The Greens oppose the CPRS not because it is too weak, but because it will point Australia in the wrong direction with little prospect of turning it around in the timeframe within which emissions must peak, says Senator Christine Milne.
Vanstone may have to walk over mafia visa
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The incredible saga of Amanda Vanstone and the Mafia is becoming one of those political episodes which gathers more momentum as each day passes. According to a source in the Immigration department, the lights in Immigration have been burning bright around the clock since The Age broke the story about Vanstone’s reversal of a deportation order of a suspected Mafia identity whose brother is an alleged Calabrian crime figure who also happened to make a substantial donation to the Liberal party. Word is that if the John Howard Liberals took money from the Exclusive Brethren, then why would alleged Mafia dollars be refused? There are also questions circulating as to why the Australian Federal Police presence at the Embassy was withdrawn and moved to an Eastern European capital. There are questions to be asked and according to the Immigration source, Amanda’s tenure as ambassador could well bite the dust at a moments notice if this doesn’t go away. And it doesn’t seem to losing momentum. In an incredible overnight statement, Amanda uses an emotive “I did this in the interest of Australia as a human and generous society”. The immigration source, who had been overseeing on the Howard government’s behalf some of the most draconian treatment ever meted out to refugees, said this was too hard to take, given that this character was originally given marching orders by Vanstone’s predecessor Philip Ruddock. According to Ruddock, Francesco Madafferi — the man in the middle of the saga — was a suspected mafia identity who overstayed his visa and had a long record of criminal activity in Italy in the 1980s. Mr. Madafferi was arrested last month for an alleged major drug trafficking conspiracy. This is fast become a situation of watch this space. |
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6 Comments
I welcomed the new Rudd government but in some areas it’s just lying doggo and the law seems to be one of them. The new AG Robert McClelland appears to be believing everything told to him by the security services who have already shown they can’t be trusted. Why this new government didn’t purge public servant departmental heads who co-operated in Howard’s partisan public service is a mystery. Instead of exposing the hokey practises of the previous gobernment they seem to want to avoid scandals at all cost. I reckon Vanstone is safe for now-as safe as she would have remained under Howard until the situation finally becomes untenable.
Russell Broadbent, one of the three Lib MPs who lobbied Her Excellency, back when she was just The Honorable, once spoke glowingly of a Mr Vincent Madaferri in Parliament. A relative? Francesco Madafferi, along with a number of mourners, was arrested not long after the funeral of a Vincent Madaferri
‘Gathers more momentum as each day passes?’ There has been minimal media coverage on this seemingly disgraceful episode after The Age’s scoop at the weekend (kudos to The Age’s Nick McKenzie & Richard Baker for their exclusive). The Australian online picked it up today (THREE whole days after The Age ran with it) and no other media outlet has shown any interest whatsoever. Even now there’s only a couple of mentions on the likes on NineMSN and LiveNews. I was beginning to wonder if I had imagined reading about the sordid affair at all. Why has this not been front page news everywhere? Maybe due to all the important coverage of the Brownlow Medal ceremony and the Emmy Awards? Go back to sleep (with the fishes) Australia. Fuhgedaboutit….
Is there any member of that wretched government who shoudn’t be in jail? Downer, Vaile, Reith, Kelly. Ok, admittedly Abbott wasn’t caught (though after Reith’s disgraceful behaviour, shouldn’t they have all gone as accessories before the fact? Vanstone is just typical. Plenty of room in Mulawa or Norma Parker for her.
Also, another example of a govt sending an absolute disgrace to a country which has enriched and improved Australia.
This person is a disgrace. As immigrarion Minister she was incompetent in the extreme, a loose cannon, totally out of her depth. Why PM Rudd has kept her on as Ambassador to Italy, given his background and insistence on keeping his hand half on Minister Smiths portfolio beggers understanding. If this latest scandel blows up in his and her face, Rudd deserves a degree of egg on his moonish features.
That Vandstone is still carrying on as if the Libs were still in power says much about the loyalty she holds to her office. She should be given a one way ticket back home to face the music and take the consequences. Someone mention Karma?
It is pleasing to see people wanting a policitian to be held accountable for overriding deportation orders after what appears to be donations to a political party or related organisation. Now that we have the Liberals in the gun perhaps Barry Everingham might do us all a favour and start investigating the reversals that have occured with other people who seem to have had deportation orders overridden by Labour Party Ministers. In Melbourne recently a man was convicted under terrorism legislation and he like Madafferi had exhausted every trick in the book yet yet managed to avoid deportation despite receiving a third order. This bloke had never worked in all the time he lived here. We also had Gerry Hand override deportation orders on a Mufti in Sydney’s West for pure political advantage.
Despite Barry’s assurances I think we will be waiting ‘til hell freezes over before the ALP will take to Vanstone. They might give her a working over with a feather but that’s about there will be.
The Italian police have expressed their disapproval but so what. Will anything change in Australia, NO! Politicians want to be re-elected and will do anything and accept money from anybody to achieve this. Protect the country, it only happens in movies.