Daily Telegraph Editorial: Justice served in verdict to expose crimes

The tale of Abuzar Sultani isn’t just a story about one of Sydney’s deadliest men. It is also a story about the public’s right to know what is happening, writes The Daily Telegraph.

The tale of Abuzar Sultani isn’t just a story about one of Sydney’s deadliest men — a ­serial assassin who led a killing squad targeting other gangland figures.

It is also a story about justice — true, open justice — and the public’s right to know what is happening in their state, their city and their community.

Sultani’s story and his chilling deeds have been kept from the public these past three years ­because of NSW Supreme Court orders banning publication of them.

However, thanks to the courage and common sense of ­Justice Desmond Fagan — and the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal which upheld his decision — these facts can now be known to the people for whom they are most vital: All of us.

Abuzar Sultani being arrested at Olympic Park in 2016, in relation to the murder of Pasquale Barbaro. Picture: Channel 7

As Justice Fagan himself said, the lifting of the suppression ­orders about the activities of Sultani and his bloody gang was critical for the delivery of open and transparent justice.

“There comes a point where their crimes must be exposed to the public,” he said. “It cannot go on.”

Indeed, it should never have happened in the first place. Open and transparent government is the cornerstone of democracy — indeed, there can be no true democracy ­without it.

And this applies to all arms of government — the executive, the legislature and the judiciary.

Too often we see jurists deem the public unworthy of receiving information and the press unworthy of delivering it. This is a denial of the fundamental principle of open and accountable government, the basic tenet that citizens should be able to bear witness to the operations of the state and the decisions it makes on their behalf.

For the vast majority of ­people, this is only possible through the function of a free and fearless media, so denying access to the press is denying access to the public.

And, by putting faith in the press, Justice Fagan has also put his faith in the public, including the role of any future jurors who may be called to pass judgment in such matters.

This is how true democracy operates and Justice Fagan ­deserves great credit for safeguarding at least some small part of it in the state of NSW.

Covid CLINIC CLOSURE IS PEAK MOSMAN

It’s the closest to a Christmas miracle that Sydney has seen in a long time; something even more ­Mosman than pilates and tree-spiking.

Residents of the exclusive harbourside enclave have ­managed to expunge from their storied streets yet another ­unwelcome interloper: A Covid-19 testing clinic.

Yes, while the rest of the city has been divided between accepting the virus and ­eliminating it, the good ­burghers of Mosman have opted for a third road map for the pandemic – not in my backyard.

Residents living near a drive-through testing facility on ­Melrose St have successfully campaigned to have it removed after objecting to the long lines of cars it attracted.

It seems that in their efforts to tackle the spread of Covid-19, these selfish drivers lined up for testing failed to consider the impact their vehicles would have on the local ­streetscape.

There were also apparently fears about potential exposure to the virus, presumably from the same inconsiderate and ­unclean outsiders who had the temerity to get tested.

Health workers conduct Covid-19 testing at the Mosman Douglas-Hanly Moir Pathology Drive-Through clinic, which has now been closed. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

As one local put it: “The ­emotional and psychological impact is far reaching within our neighbourhood.”

We can only hope that with time and the right amount of therapy those emotional wounds will one day eventually heal.

Meanwhile, pathology company Douglass Hanly Moir is searching for a new location for their thoughtless testing clinic.

Apparently it was so urgent that the existing site be shut down that the company could not wait for an alternative site to be established.

Unlike Melrose St, Mosman, there are no doubt countless communities throughout Greater Sydney that would welcome increased traffic – or are at least more used to such hardships.

And should they be exposed to Covid-19, at least they won’t have as much to lose.

If anything, the rest of Sydney should be thanking the ­residents of Mosman for ­suffering as long as they did under the yoke of public health administration.

Indeed, it’s about time Western Sydney started pulling its weight.

After all, it’s not like Blacktown or Bankstown or Fairfield have had to go through much.

LEARNING GAP WIDENS FOR BOYS

The latest NAPLAN test results should send a shiver down the spine of the NSW education system. At a time when our students are already well ­behind where they should be in comparison to other advanced countries, the gap between boys and girls is also widening.

Were we talking about the gender pay gap this would ­receive blanket coverage and be the source of endless outrage, but in this case it is the not the girls being left behind but the boys. And perhaps unsurprisingly it is supposedly “progressive” policies and teaching methods which are so disadvantaging boys and widening the gap.

This ranges from the high-profile focus on encouraging and supporting girls in science, technology and maths fields to the modern emphasis on so- called “inquiry-based” learning, in which teachers are more passive guides, rather than the more structured and disciplined traditional approach that boys respond better to.

Kids from St Bishoy College in Mt Druitt have put themselves in the top 50 most improved schools in NAPLAN tests in 2021. Kids (from left) Meron Alkhuiga, 12, Maribelle Moawad, 11 and Monica Jreige, 10. Picture: David Swift

And then this year and last these already chronic problems were compounded by school closures and “remote learning” — again most loudly demanded by those on the left — which disadvantaged all students but boys especially because of their greater need for more direct ­interaction with teachers.

As wryly noted by the former head of The King’s School, Dr Tim Hawkes, author of Boy Oh Boy: How to Raise and Educate Boys: “The feminists are to be congratulated for their advocacy on women and girls in ­relation to their academic performance. But there has been an almost culpable lack of advocacy on behalf of boys, there has been a political climate that has been very difficult for any advocates of boys.”

Indeed, there can be little doubt that this political climate has been fuelled by the pervasive mentality of identity politics, a prism through which all males are seen to be inherently overprivileged vessels of toxic ­masculinity.

Little wonder they are losing confidence and falling behind.

Of course we want girls to excel academically, but the sad truth is that even our girls are not particularly excelling by ­global standards.

Rather it appears that much of what is happening in our schools is producing poor ­results generally and especially poor results for half of the ­population.

The only question is who will have the courage to face up to it.

The Daily Telegraph, printed and published by the proprietor, Nationwide News Pty Ltd A.C.N. 008438828 of 2 Holt St, Surry Hills NSW 2010, at 26-52 Hume Highway, Chullora. Responsibility for election comment is taken by the Editor, Ben English.