Mihailuk,the member for Bankstown,told parliament under privilege in September that having Asfour as a candidate would be disastrous for Labor,saying she had concerns about his links to Obeid and his “unprincipled actions” in furthering the interests of developers.
She was sacked from Labor’s front bench as a result,and has since quit the party.
Asfour is also under fire over a taxpayer-funded master of business administration and an overseas trip taken by he and other councillors,for which a council press release said they were paying themselves but which actually cost ratepayers almost $150,000.
In an interview with 2GB host Ben Fordham on Wednesday,Asfour said it was Mihailuk who “badgered me to invite Eddie Obeid to my wedding back in 2010,” he said. “She rearranged the seating arrangements at my wedding.” Asfour said she wanted to sit next to Obeid.
“She was the mayor at the time trying to get into parliament,and he was at the time a senior NSW powerbroker,and she used his patronage to get into parliament. It wasn’t to help me,it was actually to help her,” Asfour said.
When asked why he would allow other people to arrange the seating at his own wedding,Asfour said she was the mayor at the time and was “relentless … I did say ‘no you’re not[changing the seating]’,but she continued to harass me.
“I do have a stronger backbone now.” He said Obeid gave him flowers and a few hundred dollars in an envelope for his wedding.