Mohamad Abbouche

Mohamad Abbouche (born 1968) is an Australian politician. He has served as Mayor of the City of Hume in suburban Melbourne since December 2007, a role he also previously filled from 2004 to 2005. A councillor for seven years and a figure of some influence in the state Australian Labor Party, he was briefly tipped to enter state parliament in the 2006 election before his candidacy was personally vetoed by then-Premier Steve Bracks in a heavily publicised decision.

Abbouche was born in Lebanon, and migrated to the United States in 1985, where he completed a degree in ceramic engineering and a masters degree in industrial engineering at Alfred University in Alfred, New York. In 1993 Abbouche moved to Australia, where his mother was already living, with his wife and young son, and settled in Broadmeadows, a northern suburb of Melbourne with a large Muslim population. He was elected to Hume City Council in March 2000 and was re-elected in 2005. He was Mayor of the City in 2004-2005.

In 2002 Abbouche was one of a number of local government figures who signed an advertisement which appeared in "The Australian", calling for the establishment of an Australian "national bank." The petition was circulated by the Citizens Electoral Councils, the Australian front organisation of the American cult leader and convicted swindler Lyndon LaRouche. Many of those who signed the advertisement later said that were not aware that the CEC was behind it, although the advertisement was authorised by Craig Isherwood, the CEC national secretary.

In 2001 Abbouche, a member of the Socialist Left faction of the Australian Labor Party, was employed as an electorate worker by the Federal Member for Calwell, Maria Vamvakinou. But in 2004 he deserted to the rival Labor Unity faction, and was then employed by Labor Unity leader Senator Stephen Conroy, and also by the Victorian Treasurer John Brumby. During this period he supported a preselection challenge to his former employer Maria Vamvakinou, describing her as a "non-performing Member." His former colleagues in the Socialist Left retaliated by accusing him of branch stacking and other forms of corruption.

In May 2005 Abbouche was formally charged by a Socialist Left union official, Stephen Roach, who alleged that he was guilty of branch stacking as defined by state ALP rules, and of breaching the party's national code of conduct on fund-raising. According to Roach, Abbouche breached ALP fund-raising guidelines over his handling of a $5000 donation from a property developer. "Mr Abbouche has confirmed receiving this donation which, according to the developer's annual return, was sent to Mr Abbouche's personal address," Roach said. "The donation was not forwarded by Mr Abbouche to ALP Vic branch for central banking." The Victorian Labor Party's Disputes Tribunal dismissed the charges.

In August 2005, however, in a deal engineered by Socialist Left leader Senator Kim Carr, Abbouche returned to the Left after being promised a seat in the Victorian Legislative Council. The political correspondent of "The Age", Paul Austin, wrote: "The godfather of the Left, Senator Kim Carr, made one of those moves that will become the stuff of Labor factional legend. He struck a deal with the devil, and Abbouche was recruited to the Left cause. Now those numbers Abbouche had so conscientiously garnered in the northern suburbs would be directed to the Left's Vamvakinou, saving her from preselection defeat. In exchange, Abbouche would be sponsored by the Left into a safe seat in State Parliament. It was a deal so breathtakingly hypocritical that even some of the hardheads in the Left blushed." As it turned out, however, the deal could not be fulfilled, because Abbouche's candidacy for preselection was vetoed by the Premier, Steve Bracks.

Abbouche remained a Hume councillor, and was elected unopposed for a second term as mayor of the municipality in December 2007.

External links

* [http://crikey.com.au/articles/2005/02/25-0001.html Who is Mohamad Abbouche?] (from Crikey, February 2005)
* [http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/how-effective-is-mr-bracks-watchdog/2005/06/30/1119724751017.html How effective is Mr Bracks' watchdog?] (Roach charges against Abbouche)
* [http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/MP-leaked-donor-details-exmayor/2005/02/26/1109180168137.html MP leaked donor details: ex-mayor] (corruption allegations)
* [http://theage.com.au/news/opinion/filthy-politics-as-the-factions-fight-it-out/2006/02/16/1140064198195.html Filthy politics as the factions fight it out] (Paul Austin on Abbouche's double defection)