Crooked cop scandal rocks Melbourne and Victoria state here

MELBOURNE, Australia – The Olympic flame passed through Melbourne yesterday, carried in relays by former Olympians, after arriving from Athens, then Sydney, then Melbourne (the latter two Australia cities the site of previous Olympic Games). We watched as Melbourne’s torch bearers bore the "flame" down the Yarra River beneath our hotel windows in an impressive regatta.

The Olympic "flame" had been landed aboard a Boeing 747 named "Zeus", then passed through 144 hands, as it weaved through Sydney, passing streets, along beaches, on yachts and to the very top of Sydney Harbour Bridge, where it was held aloft by Olympic swimming great Kieren Perkins.

Naturally it had to pass through the heart of Sydney’s Greek community at Brighteon-le-sands where 5,000 Greek-Australians proudly did endless Zorba the Greek dances in celebration of their "homeland" hosting the Games. Here in Melbourne, which has an even bigger Greek community, it came through yesterday – with a flashy display of running and later rowing along the Yarra river. Next stop: Tokyo.

The torch relay is expected to go through 33 cities around the world (Manila excluded where we’re still "canvassing" who’s gotten the torch as President) until it returns to Greece, in order to be brought into the Olympic stadium there on August 13 to signal the opening of the Games. If the Greek government, still rushing to complete the stadium, gets it ready in time, of course.

At least they can’t blame that delay on our Department of Public Works and Highways. (Perhaps they ought to have hired Imeldific to supervise the rush job.)

As for us, we celebrated the day by having lunch at Zampelis Cafe Greco in Melbourne’s plush Crown Casino – owned by Kerry Packer, the richest bloke in Australia. The food was excellent, even though the Chef was Indian, not Greek. I noticed that all over the glittering Casino were Chinese waitresses, waiters, employees, and tourists/casino goers. We even had "home-made" Chinese ice-cream at one of the chrome-plated counters, served by a fetching lass who offered us a choice between Red Bean ice-cream, durian ice-cream, kumquat-lemon ice cream – and even wasabe ice-cream, the latter no doubt designed for the Japanese market.

In the old days, including the 19th century Gold Rush to Ballarat, Bendigo and Castlemaine here, the "whites" were on their guard against the "yellow peril" and the influx of "heathen Chinee".

The Chinese are now here in force, even on Lygon street, their Chinese restaurants cheek-by-jowl with the famous Italian eateries there. And the Australians are saying, "no worries".

That’s how the world turns.

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The big story here in Melbourne has nothing to do with the Olympics. It’s about drug lords and cops. Bannered yesterday’s. The Age: "BIG BOYS, BAD BOYS AND INNOCENT VICTIMS."

I quote verbatim. One front-page photo was that of "WA-CRIME BOSS: John Kizon, convicted heroin trafficker based in Perth. Friend of murdered Melbourne mobster Alphone Gangitano."

Next photo: "VIC – ACCUSED KILLER: Mick Gatto, colorful Melbourne identity. Charged with the murder of alleged hitman Andrew Benji Venyamin, shot dead in Carlton on March 23."

Third, "NSW – THE DODGER: Hoger Rogerson, notorious former NSW (New South Wales) policeman, who served a jail term over corruption charges."

Next, a long-haired woman with face blacked out: "OLD UNDER COVER: Queensland police officer used in Perth sting. WA police contacted a former Melbourne detective asking for information on her identity."

Finally, a dark-glass wearing cop labeled: "INTERESTING ACQUAINTANCES: David ‘Docket’ Walters, former Melbourne detective sergeant – drank with crime boss Kizon, knows Gatto and rang Rogerson. Charged with drug trafficking. Maintains his innocence. At no stage did the WA Royal Commission allege he had broken the law."

"WA", by the way, means "Western Australia."

The six-column subheadline emblazoned: "A Rogues’ Gallery Emerges from ex-Cop’s Testimony."

The Herald Sun daily also bannered: "CLEAN SWEEP." The front-page subhead announced: "Police Chief and Watchdog to Purge Corruption."

The State’s Premier Steve Barracks and Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon appeared on page 22 with Police Minister Andrew Haermeyer. The story headline said: "UNDER FIRE." The photo was captioned, "Pressure to Act." Asserted the subhead: "The stench of underworld crime war and police corruption . . . the odor could linger for years."

Said The Age in its candid report: "More Corruption Shocks to Come."

Reporter Darren Gray wrote: "Victorians have been warned to expect further shocking revelation of police corruption, after the release of a damning report pointing to entrenched corruption dating back decades."

"State Ombudsman George Brouwer, in a progress report on investigations into the now disbanded drug squad, blamed a failure of police leadership for the institutionalised corruption and unethical behavior of some officers."

Ombudsman Brouwer, 62, was appointed to that post by Premier Bracks last March (for a term of ten years). Can he – if given as promised "sweeping powers" – crack "systemic" corruption in the police force? The Ombudsman’s "powers", it must be pointed out, have not been drafted yet and are three months away from being enacted in Victoria's parliament.

Already, a hot topic of controversy is the gangland-type "execution" of police informer Terence Hodson and his wife Christine. The two were murdered in their suburban Melbourne flat last month – their identities possibly revealed in a "leaked" police document which fell into the narco-gang’s hands.

Is there anything new under the sun?

We’re not talking about the Philippine National Police here – but somehow it has a familiar ring.

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THE ROVING EYE . . . Today, the 60th anniversary of the Normandy landing "D-Day, Sixth of June," the Australians are honoring the close to 3,000 "diggers’ and Australian servicemen who hit the beaches, or died at sea approaching the landing grounds. They resent, however, US President George W. Bush lecturing opposition Labor party leader Mark Latham over Lathan’s proposal to pull Australian troops out of Iraq. Dubya, of course, had some provocation. Latham had called Bush the most incompetent and dangerous President in living memory. Bush in turn accused Latham of preparing to shirk his duty as a leader while emboldening terrorists. Said Bush: "It would be a disastrous decision for the leader of a great country like Australia to say that we’re pulling out." Bush’s timing wasn’t good. His "best of mates", as The Weekend Australian newspaper plugged him, incumbent Prime Minister John Howard, happened to be visiting Bush in the White House (both are now in France for the D-Day rites). Since Howard may likely seek re-election this year, Dubya might have thought he was doing his pal a favor. "Don’t meddle," that’s what the Aussie newspapers retorted . . . Another anniversary being observed – this time a dark and tragic one – is the massacre of hundreds, possibly thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators by People’s Liberation Army troops and tanks in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. On the 15th anniversary of that cruel massacre (June 4, 1989), we can only say, it will continue to live in infamy. Five days after that atrocity, on the other hand, I was asked during an open forum in China in Kuala Lumpur why the Chinese government had cracked down so viciously. Did Beijing not fear the universal revulsion of mankind? I replied that Beijing was relying on the "universal amnesia" of mankind. Within a few years, I observed, the world would forget the massacre – and start hailing China once more. Don’t you think this assessment has come true? China is on a roll, those terrible memories notwithstanding. And political "repression"? It still goes on, but the Bamboo Curtain has now been replaced by Bright Neon Lights and upmarket statistics.