Subsidising Sharia?
OK, so what are we to make of this: Two million dollars – presumably of our tax dollars – was seemingly donated by Australia Post to an Islamic museum in Melbourne. Yes, you read that right. Over $2 million was given to the museum by the head of Australia Post, who happens to be a Muslim. The story goes like this:
Australia Post donated more than $2 million to an Islamic museum in suburban Melbourne in lieu of a bonus it was due to pay its chief executive, Ahmed Fahour. The Herald Sun can reveal Mr Fahour asked for the bonus to be donated directly to the Islamic Museum of Australia, of which he is patron. The donation was made months ago, but has only emerged now, when Australia Post is sacking 900 staff to stem the losses at its domestic mail division. Mr Fahour said he and his family had been able to make a “substantial contribution’’ to several not-for-profit organisations in recent years.
“Earlier this year, I announced that my family had contributed $4 million to the Islamic Museum. We have also made contributions to a number of other community causes such as schools, sporting clubs and the arts,’’ he said. The Herald Sun understands the bonus formed part of the $4.8 million salary that Mr Fahour was paid in the 2012-2013 financial year. The donation – expected to be declared in Australia Post’s financial report later this year – raised eyebrows within the organisation, with a source questioning the size of the bonus and the fact it was donated to a charity closely linked to Mr Fahour’s family.
It is not fully clear whose money it actually was. The article goes on to say that another source said the donation was a private one. So there is a bit of ambiguity in this article as to what exactly is going on. But nonetheless, it seems some hard questions need to be asked here.
As we just recently learned, Australia Post is losing heaps of money, and laying off heaps of workers throughout the country. If AP is in such a bad way, why in the world is the head of it being given a $2 million bonus? Heads would roll if this happened in a private business.
But because it is a taxpayer-funded entity, it seems that anything goes. And even if things are a bit hazy about the exact money transfer, most Australians would rightly put two and two together: Fahour was given $2 mill, and he in turn gave $2 mill to the Islamic museum.
In the minds of many this sounds like a direct transfer of taxpayer monies. If so, then we need to be asking some more questions here. Plenty of folks complain about the separation of church and state. What about the separation of mosque and state?
If this money was more or less a transfer – even if a somewhat circuitous transfer – of our tax dollars, then we have every right to show some concern. Of course individual citizens are free to donate to whatever cause they like, even the political ideology of Islam.
But when it sounds like a straight line can basically be drawn between a taxpayer subsidised payment, and then an equivalent amount going to such a cause, we are right to be rather concerned. And by the way, where are all the secular lefties when you need them?
If a Christian head of a public body had done the same, and given a massive gift to a Christian body, these guys would be demanding his head on a platter, and decrying how his faith is feeding off the public trough. But here we have nothing – simply crickets chirping.
So as I say, there seem to be quite a few unanswered questions remaining about all this. Other questions would include why a Federal MP like Hockey would even bless this museum with his public presence in the first place. Given that Islam is completely inimical to and incompatible with Australian values of democracy, freedom, rule of law, and genuine pluralism, why would he even go to such an occasion?
This is simply more dhimmitude and appeasement on the part of our Government. No wonder we keep losing these battles when so many of our politicians seem to be utterly clueless about the real nature of Islam.
And speaking of hard questions, here are a few more we might be asking: perhaps some intrepid souls need to visit the Muslim museum, and while inside, ask the folks there a few penetrating questions, such as the real nature of jihad, why violent terrorists of late seem always to be Islamic in nature, why so many Muslims in Australia fail to fit in and unite with our culture, and so on.
I dare say the answers will be so much baloney. But since we seem to be funding this place, at least in part, we have every right to be asking such questions.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/australia-post-donates-boss-ahmed-fahours-2m-bonus-to-islamic-museum-of-australia/story-fni0fiyv-1226958003540?sv=a062a95cba56a2ea0dfa79d3539509a0&&net_sub_uid=42188548
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Strange!
Naturally I wanted to read more and went to the ABC, knowing how quick they are to pull out their best “separation of religion and state ” writers but alas I could not find the report.
I did of course find an article about an Islamic banker threatening Australia over its change in rhetoric about Israel and the “disputed territories”.
Hi Bill,
My take is that Liberals are scared of Islam. Many see this world and after they die, that is it. So, put two and two together, they don’t want to die early. They don’t see the value of a martyr’s death, and what reward they would have in Heaven. Of course, the likelihood of this actually happening to the many of them in this generation may be slim to none. However, only the Lord can either allow that to happen, or prevent it.
I’ve been upset for a while at the CONSTANT price increases Australia Post imposes on us. Postage prices for a 200 g parcel have gone up from $5 to $7.20 in just one year. All other parcels and postage has gone up significantly. It’s making online selling impossibly hard for many small businesses. To then hear that the boss is on such a massive salary and bonus only to donate it to a cause he’s privately involved with to further his religion is upsetting and insulting to many postal workers who will be laid off and many businesses and individuals struggling with the almost monthly price increases.
If you are on Facebook, head to the Australia Post page and ask some questions about this. AP has conveniently written “Australia Post today launches our National Conversation Forum, and extends an invitation for all Australians to participate and ask questions about the future of Australia Post. Register to have your say at http://auspo.st/1q71WmE. #auspostconversation” as a post that you can comment on.
One problem with mainstream pluralism in the west is that it fails to identify Islam as a worldview incompatible with itself. The people perish for a lack of knowledge.
On another note – perhaps postal services should be left to private enterprise…
Thanks Bill.
Isaac Overton.
In my native Malaysia, not only our tax dollars are used to built numerous lavish mosque buildings but to rub it in, no new churches are allowed to be built! So Christians resort to meeting in offices and shops converted into church premises but was constantly harassed and punished with fines. Dhimmitude is well and alive!
Recently, there are getting more ridiculous with oppressive measures such as confiscating Bibles from Malaysian Bible society just because of some words used was not to their liking. They also listed 40 words that are just names of OT prophets and Hebrew/Arabic words forbidden to be used by Christians! Sunday school books and Christian literature run the risk of offence just by quoting the Bible.
The Islamic religious police routinely storms into weddings and funerals to snatch brides and even corpses of non-muslims if they suspect someone is a “muslim”. (Very often, some poor folks were forced or deceived into conversion through offering of bribes and financial incentives – but their family were unaware but the whole family were deemed muslims through action of one man – usually the husband or the father).
Thank you Bill, for highlighting the danger of Islamisation by stealth in Australia.
Presumably he was allowed to have his bonus paid directly to the “charity” in order to avoid the heavy tax which would have occurred if it had been paid to him directly, and he then chose to fund the museum. I suspect this sort of salary sacrifice is permitted in some circumstances.
However, we should avoid calling it a “charity”, which in law implies service to the needy. The law distinguishes between charities and benevolent funds. (For example, a fund providing scholarships to the children of the aristocracy would be a benevolent fund but not a charity.)
The main thrust of this is not impaired by some relevant facts which were not clear from the original article.
1. the $2mill is part of Mr Fahour’s compensation package – the part called “performance based compensation”
2. we are not privy to the tax implications Malcolm Smith, so we can’t say anything about “saving the tax” – this deals with gross amounts only
3. the money is not drawn from the government as an appropriation; it is part of the expenses of running AP so it doesn’t have any Federal Budget impact at all. Jo is correct, it affects postage charges
4. The key question is “Why is he paid so much?” when his overseas counterparts are paid at most about $US260,000 (say around $A300,000 maximum); again Jo is on the mark there, especially as we hear of plans to cut back on mail deliveries and introduce premium charges for what we used to consider standard services. See this comparison for example http://catallaxyfiles.com/2014/06/10/how-much-is-ahmed-fahour-getting/
5. We can’t choose to take our business elsewhere, because AP has a government legislated monopoly on the basic letter business. So AP does not face all of the disciplines of the marketplace for poor decisions like overpaying its executives.
Thanks John. And on another front, your comment was the 45,000th comment to appear on my website. Well done, and come and collect your prize!
Thanks Bill
Why did Australia Post make that payment?
Why not give the employee his entitlements and if he wants to give it to the museum it is of course his right to do so? Why should an Australian government enterprise be making a gift even at the direction of an employee? It should be neutral on these issues, pay the employee his entitlements and allow him to do with it what is his choice.
Yesterday I attended an ACNA gathering convened by Rev Fred Nile where the keynote speaker was Vickie Jansen who has penned a book entitled “Ideological Jihad”.
During question time I felt compelled to quote Hosea 4:6 and said that while the room was full of people who had much knowledge regarding Islam, what are we to do with it?
I would appreciate you comments, so too, would many other people I believe.
Thanks Dianne. The short answer is this: Christians in the West must love, pray for, and reach out to Muslims who are here, while also resisting stealth jihad and creeping sharia. But read this for a more detailed discussion of this:
https://billmuehlenberg.com/2010/08/01/christianity-other-religions-and-islam/
Why has no one mentioned that the management and staff consist almost entirely of Fahour’s family, from the Director down including the chef????