Former ALP national president Warren Mundine says Elevating Kristina Keneally to the Senate would not be a good look
KRISTINA Keneally’s elevation to the Senate would prove Labor is a “mates club”. Former ALP national president Warren Mundine said a move to install the former NSW premier in the upper house would not be a good look.
NSW
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KRISTINA Keneally’s elevation to the Senate would prove Labor is a “mates club”.
Former ALP national president Warren Mundine said a move to install the former NSW premier in the upper house would not be a good look.
Ms Keneally’s defeat in Saturday’s high-stakes Bennelong by-election has left her favourite to replace Sam Dastyari, who resigned after being caught up in a Chinese political donor scandal.
It is understood she is undecided but would have the backing of key party officials if she were to put her hand up to replace Mr Dastyari after recording a smaller-than-expected swing to Labor in Bennelong of 4.95 per cent.
“It’s all about mates and they look after each other,” Mr Mundine (right) told The Daily Telegraph yesterday.
“There’s always other people — and other good people — around, but with these selections for the Senate, it’s a mates club.
“Look at the campaign that was run. I thought it was a silly campaign, saying the government was China-phobic, that was ridiculous.
“To stretch the Sam Dastyari issue to that was ridiculous.”
Mr Mundine’s comments come as NSW Labor will today finalise a timetable to find a replacement for Mr Dastyari, with several candidates expected to be interested if Ms Keneally does not take up the position.
Results of individual polling booths in areas of Bennelong with large Chinese-Australian communities bore out Coalition strategists’ fears that the government’s pursuit of Mr Dastyari and new foreign interference laws may have pushed votes to Labor.
Results from polling booths in Eastwood and Carlingford — where 38.4 per cent and 32 per cent of the population have a Chinese background — show overwhelming swings to Labor, of 12.7 per cent and 11.7 per cent respectively.
Suburbs with smaller Chinese-Australian communities including North Ryde, Putney and Ermington, had lower swings than the average — including at Ermington Central, which recorded a swing to Mr Alexander.
A senior Labor source said the “huge backlash … will have a serious impact on the outcome in seats including Banks, Reid and Chisholm, where there are large numbers of Chinese Australians.”
Mr Mundine resigned from Labor in 2012 after expressing an interest in replacing Mark Arbib in the Senate, a position later given to Ms Keneally’s predecessor as NSW premier Bob Carr.
But the NSW Labor general secretary Kaila Murnain played down the chance of Ms Keneally being immediately given Mr Dastyari’s Senate position.
“The process to select the candidate will be determined by the members of the NSW Labor Administrative Committee, which is made up of 50 per cent rank-and-file Labor members and 50 per cent affiliated trade union members,” she said. “This process is not expected to be finalised until January or February 2018.”