stated view of pubs. And another who refers to obeying the law as “idiotic”. Do you view all laws this way? Or just the ones you disagree with?
I guess we will have to wait and find out what is really going on here but comments like
“somethiing in desperate demand in bigoted Australia”
really piss me. Oz may not be perfect but where is the mythical land we can all aspire to? Perhaps Tic Toc can name a near neighbour (or a bloody far one for that matter)to which we can gaze with awe and wonder..
Oigal, You only have to look at what has happened in the handling of the Palm Island Death in Custody to see why Tic Toc may well have more reason to be Pissed than you have. Add that to the siuation being discussed in this post and it does show that some Australian States as well as the Feds have much work to do to improve the situation currently prevailing. I think it is more a matter of working our way through what is with us than looking for a utopia somewhere else.
“it does show that some Australian States as well as the Feds have much work to do to improve the situation currently prevailing”
Yep and it is and should be on-going but the never ending ” desperate demand in bigoted Australiaâ? type of comment is both tiresome and inaccurate.
In fact, compared to our regional neighbours Australia has an admirable record. No one is saying these is not areas of serious concern or areas that need addressing, there are and ther always will be. To constantly trot these comments out as if Oz is some kind of international reknown country of evil is just false.
oigal , there is a lot more back slapping about what a great people we are, partly justified, than sober recognition of much poor behaviour in the area of race relations. We don’t have to wallow in the dreadful aspects of our past or our present crappy treatment of some refugees, coories and members of the Muslim community.
Its just really disappointing for many of us when media,citizens and politicians seek to create race related conflict for their own ends. Knowledge of how good or bad our neighbours are on these matters ,while interesting, is a diversion and used by many as an excuse.
the problem is not morris iemma. a society which lets politicians rule them deserves to be ruled by politicians. instead of wringing your hands and crying out “something should be done”, ask yourself why politicians should be any different.
the depressing fact is, pollies are so bad because civilians like you demand no more. it’s easy to empower the electorate: just write ‘cir now!’ on your ballot, and nothing else. a party that ‘wins’ an election with less than 20% of the vote will get the message, and the losers will, too.
australians can have democracy if they want it, very easily. the fact that they don’t have democracy suggests strongly that if you are raised as a subject you never develop those aspects of character needed to be a citizen.
more simply, you are a nation of whingers, not doers.
A NSW state MP, Steve Chaytor, has been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm after a domestic dispute.
Seems he will be allowed to keep his job whilst fighting the charges.
Just a few weeks ago the Premier was standing up saying that White Ribbon Day was a good thing. But domestic violence is, surely, as heinous as child sex? The imputation is surely negative for his government? But he doesn’t move to summarily dismiss this MP – he smoothed over things for Cherie Burton (Housing Minister) as well.
Wonder why? Factional differences, perhaps? After all, Chaytor is a right-winger and protegee of Whitlam’s, Burton is a protegee of Tripodi’s, and Orkopolous was on the left. Or just dismissive of domestic violence.
However you look at it, it’s fucked.