In late-night speech, Tania Mihailuk links Bankstown mayor and Labor candidate Khal Asfour to corrupt former minister Eddie Obeid
Labor frontbencher has used parliamentary privilege to launch a scathing attack on her own party, linking one of its candidates for the next election with corrupt former minister Eddie Obeid and accusing party leaders of ignoring the “horrific influence” of property developers.
Shadow minister Tania Mihailuk used a late night speech in parliament on Tuesday to launch the extraordinary attack on Canterbury-Bankstown mayor Khal Asfour, who is nominated to run on the party’s upper house ticket ahead of its state conference next month. Mihailuk, the MP for Bankstown, launched a series of accusations against Asfour about the redevelopment of land in the area, including alleged links to Obeid. “Candidacy for such a privileged position, you would expect, warrants comprehensive scrutiny, particularly given Labor’s recent Icac woes and the well-documented Icac findings against former ministers, which marred the last“I raise my legitimate and longstanding concerns regarding Asfour’s character and his unprincipled actions in furthering the interests of developers and identities, in particular Eddie Obeid, who went to his wedding, adorning him with a generous gift, as Asfour boasted at the time, and remained steadfastly committed to ensuring Asfour would be mayor throughout the period of redeveloping the landholdings in Bankstown.” Asfour has been nominated by Labor’s right faction for an eight-year term in the state’s upper house at the March state election, but Mihailuk took aim at the party’s leadership, including general secretary Bob Nanva, claiming she had raised concerns about Asfour previously.“I have either written or raised matters in meetings. I remember raising my concerns early on with [former Labor general secretary] Jamie Clements, who was, unsurprisingly, uninterested. “But I thought Bob Nanva, tasked with the challenge of cleaning up Labor post Icac, would be different. “I met with him on 7 February 2020 at 2.30pm. I relayed my concerns about the horrific influence with respect to developers, the pressure on councillors, the unusual party members joining up and the myriad of documents that have been presented to party office and respective authorities over the years.” She claimed preselecting Asfour would put the saga over John Barilaro’s selection for a plum New York trade job “into the shade”. “And indeed the wider public would have to question what the Labor Party’s operation mantra is going to be under a potential Minns Labor government if we can’t deliver new blood that is not tainted,” she said.Our Australian morning briefing email breaks down the key national and international stories of the day and why they matterNewsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our
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