The following is from the ABC
The New South Wales Young Australian of the Year, Iktimal Hage-Ali, has relinquished her award.
In a statement issued by her solicitor, Ms Hage-Ali says she took the decision after the national manager of the Australian of the Year Award program advised her it was no longer tenable for her to hold the award due to recent media coverage.
A Sydney newspaper revealed that Ms Hage-Ali, a member of the Prime Minister's Muslim community reference group, had been interviewed in relation to a drug operation, but was released without charge.
She has denied any wrongdoing.
Ms Hage-Ali says her decision to relinquish the award was taken to avoid the controversy diminishing the status of the award.
It has also been confirmed that Ms Hage-Ali has taken a leave of absence from her role with the New South Wales Attorney-General's Department.
A spokesman for the department says the 22-year-old decided to take leave from her duties after the article appeared in yesterday's newspapers.
She has released a statement through her lawyer Stephen Hopper.
Mr Hopper says his client has not been charged with any criminal office and in his discussions with senior police they have indicated there is no intention to lay any charges.
He says the police have not searched her home and did not find her in the possession of anything that would put her in breach of the law.
He says Ms Hage-Ali is very distressed by the situation.
I'm very distressed by this too. The young woman has not done anything wrong, yet people in the media are calling for her to be sacked and to be stripped of the award.
This is disgusting.
We used to have in this country a tradition of a "fair go." You give someone a chance to defend themselves. You don't assume that someone is guilty just by association.
What is particularly galling about this is the hypocrisy of the journalists who stir up the hype. We know they NEVER use drugs or get drunk or even associate with people who do.
Let's give the girl a go. If she is not even going to be charged by police then she is innocent. She does not deserve to be perscuted like this.
I agree.But the true is that nobody cares about the law. Soldiers, the police, the FBI defends themselves with the same cr@p:“They give us orders, and we must obey them.”
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