Eddie Obeid

The Honourable Eddie Obeid OAM
Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council
In office 12 September 1991 – 10 May 2011
Preceded by	Jack Hallam
Succeeded by	Walt Secord
Minister for Fisheries
In office 8 April 1999 – 2 April 2003
Preceded by	Bob Martin
Succeeded by	Ian Macdonald
Minister for Mineral Resources
In office 8 April 1999 – 2 April 2003
Preceded by	Bob Martin
Succeeded by	Kerry Hickey
Personal details
Born	Edward Moses Obeid 25 October 1943 (1943-10-25) (age 68) Matrite, Lebanon
Nationality	Australia
Political party	Australian Labor Party
Spouse(s)	Judy Obeid (m. 1965)
Children	9
Website	NSW Parliament webpage

Edward (“Eddie”) Moses Obeid OAM (born 25 October 1943), a former Australian politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council who served between 1991 and 2011, representing the Australian Labor Party. He was the Minister for Fisheries and the Minister for Mineral Resources from 1999–2003. Despite his term in the Legislative Council due to expire in March 2015, he announced his decision to retire early on 10 May 2011, citing family reasons.^[1]

During his pariamentary career, Obeid was considered by many a powerbroker^[2] in the New South Wales Labor Party, belonging to the dominant right-wing sub-faction, often referred to as The Terrigals, so named as its inaugural meeting was held at Obeid's beach house in Terrigal.^[3] It was reported that Obeid might retire at the 2011 state election, prior to the expiry of his term,^[4] however he waited until the election was concluded.^[1][5][6]

Contents 1 Early years and background 2 Political career 3 Business interests 4 Awards and Honours 5 References 6 External links

Early years and background

Obeid was born in the village of Matrite (sometimes called Metrit),^[7] (population approximately 150 people with one third Shite Muslims),^[8] in Lebanon.^[9] At age 6, he migrated to Australia with his family and they settled in Redfern, growing up in a terrace house.^[7][8] Of Lebanese Maronite Catholic faith, he was an altar boy, sold newspapers from a street corner and collected deposits on soft drink bottles.^[7] Obeid married Judith in 1965, is now father of 9 children and a grandfather of 28 grandchildren.^[9] At age 29 in 1972, Obeid joined the Labor Party.

Prior to entering parliament, Obeid held a range of voluntary roles including:^[9]

• Trustee of the Art Gallery of New South Wales (1980–1982)
• Part-time Commissioner of the Ethnic Affairs Commission (1981–1985)
• Vice-President Ethnic Press Association of Australia (1981–1986)
• Director of the Western Suburbs Hospital Board (sic) (1983–1986)
• Board of Governors of the Law Foundation of New South Wales (1985–1988)
• Led Australian-Lebanese hostage negotiation mission to Iraq (December 1990)
• Patron, Australian Lebanese Christian Federation

Political career

Elected to the Legislative Council in 1991 to replace Jack Hallam,^[7] despite a brief carriage of junior ministerial responsibilities in the third Carr ministry, Obeid's main contribution to parliament has been through Committee representation^[9] and his ability to manipulate factional numbers and votes.^[4][10] At the time of his resignation from the Council, Obeid claimed that his most satisfying moment in politics was to assist in the passage of legislation to help building sub-contractors.^[1]

His term in parliament, though, was dogged by controversy, including:

• 2002 Oasis redevelopment (see below)^[11] and subsequent investigation that cleared him of allegations of corrupt behaviour^[12]
• 2002 relevations that Obeid had failed to disclose all his business interests on Parliament's pecuniary interests register (see below)^[13][14]
• 2003 allegations that Obeid promised to secure the seat of Parramatta - and an early ministry - for David Borger if he dumped the Left faction and joined the dominant Right^[2]
• Providing Dr Arthur Chesterfield-Evans, a member of the Australian Democrats, with a lift to Parliament House and using the opportunity to lobby Chesterfield-Evans in order to achieve favourable political outcomes, as revealed by Chesterfield-Evans in Hansard:^[15]

"(Obeid said to me,) "Look, I'll give you the drum on what to do when you're here. You vote with us regularly and consistently and at the end of the day we'll give you a little win and you'll get back in." I said, "That's very kind, Eddie, but I've got a different idea. I've come here with a bunch of policies from the Australian Democrats. If you give me good legislation that's close to those policies, I will vote for it, but if you give me bad legislation that's a long way from those policies, I will vote against it." Eddie replied, "Oh no, you haven't got the right idea at all." ..... One day Eddie said, "You didn't vote for us. You should, you know, because I give you a lift home." I did not know whether he was being facetious—he may well have been—but I did not want it to appear as though I was compromising on the matter so from then on I caught the ferry."

• 2004 censure motion due to Obeid's undue influence in the elections of Matrite Council^{[15][16][17][18]}
• 2004 claims that Obeid had exerted undue influence on family members^[19]
• 2006 attempts to dump Obeid from the 2007 state election in favour of a Muslim candidate^[20]
• 2007 influence in the composition of the Iemma ministry^[21] and Iemma's demise^[22]
• 2009 influence in the composition of the Rees ministry^[23]
• 2009 representations to NSW Minister for Roads, Michael Daley, on behalf of Mid-Western Regional Council for funding to seal a 1.5 km stretch of roadway near Obeid's family property near Mudgee. Obeid failed to disclose his business interest^[24][25]
• 2009 allegations of linkages between Obeid, his son, Moses, former Labor powerbroker and current lobbyist, Graham Richardson, businessman, Ron Medich and the murder of Michael McGurk^[26]
• 2009–2010 allegations that Obeid, together with right-wing Terrigals sub-factional colleague Tripodi, influenced the election and make-up of the Kristina Keneally ministry^[10][27][28]

A large number of the allegations against Obeid have been generated by Fairfax Media's, The Sydney Morning Herald. In 2003, following Obeid's decision to not seek re-election to the fourth Carr ministry, he was quoted as saying:^[29]

"...my decision will ensure that Government is not distracted by the campaign of innuendo, vilification and unsubstantiated allegation launched against me by The Sydney Morning Herald. This campaign shows no sign of abating and until my defamation action against the Herald is resolved in the courts, any work I did as a minister could be overshadowed."

Announcing his decision to retire from the Legislative Council on 10 May 2011, Obeid issued a statement that his granddaughter, Gisele, was diagnosed with cancer tumours in her kidneys in November 2010 and that, despite an operation and extensive chemotherapy, recent scans suggest some of the tumours remain. He said that "... My wife and I need to spend all our time supporting our son Moses and his wife Nikki through this difficult time."^[30] Following his annoucement to retire, John Hatzistergos MLC also announced his intention to retire from the Legislative Council. Walt Secord, the former chief of staff to the former Premier, Kristina Keneally, and Adam Searle were nominated by Labor to fill the casual vacancies.^[5][6]

Business interests

Initially working as a taxi driver and then property developer,^[10] the source of Obeid's initial wealth and business is not clear.^[31] However, it is known that Obeid, together with his two brothers, inherited their father's estate that comprised land and houses in Lebanon.^[8] In 1973, Obeid together with business partners, purchased an interest in the recently established Arabic press, El-Telegraph Newspaper, with Obeid later buying out his business partners.^[32] Obeid has since sold his personal interest and is no longer publisher.^[33]

In September 2002, The Sydney Morning Herald alleged that Obeid was of NSW richest members of parliament.^[13][34] Media reports claimed that Obeid had purchased a property in Clovelly for A$875,000 in 1991 and the following day sold the property to the New South Wales Department of Housing for A$1.1 million.^[10] The Herald also claimed that two companies associated with Obeid have had debts of A$5 million written off by various banks.^[13] It was also alleged that the Obeid family trust secured a loan from the Colonial State Bank for A$18 million. The Herald also sourced an internal document from Macquarie Bank, claiming:^[13]

"(Mr Obeid's) financial position is complex, with investments in his various companies and projects being difficult to analyse due to the cross ownership with third parties."

These allegations arose at the same time as The Herald alleged that Obeid had attempted to solicit a A$1 million payment in return for promising NSW Government support for the Canterbury Bulldogs Leagues Club's A$800 million Oasis housing development in south-western Sydney.^[11] As a result of these allegations, the Independent Commission Against Corruption conducted an inquiry and found that there was no evidence that any donation was made to the Labor Party in relation to the project. The Commission made a finding that Obeid had never solicited a donation and cleared him of any wrongdoing.^[12] In the meantime, The Herald reports for a series of articles concerning Canterbury Bulldogs salary cap breaches and the above (false) allegations had won a Gold Walkley.^[35] Obeid commenced defamation action against Fairfax Media and in 2006 the Supreme Court found that Obeid had been defamed and that the media article had contributed to Obeid losing his job as a NSW minister. Obeid was awarded A$162,173 in damages, plus costs believed to have been more than A$1 million.^[36]

Obeid and his family also invested in Offset Alpine printing press^[37] with the late disgraced stockbroker Rene Rivkin; where investors yielded a small fortune when the overinsured printing premises were destroyed by fire in 1993 via an insurance payout.^[10] In a remarkable co-incidence, Obeid has also had two of his premises^[4] and two houses have gone up in flames.^[10] Obeid's family have property interests in Lebanon, Port Macquarie,^[34] Terrigal, Bylong Valley,^[25] Woolwich and Hunters Hill,^[25] and Concord (since sold);^[38] and business interests in live sheep exporting to Syria and Iraq,^[19] and Streetscape Projects, a company that sells multipurpose street poles with street lights, banners and security cameras, including those in the City of Sydney municipal area.^[39]

Awards and Honours

Obeid was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in 1984 for his services to ethnic welfare.^[40]

References

External links

• The Hon. (Eddie) Edward Moses OBEID (1943 - ) – Parliament of New South Wales

Persondata
Name	Obeid, Eddie
Alternative names	Obeid, Edward Moses
Short description	Australian politician
Date of birth	25 October 1943
Place of birth	Matrite, Lebanon
Date of death
Place of death