On mail order brides & suicides – why Liberal Party culture and not the media are to blame for the Brogden downfall

This week, all talk was on John Brogden’s resignation from the position of Leader of the Parliamentary Wing of the NSW Liberal Party, followed by his suicide attempt. Much has been said about the role of the media, particularly Daily Telegraph editor David Penberthy.

On Radio National’s Breakfast Program with Fran Kelly (Friday 2 September 2005), former Sydney Morning Herald journalist Margot Kingston described Penberthy as young and irresponsible. She even suggested he be investigated by the NSW police for some kind of offence. It all sounded a little over-the-top, the sort of thing I would say at 3am after becoming intoxicated by fumes.

So who really is responsible? Why did John try to take his life? Who is responsible? Can anyone other than John’s exceptionally low mood be responsible?


The Story

People don’t commit suicide in an emotional and psychological vacuum. John wasn’t the most religious person on earth, but he did have strong Catholic values. John also had a zest for life, and his performance in the polls gave him everything to live for.

Yet eventually news broke out of his comments regarding Mrs Helena Carr as well of his approaches to some female journalists. Then later, other incidents were reported.

So where did Daily Telegraph journalists get this stuff from? Did they make it up? Did they pull it out of the air? Who told them and why?


My Disclosure

Before I address these questions, I may as well reveal my biases and disclose my interests. I am a former Liberal candidate for Reid. I was a Liberal Party member from 1993 to 2003 when I allowed my membership to lapse.

In 2001, I was the sole legitimate pre-selection candidate and should have been endorsed as the Liberal candidate for Auburn in the by-election. I was defamed in a column by Telegraph columnist Piers Akerman, who described me as the “local Moslem” and could not even spell my name correctly.

In 2003, I was threatened with defamation by a journalist for the Daily Telegraph. I received a letter from a News Limited lawyer which I still have.

Apart from being a former young liberal, I am also a columnist for an online US-based progressive Muslim magazine and for a local Muslim newspaper. I take the reputation of my faith community very seriously, even if I do not practise my faith as much as I should.

The Telegraph has been at the forefront of offending Muslim sentiments. In Muslim circles, the Telegraph is often seen as the enemy. A certain DT columnist referred to above is often lampooned as “Piersed Akumen” on discussion forums.

So with that in mind, it is obvious what my view is on the whole incident with John Brogden.


Not So Obvious View

My view is that David Penberthy, editor of the DT, was simply allowing to go to print what his reporters had heard from Liberal Party sources.

Should Penberthy have printed this stuff after Brogden resigned? I don’t know. But what I d know is that Penberthy is not responsible for Brogden’s suicide attempt.


Better Man

As I write these lines, Mr Brogden is recovering and receiving therapy in a private psychiatric clinic. Hopefully, he will learn about Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and other psychological self-help mechanisms for dealing with depression and other mood disorders.

I hope that John will come out of all this a better man. I hope this will be his “Rumi syndrome”, a chance for him to regain his soul and get on with a better life. I hope he comes out of this a bigger and better person than he was before this experience.

I can sympathise with Brogden. I have been a carer for people with psychiatric illnesses, and I myself have suffered in the past from a physical illness with long-term damage which I am still learning to deal with. But I can also say from experience that these things make you a better person.


Blaming the Messenger, Not the Message-Monger

The Liberal Party should stop blaming the media for all this. At the end of the day, the real people at fault are the Young Liberal “Taliban” who peddle these stories to anyone who will listen.

Alex Hawke has spread rumours about me personally. He and his colleagues once put out a shitsheet about me describing me as a “fat smelly Pakistani”. He has told people that I am linked to Islamist extremists. He even suggested that my decision to appoint a manager to my legal practise after falling ill was in fact caused by my being “struck off” for dipping my hands illegally into the trust account.

(Of course, the sheer falsehood of this allegation became apparent when I was offered a contract by the NSW Attorney-General’s Department. I was to be a Senior Legal Officer with the Office of the Protective Commissioner, looking after the estates of some of the most vulnerable people in NSW. The AGD is the Department that empowers and overseas the operations of the Law Society of NSW. Had I in fact been struck off, why would the AGD place me in such a responsible role?)


Liberals Leaving in Droves

Hawke and others drove out the mild centre-right forces of the non-Group out of the Party. I will never forget seeing Hawke publicly humiliate a long-time party member Fran Quinn at a meeting in 2003. I have seen him stab his own young liberal branch president in the back on the eve of her retiring and handing him the presidency. I have seen him stacking out non-Group Young Liberal branches ad driving his opponents out of the party through rumours, innuendo and even threats of physical violence.

Between November 2001 and the present, at least 7 former non-Group Young Liberal branch presidents have resigned from the Party or allowed their membership to lapse. They include former prominent Liberal student activists, lawyers, public servants, community workers, teachers, ordinary decent Australians from all walks of life. They include 3 former Federal Liberal candidates and former staffers to State and Federal Parliamentarians and Ministers.

Then there are former members of the Senior Party from the non-Group faction who have resigned or driven out of the party thanks to Hawke and his employer. These people have had rumours and innuendo spread about their partners, their families, their health etc. Sometimes their employers have been contacted deliberately. At other times, they are threatened with being outed on sexual and other private issues.


Name Them!

The real people to blame for the suffering of John Brogden and his family are … well … yes I will name them. The real people to blame are Alex Hawke, his employer and other members of the extreme-right faction. The Liberal Party must hold an inquiry into these people and their activities. I would be happy to give evidence at such an inquiry.


More Personal Disclosures

It is true that I was once a factional warrior for the non-Group forces of the Young Liberals and the Party in NSW. I published a newsletter entitled “Westerly Winds” and followed it up with a magazine entitled “pro-Action”. I used the pages of these magazines to lambast the Group and the Taliban-right.

But factionalism must have its limits. I have learnt with experience and the wisdom of age that this sort of behaviour should be left on campuses. The Group lost power in the NSW Liberal Party because they took this personal approach. Now they are licking their wounds. The neo-Con hard-right are now doing the same. They could suffer the same fate.

Conclusion

The Liberal Party needs to change its culture. It needs to rid itself of those wishing to defame and destroy reputation unreasonably. Politics is a dirty game. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. But why make the kitchen so hot that even the chefs are leaving and the pots are melting?

The Liberal Party should ensure that factionalism should not turn nasty. It should also limit the extent to which persons can talk to the media. The power to talk to the media should be removed from the Young Liberal President. We have seen this power abused by Young Liberal presidents from all sides.

Finally, the Party should move to expel Alex Hawke. Mr Hawke has made the job of the NSW Parliamentary Liberal Party all that much harder. Hawke’s employer should be told in no uncertain terms that Hawke must be dismissed for misconduct. If David Clarke refuses to sack Hawke, Clarke should himself face an internal Party inquiry.

Will the Party take these much-needed measures? Let’s wait and see.

(The author has authored op-ed pieces published in the Daily Telegraph, Canberra Times, New Zealand Herald, Australian Financial Review and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a columnist for OnlineOpinion.com.au and altmuslim.com. He was endorsed Liberal Candidate for Reid in the 2001 Federal Elections, achieving a swing of 5.1% on a budget of $6,000. He currently practises industrial and human rights law.)

© Irfan Yusuf