10th November 2021
The re-emergence to prominence of the Red Shirts criminal artifice has come as quite a shock, mainly to the perpetrators, who had good reason to believe their crimes were well buried.
To the rest of us, guarded relief that the offenders involved in these crimes may, at last, be brought to justice.
That it has not happened thus far, reeks of corruption. gross incompetence or other impairments within the authorities designed to deal with corruption by those employed on our behalf to manage our State.
Strong suspects contributing to this inaction, apart from self -interest is warped ideology that spurs minions to not rock the boat and report corruption.
‘There are none so blind as those who do not wish to see.’
The Red Shirt ruse is only part of this story.
The corruption that intervened in the proper application of the Law will, however, become the bigger story.
If as opinionated by Herald Sun reporter Kieran Rooney (9/11/21) is accurate, Robert Redlich, the IBAC Commissioners, ‘jaw hit the floor’, when disgraced Labor MP Adam Somyurek dropped the bombshell that the Premier was aware of the Red Shirts rort
We will have to look more closely at the role and function of IBAC and the Commissioner.
We are not suggesting the allegations against the Premier are true, but our concern is the reaction of the Commissioner.
Through our contacts, from eminent legal practitioners to former executive police who had worked with Robert Redlich, the evaluation of his character was consistent. His integrity is of the highest order and he and would not bend to external influences, yet paradoxically, it would seem he was shocked by the evidence.
It seems incredible that the majority of the community has long formed the view that the Red Shirts program was criminal. The close association between the Red Shirts and the Premier demonstrated by the proliferation of media photographs of him proudly interacting with the participating Red Shirts, was too blatant to miss.
For the Premier to deny any knowledge of the artifice is challenging to accept and that, he was allegedly interacting, should not be a surprising revelation for the Commissioner. To be surprised by the allegations suggests, in the absence of any other explanation, that he has led an insular existence that has created a lack of understanding that the rest of us have grasped.
I don’t think anybody other than perhaps blinkered supporters of the Premier would accept he did not know.
Whether that knowledge extends to criminality is doubtful; however, those directly involved in falsifying documents and other nefarious activities must be held to account for the crimes they have committed.
In a civilised society, criminality cannot be allowed to be airbrushed away, whether involving the elite political class or the ordinary citizen. Doing so condones crime and can destroy democracy, it is that important to quell.
Much has been said about the amount of money paid back to the State by the Labor party over this fiasco. That repayment is an admission of guilt no matter which way you slice or dice it, and we would suggest it never would have been repaid had it not been exposed.
That this repayment in some ways mitigates; criminality is one of the greatest fallacies ever reported.
To give an example to understand the misinformation that has been proffered over this Red Shirts crime is a recent example in the community that gives context by disparity.
Recently reported was the story of a suburban mum who committed substantial fraud on her employer over some time and when confronted pleaded guilty to the offending.
Ironically and consistent with the Red Shirts issue this mum and her family went to extraordinary lengths to repay the poor victim the thousands stolen; however, she was sentenced to a minimum of a two-year jail for her crime.
Using the Red Shirts paradoxically, she should not have been charged, let alone convicted, as she paid the money back.
A rationale that should never be countenanced by any stretch.
Is this another example of one set of rules for the first and second estates and another for the third?
Let’s hope that the IBAC Commissioner will see through this fog and go after not only the perpetrators of the Red Shirts artifice but, more importantly, the facilitators that conspired to stymie prosecutions are arguably the greater criminals and their deeds must be exposed.
If we are ever to reign in corruption it is the facilitators that must be prosecuted.
The impact of corrupt leaders is to generate more corruption, and when they err, they must be held to account because if they are not, the next layer down sees it as acceptable, as explained by the Somyurek evidence. The corruption permeates down through the organisation, in this case, the State, a situation that is now evidenced in Victoria.
Unless this rot is arrested then the consequences become more dire for all of us.
The IBAC Commissioner will be judged by how he deals with this matter; or is our IBAC only good for prosecuting perpetrators for ‘Pillow Talk’?
To support the work of the CAA go to https://caainc.org.au/support-caa/
The WATTS IBAC Hearing is nothing but a show for thousands of us to tune in and watch, nothing will eventuate from this hearing, there will be no charges laid. As for the Red Shirt Rort? it will once again be swept under the carpet. The only thing that will eventuate from the millions spent on these investigation is Adum Somyurek will release his book that will become a best cellar LOL
I have long held the belief that the signed blank timesheets were prima facie evidence of wrongdoing by ministers of the Crown and would have resulted in convictions if taken to court, regardless of ‘no comment’ interviews, or no interviews at all.
The Red Shirts farce was as a result of VicPol failing in their duty, then IBAC should have intervened on behalf of the public they are supposed to represent.
Arrogant Andrews would have not only known about the rort but would have encouraged all involved, knowing that he had corrupted every level of authority in Victoriastan and that he would walk free. Hopefully, now that it has been exposed, Mr. Redlich cares enough about his professional reputation to remedy earlier ‘oversights’.
Sorry, the corruption in Victoria is so entrenched, even the judiciary is not without tainted biase in favour of Andrews & his criminal minions!
Victoria’s judiciary across the board has been corrupted for decades.. have a look at who heard the action brought by the Mornington businesswoman last year against Daniel Andrews Gov..a newly appt judge whose father, if my memory serves me right was a member of the Labor Party, maybe even an MP in his day so of course the son, also a stalwart Labor supporter found “no case to answer” Andrews has made a mockery of the separation of powers and we desperately need that to end
Keep up the good work. We must root out the wide spread corruption in our political system. As money comes to hand I will make donations.
There is so much corruption in this world atm, not only in the government but in the judiciary systems, Schools, Churches, Police force. It makes me sick.
It needs to be stopped!!
For IBAC; Dan Andrews owns and controls all of the judiciary and regulatory bodies in Victoria; they are less than useless.
As to the woman who committed fraud; A crime is a crime. If you break the law you should expect to be held accountable. Paying the money back does not absolve you of the crime. although I do feel for her and she clearly is remorseful. She should not have committed the crime. And I do see the dichotomy here.
It is appalling how people in high places are allowed to get away with tormenting the pupil
They creat more harm than good so much corruption in this country the average Joe could do a better job.
They only care about them selves its absolutely appalling
I have seen it suggested that the “red Shirts” affair and indeed the branch stacking are not criminal offences but “only” a breach of Labor Party rules. WRONG!
In accordance with Section 73(9) of the crimes act (which deals the obligation to deal with property in a particular way) those who missused the tax payers money are in fact guilty of theft and those who assist are also guilty of theft as accomplices. Numerous case law exists which support the application of these charges and the average citizen would be subject to it.
Victoria seems to be distinctly corrupt according to this evidence & some media reports.
I welcome integrity. NSW NLP is corrupt in dealing with the Christian Porter case & others.
Dic Dan and his gang controlling Victoria no one to interfere even our Prime Minister Scott is scared or involved with him he said yesterday he’s not Victorian or the premier or the opposition. Let me remind you Scott Victorian are Australian too and as we believe you are Australia’s Prime Minister.
If the royal commission didn’t get involved in the feat of 800+ Victorian and not even interested to investigate it and to charge the crown casino nothing but to try to fix their problems in the next two years. That’s the end of Victorian.