MPs deny knowledge of staffer using interns to recruit

Federal MPs Alex Hawke and Melissa McIntosh say they didn’t know Mr Hawke’s staffer was instructing interns in Ms McIntosh’s office to sign-up more Liberal members, as there was a new job available.

Kokulaan Santhakumar, a staffer in Alex Hawke's office. Source: Supplied

A potential full time job in an MP’s office was used to motivate interns to aggressively recruit new party members, Young Liberals claim.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal the political scheme was orchestrated by an adviser working for Alex Hawke, the Federal MP for Mitchell and a centre-right powerbroker.

WhatsAPP messages seen by this masthead show Mr Hawke’s staffer, Kokulaan Santhakumar in a group chat with interns attached to the office of Mr Hawke’s factional ally, Melissa McIntosh.

“Kalvin Biag has parted ways with Melissa McIntosh’s Office,” Mr Santhakumar wrote in August last year.

“Make sure you guys focus in the coming weeks, lots of changes in the near future don’t want to get caught in it - that being said few opportunities will pop up as well,” he said.

Federal MPs Melissa McIntosh (left) and Alex Hawke (second from left) with Mr Hawke's staffer Kokulaan Santhakumar (far right). The other two men in this photo are not named in this article. Picture: Supplied

A former Young Liberal, who asked not to be named said: “Kokulaan had been asking us to prove how many members we could recruit.”

The source said they had gleaned the impression that reaching certain recruitment “metrics” would help them get a job with an MP.

In a follow-up message in August, Mr Santhakumar told the group of interns: “just want to strongly recommend you focus on recruitment … come up with a plan and present it to me. You guys are much poorer than some of the others and it will be difficult for me to vouch for you as the new batch comes through post HSC. Regardless I’m sure you all understand the importance of having supporters internally. Numbers and results speak for themselves” Mr Santhakumar said.

Alex Hawke with Melissa McIntosh in Penrith during the 2019 election campaign. Ms McIntosh was Mr Hawke’s chief of staff prior to becoming an MP.

Mr Santhakumar, who is on scholarship at St Andrew’s College at Sydney University declined to answer detailed questions on Wednesday, simply stating: “under Party rules, members aren’t permitted to speak about internal matters, and I’m respecting those rules.”

Mr Hawke denied knowledge of his staff members’ actions, and said he did not endorse the behaviour. He insisted Mr Santhakumar’s “employment varies (irregularly)” in his team.

“What he does in his own time is his business and a question for him,” Mr Hawke claimed.

Melissa McIntosh with Alex Hawke after Ms McIntosh delivered her Maiden Speech in the House of Representatives Chamber in 2019. Picture Kym Smith

Ms McIntosh also stated she was unaware of the existence of a What’sAPP group involving interns from her office, but said: “recruitment is undertaken with the appropriate process, and this role was taken by a mature age woman with immense community experience.”

Ms McIntosh was Mr Hawke’s chief of staff prior to winning the western Sydney seat of Lindsay in 2019. The pair remain allies in the Liberal centre-right faction, which claimed the federal leadership contest this week with Sussan Ley

On Tuesday this masthead reported the same employee for Mr Hawke, Mr Santhakumar was behind a takeover of the Camden branch of the Young Liberals, featuring a large number of transferred out-of-area members.

It can further be revealed the neighbouring Wollondilly Young Liberals branch is now being controlled by the centre-right faction. Both branches are part of Angus Taylor’s federal seat of Hume.

Several of the new Young Liberal recruits are also staff in Ms McIntosh’s office.

Ms McIntosh said she did not endorse the branch movement: “having been subjected to branch stacking in my electorate as previously reported, I would never condone it.”

Meanwhile one of Ms McIntosh’s former workers, Kalvin Biag, whose vacant position was used to encourage young interns to recruit new members, said: “whilst I’m in no place to discuss party matters, on the subject of my former employment what I do know is that my replacement was a person who does not hold Young Liberal membership and was hired on the basis of their capacity to fulfil the role and the merit they bring to a people-focused job.

Kalvin Biag, a former staffer in MP Melissa McIntosh’s office, had his vacant position used as motivation to encourage interns to recruit more Liberal members. Picture: Instagram

“In saying that any Young Liberal would be deluded to believe they have say in the employment processes of any MP’s office through some sort of recruitment-based metric system. If this statement is to be true, that Young Liberal should have a hard look at themselves, along with the decisions they make and I condemn such actions instantly,” Mr Biag said.

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Originally published as MPs deny knowledge of staffer using interns to recruit