Source: Australian Jewish News, June 21, page 23
A cheap misguided shot by Danby
Michael Danby’s blaming of the “conservative” councillors for AJAX not being awarded the Princes Park allocation seems to be a shameful display of ignorance and politics.
Given there are nine councillors, of whom three are Labor and two are Greens, Danby must be referring to the four independent councillors – as “Conservative” and “Liberals”.
If Danby is truly interested in AJAX playing at Princes Park he should direct the three Labor councillors, including his protégé Cr Delahunty, to support a fair spots ground allocation policy so that there might be a successful outcome for AJAX.
Danby is politically opportunistic by blaming the Jewish councillors for AJAX not being awarded the Princes Park allocation and then misleadingly linking the decision to the Liberal Party by incorrectly labelling the Jewish councillors as Liberals.
This is despite each of us running as independents and not receiving support from any political party – unlike Labour and Green candidates.
Danby’s ignorance of local politics is hardly surprising, given that he has not attended one council meeting in the eight years I have been a councillor.
Taking cheap shots at council officers and Jewish councillors who work hard representing Jewish community interests and the interests of all Glen Eira residents is easy.
Rather than “turfing out” the Jewish councillors, Danby should explain how the Laor government’s recent decision not supporting Israel in the UN is not evidence of his irrelevance and lack of influence within the Labor Party and not reason enough to vote him out in September.
MICHAEL LIPSHUTZ
++++++++++++
Danby is playing petty party politics
I hadn’t realised how concerned Michael Danby was that he might lose his seat until I saw his letter because it is clearly the work of a desperate politician clutching at straws.
Clearly, accurate counting is not a trait of the ALP. He attributes what he sees as the Glen Eira Council’s ills to the Liberal Party, but only three of the nine councillors are Liberals.
There are also three ALP members and two members of the Greens, and one independent.
As a member of the ALP/Greens coalition in Canberra, perhaps Mr Danby’s desire to influence local government would be better served speaking to the ALP/Greens majority on the Glen Eira Council.
However, I’m suyre the majority of ratepayers would prefer party politics were kept out of local government and would not appreciate Danby trying to politicise the council, or giving highly questionable and self-serving analysis of council processes.
They would also expect to see a federal MP show greater concern about council governance, especially after what the Victorian Ombudsman had to say about the Labor-dominated Brimbank Council in 2009, when its councillors got improperly involved in sports ground allocations.
Instead, Danby seems to be trying to encourage our councillors to repeat the misconduct that ultimately saw the Labor state government forced to sack that council.
I would love to see AJAX playing at Princes Park, but I doubt Danby’s ham-fisted approach would do anyting to help that cause.
He should try to do something constructive rather than playing petty party politics.
BERNIE KURAN
Glen Eira Debates 
June 21, 2013 at 3:56 PM
Who is the independent, Please don’t tell me it’s Esakoff
June 21, 2013 at 4:40 PM
She’s independent and I’m father Christmas
June 21, 2013 at 4:01 PM
The wannabe stooge in Kuran has come up for air putting in a letter that was surely written by Lipshutz. His diatribe would be far more convincing if he had got his facts right. Brimbank wasn’t dismissed over sporting ground allocations. They got the chop because the ruling faction interfered with the budget and not the actual ground allocations and the influence of unelected bods. In Glen Eira the same could be said for officers and Liberal wankers like Southwick.
June 21, 2013 at 5:14 PM
Kuran is half right at least. Unlike Lipshutz who says everyone is “independent” apart from the Labs and Greens, he says that 3 are Liberals. They must have got their wires crossed somewhere when they colluded in writing this drivel. Goes to show that two eggheads aren’t better than one.
June 21, 2013 at 4:20 PM
If Kuran wants to talk about sacked councils he just needs to remember Esakoff and Hyams were sacked in 2005. Esakoff was mayor if I remember right. I think that Lipshutz is right in saying that Danby should direct the three Labor councillors to help Ajax, after all Southwick does the same with Him,Hyams and Esakoff all the time.
June 21, 2013 at 4:27 PM
Granted that this paper is geared towards one section of the community. It does not however excuse Lipshutz and Kuran’s ripostes from misquoting and distorting what Danby wrote. In Danby’s letter there was no mention of “jewish’ – that is totally Lipshutz’s invention and the not too subtle appeal to his readers, especially the final, totally irrelevant paragraph. Another term might be “cheap misguided shots” on this one. The thinking is always – “when all else fails, then play the Jewish card to the hilt”.
I’m frankly amazed by the self labelling of these councillors as “independent”. If I remember rightly, Hyams election blurbs were endorsed by a senior Liberal Minister and Lipshutz was an aspiring candidate for preselection that ultimately went to Southwick. As for the other “conservative” Okotel, well she received a nice little $5000 donation I seem to recall from one of the major heavy hitters in the Liberal Party. That would certainly equate to “independence” I’m asked to assume! In relation to the Labor candidates, the only one who noted a contribution was Lobo, from CK Food Stores. Delahunty and Magee in their returns did not cite a single cent. That makes them just as “independent” as Hyams, Lipshutz, Esakoff I would say according to the argument put up by Lipshutz. I would also lump Tang into this former little group and the 2 terms that he served.
Having a sports ground allocation policy (finally) is meaningless unless the decision making is overseen and controlled by councillors and not left in the hands of unelected officials. If Lipshutz wants a “successful outcome” for Ajax, then he’d better make sure that his “conservative” colleagues start insisting that the power to decide who gets what is not left in the hands of Newton and Burke. We’ve already seen the results of their catastrophic decision making on sporting allocations with the Gesac basketball courts. Nor are we any wiser as to how much this decision has cost ratepayers via subsidising the Warriors. This is what happens when “conservative” councillors, or those that are able to be “persuaded” to their cause desert their constituents and allow self interest to be their guiding principles.
June 21, 2013 at 7:30 PM
so Bernie- come to lipshutz’s aid- in my opinion you are all the same- painted with the same opportunistic & self interested greed brush!
Don’t bother putting your name up next elections…
June 21, 2013 at 9:18 PM
Talking of mentorship, Tang’s little incursion into local government was under the wing of his old buddy Lipshutz since the young ambitious lad married his niece. People who live in glass houses should never throw the first bloody hard rock. It always rebounds.
June 21, 2013 at 9:28 PM
Danby is the person who went to Louise Asher of Melbourne University Press to stop (read censor) the publication of a book by Antony Loewenstein called My Israel Question which was critical of Israel. That’s the disregard he has for freedom of speech and democracy. He’s no more than a time serving back bencher who holds his party endorsement because of the Jewish vote he garners. A waste of political space.
June 21, 2013 at 9:32 PM
OMG, these shameless.’ Liberal Councillors’ (who deceptively claim they are “independent”) in the Jewish paper are nothing but a fraud. Look at the arrogant Lipshultz, a dictator writing rubbish condemning his own colleagues who he says are Greens and Labor. This man is a write off and the sooner the community (non Jewish) recognise this the better. His community will support him for the sake of supporting.
Lipshultz is a famous lawyer supposedly dealing with family matters and is well known to people as a rude human being. He appears to be a vindictive person and the proof is the fact that he said the ex-Mayor Whiteside was a useless Mayor. Tang (who was the Mayor that time) gave long ropes to his own – Lipshultz, Hyams and Esakoff and each of them had an understanding who should be the mayor in the second, third and fourth year of the term. Whiteside witnessed this agreement and when she spoke up, Lipshutz and his merry men were cross with Whiteside and waited for an opportunity to destroy her reputation. The gang – Hyams, Esakoff. Lipshultz are a vindictive lot as seen by many in the community over and over again even when they returned after being sacked from the Council for which they are not ashamed.
All three Mayors – Tang twice, Esakoff three times (once when she was sacked) and Hyams for two years. They think no one is capable to take over the position other than the Liberals.
I have also heard that Delahunty and/or Magee would like to give a crack for the position of the Mayor to keep an eye on the one sided Councillors. Hopefully, this happens which will prove to be good to all.
Hyams and Esakoff are extremely worried that Miller and Southwick (who are sitting in their seats and attending some openings ceremonies) may not be re-elected, so they are giving them as much exposure as possible for re-election
in any ways and means ethically (MODERATORS: [phrase deleted)
June 21, 2013 at 9:52 PM
Lipshutz seems to be quite happy to acknowledge that his primary role on council is to represent the Jewish community. Prior to the last election he was praising himself in the Jewish News for winning most of the battles over synagogues.
I’m not a big fan of Danby but at least he seems to have a broader view of his constituency.
Pilling and Souness listed the donations they received from the Greens in their election returns. The Labor candidates did not list any donations from the ALP. Is Lipshutz claiming they are liars?
And they didn’t have to pay people to hand out how-to-vote cards for themselves and their stooges.
June 21, 2013 at 10:10 PM
Anyone who thinks that politics has nothing to do with local government is either entirely naive, or a dullard. The politics surrounding the racecourse, the selection of Hyams, Lipshutz and Esakoff as councillor trustees, and the role of Southwick and Newton in the debacle that is known as the “communique” should be enough to convince anyone that politics is an integral part of what goes on in Glen Eira and possibly elsewhere. The difference is that in Glen Eira the Liberals do owe greater allegiance to their ”’free market” philosophy rather than community benefit. That means that all their decisions can be seen to be grounded on a philosophy of let the market decide. That’s why we have overdevelopment and no planning policy that deserves to be taken seriously. That’s why we also have local laws that preclude open discussion and fair and equitable processes. We are not dealing with “conservatism” but power politics and vested interests in most decisions. That is why there cannot be transparency and any semblance of good governance.
June 21, 2013 at 10:27 PM
This entire matter is a disgrace . Firstly Danby is a fool to mention this matter. This not only shows poor judgement but shows ignorance. As for Lipshutz etc why would you answer a fool and make bigger issue which will only harm the Jewish Community and AJAX. The reason Officers allocate Oval’s is simple, They are indepenant.
June 22, 2013 at 4:57 PM
Bernie and the likes are the lapdogs of Lip shut, Hynas and Esa scoff , who are behind in getting their community to write public questions and letters to the newspapers..The example is the latest letters to the Jewish paper.
Hopefully, Lip shut statement dragging the Greens party Councillor’s into his party politics is not in a good taste. The two councillors are watching their behaviour and are hopefully convinced of the hidden agenda behind the group.
Was Lip shut sacked from a Jewish organisation? It would be interesting to know the name if anyone knows on this forum?
It is despicable the way the gang operates, one supporting the other and voting in the same manner hoping they get on their hook one of the remaining 5 councillors. Meetings and phones organized before every council meetings and giving the reason that each of them got more votes than the other 6 councillors which was the reason for picking them up by the liberal government is a load of rubbish. The gang is the cause of transparency that ensures their hidden agenda is successful. An inborn skill to trick people as history shows
June 22, 2013 at 10:56 PM
Lipshutz brings out the violin Jewish card, what a disgrace, how about you represent all communities and residents. Why should AJAX be granted an allocation just because they are Jewish, how about they get in line like all the other clubs wanting Princes Park. Racism at its best why should religion have anything to do with it. Thank god independent officers make the allocations and not Jewish Councillors for Jewish only groups.
June 23, 2013 at 11:03 AM
Your way off the beam here. Nothing to do with being jewish and all to do not having the balls to tell Burke that he doesn’t run the joint. The only indpendent thing these people do is make sure they stay in control.
June 23, 2013 at 7:22 AM
Claiming that he, Hyams, Esakoff and Okotel are not members of, or have strong alliances with, the Liberal Party is pure bullsh*t. Both the Liberal and Labor parties have a policy of not endorsing candidates at the Council level because Council is “supposedly” non-partisan government at the community level for the benefit of the community. However, Liberal or Labor members, or those with strong alliances to either party, who are also Councillors are expected to follow the relevant party’s line.
The above Lipshutz tirade is typical of his objectionable and confrontational style, his consistent skewing of the facts and his inability to accept any view other than his own. Why the community he represents continually supports him is difficult to understand as he is clearly not representative of that community’s majority.
As for Bernie Kuran, he is a Lipshutz “yes man”. Anyone willing to ride Lipshutz’s coat tails doesn’t deserve comment.
June 23, 2013 at 12:15 PM
Politics is a dirty business. My expectations of Council include that it establishes clear policies, monitors their effectiveness, and constantly strives for improvement in its governance, communications, and delivery of services to the community. Where Council delegates powers, duties, responsibilities to Council Staff, individual councillors should not interfere, but Council as a whole can and should provide firm guidance in the exercise of discretion. In the case of AJAX’s request, and ground allocations generally, we don’t have clear policies or transparent decision-making. This same criticism applies to most decisions made under delegated authority.
The repeated emphasis of the “Jewishness” of the Club, and of selected councillors and politicians, is a concern and not good for the overall health of the community. One would hope that this would have no bearing on decisions being made, but Cr Lipshutz has left us in no doubt that it is a major factor in his views when considering planning applications. It even provoked Cr Tang to make a rare rebuke of his colleague in Council. It is particularly poor form that a Jewish newspaper is considered an appropriate forum in which to lobby for support concerning community facilities. The Mission of AJAX is not to contribute to the community but to make a contribution to the local Jewish Community.
I hope never to make Cr Lipshutz’ mistake in confusing a Government with its citizens, which in the case of Israel are roughly 20% arab, and I’ll add that the UN vote Cr Lipshutz referred to concerned progress towards statehood for Palestine, not Israel. The Balfour Declaration appeared in 1917 and politicians have been reneging on its principles ever since.
June 23, 2013 at 1:35 PM
Politics is certainly a dirty business and in Glen Eira priorities have been askew for a very long time. I would have thought that the primary function of any local government is to serve its residents. There have been countless examples where this does not happen under the current regime. The issue of Ajax shouldn’t be about a Jewish club or a non-Jewish club in my view. The central issue must focus on whether local residents, be they Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, or whatever, are having their needs addressed – especially if they represent a large minority of the population and pay their rates and charges. Ajax would qualify under this category if true that a fair percentage of their membership resides in Glen Eira. The same could be said for the McKinnon Basketball Association. I very much doubt whether this council is serving the interests of its locals. We have no figures on which clubs outside of Glen Eira receive ground allocations, nor how many of these clubs have members residing outside of the city. My take on all this is that those who pay for the grounds and their upkeep should be given first priority – not outsiders.
This all goes back of course to Reprobate’s point about delegations. In Glen Eira planning delegations have successfully removed councillors from most planning decisions. The same can be said for ground allocations and expenditure. The law I guess favours officers. But this does not mean that councillors are impotent and powerless despite the manipulation and favours. If the current trends continue then there is no need for councillors whatsoever. They become emasculated appendages serving the interests of outsiders and bean counters.
June 23, 2013 at 2:14 PM
D. Evans – It looks like you are blinded with some fixation. Are you aware that there are around 20+ teams in Glen Eira who are 100% residents of the city and are in line waiting for ground allocations; whereas others are using the allocations of neighbouring municipalities? Why should Ajax get special treatment just because a few of their players like Bernie who may be living in Caulfield.? You give them an inch and they quickly take a yard. (MODERATORS: sentences deleted). Ombudsman needs to probe rather than sitting on their hands and make 6 monthly audits to check the obvious decisions and the real basis for making them. Australia has been too kind to welcome all sorts of people may they be fanatics or habits of genetics.
June 23, 2013 at 3:09 PM
anon could all be solved by having the sports grounds at Caulfield Racecourse but that is all too hard to use our public land.
June 23, 2013 at 7:49 PM
You haven’t answered my comment. Even if you’re right and there are twenty teams waiting for allocation, this doesn’t tell us how many current teams playing in Glen Eira are non locals, nor how many of their members reside outside the city. I always thought that the purpose of facilities was to cater for residents’ needs and not to sell out to the highest bidder as happened with Gesac basketball or for officers to play favourites.
June 23, 2013 at 6:56 PM
mrc fan club – Why don’t the three liberal councillor trustees (apart from them getting free tickets for races and dinners) obtain the grounds at Caulfield Racecourse? This will help their bosom buddies like Bernie and others of AJAX. Are they not in the council for themselves and their community? This would be damn easy way of helping their friends at AJAX. At the moment they are seen to be playing a charade with the officers and Ajax. They are often ahead of everything; why don’t they do this – Absurd hum?
June 24, 2013 at 3:45 PM
I thought Ajax’s biggest problem may have been was they tried to buy their way in to Princes Park, with a under the table deal that involved a fair amout of cash. This deal excluded the Councillors and council officers. This was a huge mistake, that backfired. It would good to find out if Lipshutz or Hyam or Kuran new anything about this deal.
June 24, 2013 at 11:48 PM
As ratepayers of Glen Eira our three councillors of the Giveaway Gang for C60 and racecourse reserve may or may not attend trustee mettings and may not report about the outcomes of these twice annual meetings and stand by the false invitation given to Glen Eira ratepayers to ttend trustee meetings the unwelcome entry opportunities for GE Residents and do not utter a word regarding their time spent if they go to trustee meetings. OH WELL IT’S NOT A SECRET SOCIETY IS IT?