Bullying and ‘blackmail’: Labor members dish dirt on Kristina Keneally’s doomed Fowler campaign

Submissions to a review of Kristina Keneally’s doomed bid for a southwest Sydney seat claim a toxic culture and push to install lawyer and staffer Tu Le killed Labor’s chances.

Labor infighting, bullying, and threats of “blackmail” damned the ALP’s efforts to hold the southwest Sydney seat of Fowler long before Kristina Keneally was parachuted into the seat by Anthony Albanese, according to submissions to a party review of how the campaign played out in the electorate.

Instead, submissions seen by The Daily Telegraph claim that a concerted effort by retired former local MP Chris Hayes to push the preselection of lawyer and former staffer Tu Le, who herself only moved to the electorate in 2020, led to ugly internal disputes and claims of bullying and meant a number of other qualified local candidates were ignored.

According to one submission, “we had several members in our Branches who wanted a chance to run for the seat of Fowler … (however) this was overpowered by the former federal member’s pursuit of ‘hand-picking’ his very first potential Vietnamese MP”.

The submission said that “many branch members were absolutely furious” about the selection of Tu Le and claimed that another would-be female candidate was threatened with “blackmail” and “the release of photos” by another party member if she stood for preselection.

“The campaign, although (Ms Keneally) was not extremely popular, was sabotaged from the get go, coupled with a false narrative that a young woman (Tu Le) was elbowed, but this was NEVER the case,” the submission stated.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese with Western Sydney lawyer Tu Le. Ms Le was endorsed by outgoing Fowler MP Chris Hayes to run in the seat, before Senator Kristina Keneally was parachuted into the position. Picture: Facebook

“It was us branch members who were disrespected and completely elbowed,” it said.

Another local party member claimed that they were “subjected to bullying and harassment” by other more senior party members and that they became “a victim of cyber attacks and (suffered) serious mental depression” as a result of getting caught up in the infighting over the Fowler campaign.

This submission claimed Mr Hayes “announced Tu Le as the ‘hand-picked’ Vietnamese candidate … this led to … propaganda which deemed the seat of Fowler was for Ms Tu Le while she has never been preselected.”

Posters and pamphlets accusing against Ms Keneally circulated the electorate. Picture: Supplied

It also accused Tu Le of portraying herself “as the selected Labor candidate for Fowler … before she was endorsed by the Labor Party.”

“These behaviours continued after former Senator Kristina Keneally was preselected,” it said.

The controversy led to motions being passed at a June 6 meeting of the Whitlam Cabramatta branch of the ALP to “investigate and discipline” members who sought to undermine Kristina Keneally as well as to “condemn Tu Le for undermining the endorsed candidate.”

The submissions also pointed out that once the election got underway with Kristina Keneally as the candidate Labor only received preferences from the Greens, who were largely inactive in the seat, while independent candidate Dai Le had preferences from the Liberals, Liberal Democrats, and the UAP.