21 November 08

Auburn council decision: disgraceful motion for cheap political gain

The Social Justice Network (SJN) agrees with Auburn Mayor, Clr Simms, that yesterday’s motion to continue freezing the fund for Auburn Neighbourhood Community Aid Centre (ANCAC) is in fact “an embarrassment to council”.

Last night’s motion moved by Greens Clr Malikeh Michaels was a clear indication about the political game the “Greens – Liberal” alliance will play in this council’s term.

The Greens who moved enthusiastically this motion should be ready to take the full moral and political responsibility for this disgraceful move.

“During email exchanges between Clr Michaels and me last week, she said that her motion was to “stop nepotism and bring more accountability to the council businesses” said Jamal Daoud, spokesperson for SJN.

To this point she was using the same empty rhetoric that the Greens used for the last decade to win votes from marginalised communities. But let us put facts to this rhetoric:
1- Ms Michaels was making these accusations about Mrs Barbara Curtin, who is the wife of Labor Clr Pat Curtin, to link her with wrong doing of a “nepotism” nature. In this instance we note:
a- Mrs Curtin is the head of Management Committee of ANCAC for less than 18 months. The funding of the council to the organisation goes back to about 2 decades.
b- Mrs Curtin is not a paid manager or worker in the organisation.
c- There were no official complaints from council workers or from the public indicating any kind of wrong-doing or suspicious practices of this particular organisation.
d- The organisation showed high accountability practices by providing the council with monthly minutes of its meetings and financial statements.
e- The organisation never distributed political materials on its premises encouraging people to vote Labor in any previous elections.

2- The motion and the excuses used to justify it indicate very clearly that Ms Michaels has no commitment to issues of social justice. It also shows very clearly that Clr Michaels is lacking any understanding of how the non-government not-for-profit organisations are operating and getting their funds. I would like to explain to Clr Michaels that many of the programs and funds are called “recurrent” funding. The funding bodies would not require renewal of applications for funding every year, as long as the needs and the issues are still there.

“We are not surprised by the Greens representative’s motion. The history of the Greens is one of talking a lot about marginalised people but delivering very little” added Mr Daoud.

“When the issue was about closing down illegally operated brothels in residential areas, or it was about shutting down injecting rooms, the Greens were very active campaigning against these decisions as if the sky is about to fall down. But when it is about shutting down a noble organisation that helps very poor people meet their basic food needs, the Greens was the one who actively moved this motion, twice”

“It is clear that Clr Michaels’ intentions were to generate some public support. We will enable her to do so. We will do everything in our capacity to make this issue an issue of public interest, and let the mostly poor and marginalised residents of Auburn decide”

“It is worrying when the Greens enter secret alliance with the Liberals, disregarding the shameful deeply regressive practices of the Liberal state and federal governments. In Auburn where thousands of its residents were tortured for years in the notorious detention centres of Woomera, Curtain, Port Headland … we find it very unprincipled and opportunistic to enter such an alliance. The Greens was the one who benefited from trading on the suffering of these thousands of refugees for electoral gain for the last few years”

Even locally, it is very alarming to see the Greens Clr who ran her election campaign against the greed of developers and real estate agents, entering now a sacred secret alliance with these developers and agents, against the interests of highly marginalised and very poor Auburn residents

We note here our deep disappointment at Clr Izzet Anmak’s stance. He should have asked himself how would such motion affect the life of Auburn residents, and then vote accordingly.

We will announce in due course what actions we will take. From the daily comments of Auburn residents about this issue, we are sure that the councillors who decided to take this path will regret supporting this motion.

For more information, you can contact Jamal Daoud on 0424 163 667