weak brits, tough french, page-12

So Chuckles you see nothing wrong with exploiting a young women with emotional problems due to her estranged relationship with her father for political gain Huh?

Read about your type in the paper often not related to this guy by any chance?
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Radical convert runs halfway house
Mark Buttler, chief police reporter
12jul05

A RADICAL Islamic convert with a long criminal history is running a halfway house for freed prisoners and the homeless.

Helmut Kirsch, 48, who runs Arden Lodge in North Melbourne, said that ASIO and police suspected he was a terrorist.
Kirsch, a former office-holder of the extreme Right-wing National Action, predicted Australia would soon pay a heavy price for its "overseas follies".

"They'll deserve every bit of it. Let's hope they get the right people," he said.

"I'm convinced change will be brought about in this state. I'd like to think it will be brought about by peaceful means."

Kirsch, who was an accessory to murder, denied he was a terrorist but he thought ASIO believed he was.

"When the first bomb explodes in the Melbourne CBD, I'd expect a visit within five minutes," he said. "I don't want to be part of Australia. My sympathies lie with the people of Afghanistan."

Kirsch claimed to know up to 75 Taliban supporters with Australian passports.

"Don't worry about them sneaking in. They don't need to sneak people in," he said.

The Herald Sun has spent three weeks investigating the background of the former prisoner who runs Arden Lodge, a halfway house for newly released prisoners.

Kirsch, who has more than 70 criminal convictions, was once described in State Parliament as a "social parasite and pariah who preys on vulnerable and at-risk young people".

Police reports compiled before a raid on Arden Lodge in July, 2001, detailed their concerns about Kirsch, formerly known as Gregory Middap.

"The principal target of the operation has a high propensity for violence and a well-known and demonstrable hatred of police," the document stated.

"Informers have previously told police that Middap has attempted to sell them firearms and that they have seen him in possession of firearms."

The report had concerns of explosives on the premises and that police had found mercury switches for explosives.

Scanners and surveillance cameras were also allegedly found.

"Middap is a violent, dangerous criminal and all intelligence indicates he has a known access to firearms. He is considered a high-risk arrest," the report said.

The Arden St hostel is on a Melbourne City Council support directory which says government-funded MetroWest Housing Services can arrange tenant referrals to it.

Kirsch told the Herald Sun ASIO officers came to his Arden Lodge office two years ago shortly after he visited Afghanistan.

"They wanted to know why I wanted a fatwa against (then Police Minister) Andre Haermeyer. I'm investigated continually by state and federal authorities," he said.

The ASIO officers had seized computer disks and examined emails, he said.

Asked of any plan to kill Mr Haermeyer, Kirsch said: "There was talk. There's always talk."

Kirsch said there was rancour in the Middle East at the 1999 prison hanging death of Mohammed Zayat, ruled a suicide by deputy State Coroner Iain West.

He said there was also unrest at the way Islamic prisoners were treated behind bars.

A spokeswoman for Mr Haermeyer said: "We don't comment on security issues."

Kirsch has in the past been described as a neo-Nazi. The 2001 police report alleged National Action meetings were held at Arden Lodge.

The same report suggested he had links to some motorcycle gangs and had a large network of criminal associates.

Kirsch's background includes:

TWO convictions for accessory to murder.

DRUG, dishonesty, firearms and theft offences.

A CONVICTION last year for threatening an organised crime squad detective.

ALLEGATIONS he test-fired rocket launchers and visited heroin dens in Afghanistan.

JUMPING through a window to escape a 1997 raid on Arden Lodge by thugs armed with guns and baseball bats.

Kirsch said his 50-bed hostel did a far better job than government-run agencies.

MetroWest chief executive Tony Barnett said his organisation did not directly refer clients to Arden Lodge, but helped arrange for them to stay there if they wanted to.

Opposition police spokesman Kim Wells said homeless people had to stay somewhere, "but the people running these places must be fit and proper and able to look after the welfare of these people".

Kirsch's criminal convictions go back to the 1970s. He was convicted in 1991 of being an accessory after the fact to the murders of drug dealers Ricky Parr and Lina Galea.

His associates have included slain underworld figures Nik Radev, Sam Zayat, Phillip "The Iceman" Wilson.

Last year, he was convicted of threatening detective-turned-Big Brother contestant Ben Archbold and sentenced to 15 months' jail, six of which were suspended. This year that was reduced on appeal.

According to the Melbourne City Council Arden Lodge charges up to $150 a week.

In 1999, Footscray MP Bruce Mildenhall told State Parliament Kirsch was a social parasite who preyed on vulnerable, at-risk people.