NSW Opposition Leader Jodi McKay censured by parliament over branch-stacking response
Labor leader Jodi McKay has been censured by NSW parliament over her failure to act on a secret party report recommending seven party officials were guilty of “unworthy conduct” over rife branch stacking.
NSW
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Labor leader Jodi McKay has been censured by NSW parliament over her failure to act on a secret party report recommending seven party officials were guilty of “unworthy conduct” over rife branch stacking.
Labor sources on Wednesday said responding to the report was a responsibility of the party’s administrative branch.
However, one source acknowledged the seriousness of the findings, saying the party now needed to get on the front foot in response.
Moving a motion to censure Ms McKay in parliament, government minister Anthony Roberts said Ms McKay had endorsed the conduct of branch stacking by failing to act on a report handed down in March.
“The Labor leader in NSW has had this report for over three months, and is silent. And by doing so, stands by the conduct,” Mr Roberts said.
Labor sources said the response to the report had likely been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the censure motion debate, Mr Roberts said the pandemic should not stop Ms McKay referring branch stacking findings to the police.
“The pandemic should not have stopped the Leader of the Opposition from announcing to the Labor Party members across NSW that she would take a hard stance against anyone found guilty of falsifying records or branch stacking,” he said.
A Labor source said the party now needed to act on the report swiftly, following The Daily Telegraph’s revelations on Wednesday.
The censure motion also rebuked Ms McKay for not referring the matters to ICAC, and for failing to stand down Granville MP Julia Finn from the opposition ministry.
Ms Finn is named in the report for having breached party rules but no action against her is recommended.
In the fiery debate Deputy Labor Leader Yasmin Catley hit back at the government, calling Gladys Berejiklian a “coward” for failing to reprimand a number of her own embattled frontbench members.
“If you want to go down this path we will use every tool at our disposal to drag at every spiv, every lurk merchant and criminal that hides under the slimy rock that is your party room,” Ms Catley said.
“We will come after every single one of you,” she warned. “You bring it on and we’ll bring it right back. Don’t you worry about that.”
Government ministers said the Labor Leader needs to respond to the report, and not leave it up to the party’s administrative wing.
Earlier Treasurer Dominic Perrottet joined the government pile-on against Labor.
“If you lopped off every rotten branch of the NSW Labor Party, all you’d be left with is a shrivelling stump,” he said.
“That’s not leadership,” Mr Perrottet said. “Is Dan Andrews down in Victoria saying this is a matter for (the administrative branch)?” he asked.
“No. He, as the leading member of the Labor Party in Victoria, stood up, took action and appointed administrators.”
This morning Premier Gladys Berejiklian also called for the Labor leader to take action after The Daily Telegraph revealed the details of a secret ALP report showing branch stacking is rife in the party.
The Premier said Jodi McKay should sack any MPs found guilty of wrongdoing.
“If the report proved that certain members of the parliamentary team in the Labor Party in NSW have intentionally falsified records, that is a serious offence,” Ms Berejiklian said.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews sacked one of his ministers over revelations of “industrial scale” branch stacking.
The NSW Liberal leader said the same action should be taken here.
“This type of activity is unacceptable. And I hope the NSW Labor leader acts as swiftly as her Victorian counterpart,” Ms Berejiklian said.
Ms Berejiklian did not rule out branch stacking occurring in the Liberal party, saying her party is “certainly … not perfect.”
“We don’t pretend we are,” she said.
“But we don’t condone, or have, as far as I know, this scale of organised falsification of reporting, which is completely unacceptable,” she said.
It comes as more Liberals joined the attack, including Police Minister David Elliott who accused Ms McKay of failing to adhere to standards set by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.
“By failing to act she is lowering the standards Dan Andrews has set,” Mr Elliott said.
“It’s sad that the Victorian cancer has infected NSW Labor. People need to be confident that our MPs are all elected within the rules”.
The explosive secret Labor report into its branch stacking problem, handed to NSW party bosses in March, found party branch membership books were so systematically falsified that rank and file members felt they had no choice but to partake in the practice.
The damning report also found members had no expectation Labor leaders would punish offenders.
The report named seven party officials — including powerbroker and former federal MP Laurie Ferguson — as guilty of “unworthy conduct” over branch stacking, yet no final action has been taken against any individual.
NSW Labor frontbencher Julia Finn is named in the report for having breached party rules, but no action against her is recommended.
Fake branch attendance records are considered to undermine democratic processes, because meeting attendance is tied to voting rights for party preselection.
The report, labelled private and confidential, was handed to party officials on March 6 and calls into question Anthony Albanese’s claims Labor takes a hard line after the exposure of a massive branch stacking scandal in Victoria.
The 37-page report is the product of a three-month investigation by former Queensland Labor boss Evan Moorhead, examining allegations limited to a string of branches in the Western Sydney area dating back to 2011.
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Damning findings include:
■ Falsification of meeting attendance in several branches and a “culture of secrecy” around the practice;
■ Evidence of party officials paying for the membership of other people but an admission it’s impossible to determine the extent of the problem due to insufficient receipts or records;
■ Members have little faith or expectation that head office would ever act on allegations of impropriety;
■ A “perception among branches” that they “must engage in conduct against the rules because other branches also participate in this conduct”;
■ Members “regularly using false addresses on their membership”;
■ Deficient branch records resulting in “significant incentive” for members to falsify records.
The report notes: “Unfortunately, only two branch officials interviewed have been forthcoming in identifying how records came to be falsified” and “some branch officials have refused to be interviewed”.
The Daily Telegraph already revealed in March that the party pledged to adopt all major recommendations in the report, however as of tonight limited action had been taken.
The recommendations included suspending local preselections for two years, auditing the local area’s membership by writing to members, an amnesty for fresh admissions, the consolidation of the local branches into a smaller number and central verification of records.
The party refused to answer any questions on what steps it had taken, saying the party was “in the process of implementing those reforms”. One source said little had been done yet, citing the pandemic.
The report specifically accused Mr Ferguson and six other party officials — David Voltz, Joanna Devine, Luke McCaskie, Peter Monaghan, Paul Drayton and Maurice Campbell — of “unworthy conduct” which should be dealt with by a party “charge” before its independent appeals tribunal.
There are no criminal charges.
It is understood none of these members have been suspended from the party, with the matters still before the party’s investigation process.
In a statement yesterday, Mr Ferguson confirmed he remained a member of the party and said he would be providing evidence to the review committee on the “outstanding issue”.
He has long denied wrongdoing, however the report finds sufficient evidence to charge him with unworthy conduct over falsifying branch records by visiting members’ homes to have them sign books outside the meetings.
About 50 party members, including Ms Finn, are named as having signed branch books outside meetings. The report did not recommend action, despite it being identified as a “breach of rules” which facilitates branch stacking.
The Daily Telegraph can also reveal a fresh letter, signed by more than 20 party members, has now been sent to NSW Labor secretary Bob Nanva, accusing the party of protecting Ms Finn and other elected officials.
Ms Finn has always denied wrongdoing and said she was a member of the Harris Park branch and therefore there was no benefit in her falsifying her attendance.
Mr Albanese refused to comment. state leader Jodi McKay stood by frontbencher Ms Finn.
NSW Labor stated: “The NSW Labor Party takes all allegations of impropriety by party members seriously.”
Originally published as NSW Opposition Leader Jodi McKay censured by parliament over branch-stacking response