Attacking Our Democratic Process !

Salim Mehajer is probably as familiar a face to the general public as our prime minster.  He has figured prominently on both television news screens and newspaper headlines since he burst into prominence six years ago with his wedding, which had all the grandeur of the enthronement of a Pope and the elevation of a Viceroy.  A city centre was closed down for hours as drum beating supporters, helicopters and a convoy of expensive motor vehicles heralded the nuptials of this property developer and recently elected councillor in the style of a Maharajah.

Mehajer craved publicity but much of it was the wrong sort.  We were privy to the  failure of his marriage and a messy court action when a staircase supplier sued to claim payment for the work of art installed in the marital home, and now the worst publicity of all.  This week Mehajer left court in handcuffs as Magistrate Beverley Schurr sentenced him to a maximum of twenty-one months in prison for electoral fraud.

In fact Salim Mehajer has been in and out of jail for the past six months as various indiscretions have caught up with him, but the serious affront to society is a conviction for stacking the 2012 Auburn council election by simply enrolling people who were not entitled to vote, with the result that he not only gained office but went on to become deputy mayor.

Magistrate Schurr found that he had engaged in joint criminal enterprises with his sister, Fatima to rig the 2012 Auburn council election in his favour.  Electoral office staff became suspicious after an unusually large number of  online enrolment applications were received in July 2012.  Fatima received a suspended two month jail sentence and a $500 good behaviour bond.  She also had been an unwilling council candidate on the basis of her position in the family hierarchy.

Salim Mehajer's lofty ambitions have fallen to earth and the man who professed a desire to become prime minister is now disgraced.  He has announced that the sentence will be appealed, but the focus is now on our democratic process and the ease with which that old political ploy of branch stacking has been so successfully employed to rig a council election.

It is painfully obvious that the electoral commission which supervises elections in Australia needs to have another long look at the process in which voters are enrolled.  Voting in Federal, State and council elections is compulsory in Australia and failure to vote brings a hefty fine.  In the past applications to join the voting roll have been largely taken on trust but this successful fraud is sending warning signals.  It received a positive result, and it will clearly become an option in future elections.

A vote is something of value in the hands of the general public and we are concerned that outside forces are manipulating public opinion by feeding fake news through public media outlets like Facebook.  The fact that the voting rolls may be tampered with will only throw doubt on the whole democratic apparatus to deliver government that is the will of the people.

Salim Mehajer may have done us a public service if his crime results in the electoral roll being tightened to the degree that we have confidence that every person casting a vote has had that right fully authenticated.  He has thrown the spotlight on what seems a very obvious weakness and it needs to be rectified !