Embattled Casey councillor Sam Aziz quits Liberal Party
Controversial Casey councillor Sam Aziz has quit the Liberal Party in a lengthy rant on Facebook while taking a swing at senior MP Tim Smith.
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Controversial Casey councillor Sam Aziz has quit the Liberal Party, blasting senior MP Tim Smith on his way out.
Mr Smith, the Opposition local government spokesman, has been calling for Casey council to be sacked since December, after it was caught in the middle of an explosive Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission probe.
The IBAC hearings were told Cr Aziz pocketed $900,000 from property developers, but he has not given evidence, having flown overseas before the public inquiry started.
Mr Smith on Saturday called for Cr Aziz — who has still not returned to Melbourne — to be expelled from the Liberal Party.
In a lengthy rant posted on Facebook on Saturday night, Cr Aziz tendered his resignation but accused Mr Smith of “ill-informed commentary”.
He suggested he was “suffering from irrelevance and a political existentialist dilemma” by calling for the council to be sacked.
“If this is the intellectual calibre of individuals that the Liberal Party selects for parliamentary roles, then it is not a party with which I want to continue membership,” Cr Aziz said.
Mr Smith told the Sunday Herald Sun he was “genuinely delighted” Cr Aziz had quit the party.
“Our great party was diminished by the membership of dodgy councillors like Sam Aziz,” Mr Smith said.
“This bloke Aziz is having a swing at me from Cairo, let’s hope he has the ticker to return to Melbourne so he can answer the serious questions the anti-corruption commission has for him.”
Mr Smith had earlier also called on his party to expel Casey councillor and Hawthorn premiership player Geoff Ablett, after the IBAC hearings were also told he received $330,000 from Ferrari-driving property developer John Woodman.
But Cr Ablett received support on Saturday from ex-deputy mayor Rex Flannery, who quit the council on Friday.
“Australia has become like Turkey where you are guilty until proven guilty. Everyone is now the judge and jury” Mr Flannery said.
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“I’m extremely confident Geoff Ablett will be cleared of any wrongdoing. I can’t speak on behalf of the other councillors as that is up to others to decide.”
“I don’t support people who I think are guilty. Geoff Ablett is guilty of inadvertently sitting in on a couple of meetings where there was a conflict.”
Ablett confirmed he wouldn’t resign, saying: “Why should I if I’ve done nothing wrong?”
But the Andrews Government is expected to sack the council early next week, after receiving a report from an independent monitor recommending their dismissal.