NSW Labor: Premier tells Labor to stand down shadow ministers
The Berejiklian Government has called on the ALP to stand aside two shadow ministers named in a damning whistleblower dossier with what purports to be evidence of a sophisticated NSW Labor branch tampering scheme.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Ex-NSW Labor boss claims Shorten knew about Chinese donations
- Billionaire gave ex-Labor boss $35k in wine box
EXCLUSIVE: Labor has been called on to stand aside the shadow ministers alleged to be aware of a false books branch stacking scandal while an investigation occurs.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian described the allegations — including falsified branch attendance records surrounding Labor branches in Granville which influenced preselection voting eligibility — as “very serious”
“They are very serious and every new Labor leader says things have changed at Sussex Street, but unfortunately we’ve seen things haven’t changed.”
She said the shadow ministers, Julia Finn and Lynda Voltz, should “at least be set aside until the investigation is complete”.
Leader of the House Andrew Constance said “you can’t have your shadow police minister and shadow consumer affairs minister linked to allegations of falsified documents that relate to a preselection process.”
“It’s very serious for them.”
NSW Labor leader Jodi McKay referred the matters to Labor head office for investigation “as a matter of urgency” yesterday saying they were taken seriously with federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese also calling for a probe into the matter.
Apart from Ms Voltz and Ms Finn, the allegations also name federal MP Julie Owens, former federal MP and Labor powerbroker Laurie Ferguson and a string of branch officials as being aware of or linked to various elements of the scheme.
The Daily Telegraph’s revelations came with former Labor Attorney Michael Lavarch already conducting a review of the NSW branch of the party after shock ICAC revelations about fundraising activities.
The evidence presented in the 33-page document, which dates from 2008 to last year, alleges that officials have been falsifying branch attendance books and personally paying branch members’ fees.
Both tactics are considered ways to ensure branches can operate powerful voting blocs and determine preselections.
In one instance, recorded in the Granville Central branch book in December 2017, a photo shows Ms Finn and Parramatta MP Ms Owens appearing to have signed the attendance register leaving four empty name gaps above their signatures.
There is a second allegation of Ms Finn skipping a space at a 2014 meeting.
This can be a tactic which enables party organisers to later fill the gaps with names of people who were not in attendance without raising suspicion over all the extra names being added to the end of the list.
The letter accompanying the dossier claims hard left powerbroker Mr Ferguson, who is now secretary of the Granville East Branch, as being involved in the tactics more broadly.
The dossier also explicitly names a string of other party members, including branch officials, it claims were “actively assisting” to falsify books.
It names five preselections which it claims were influenced by false attendance books, including that of NSW shadow minister Lynda Voltz, who replaced Luke Foley in Auburn in 2018.
In a statement, a spokesman for Ms McKay stated: “The first Ms McKay learned of the allegations was today through a media query.”
“She takes these allegations seriously and today has asked Party Office to examine the claims as a matter of urgency.”
A spokesman for Mr Albanese said: “We’ve been made broadly aware of these allegations. They are concerning and should be investigated by the NSW branch of the ALP.”
A Labor HQ spokesman said: “We note that these matters have been raised anonymously and are now the subject of investigation by the Party.”
The Daily Telegraph has spoken to one branch member who confirmed they had been asked “multiple times” to sign the branch attendance book when they hadn’t attended a meeting.
The Daily Telegraph is not suggesting he was visited by anyone named in this article.
The branch member said they believed this was done so they could retain voting rights, and spoke only on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
The whistleblower — a separate person — said in their party letter “at this stage I am not prepared to put my name forward to bring the charges myself as I have raised these concerns previously with officials at ALP head office and they were not acted upon. I was told to keep quiet and don’t make trouble for the faction.”
Attendance at branch meetings is critically linked to the ability to vote in internal selection ballots. Official rules state that a party member must have attended four meetings over a two-year period and have continuous financial membership if they are to vote in selection ballots for public offices.
For this reason, there are strict party rules governing the meeting book. A member is considered “present’ if they sign the official attendance book during the meeting.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the secretary must conclude the meeting closed and permit any members to witness the signing off of the attendance book, which must be ruled off at the bottom.
One series of photos in the dossier appears to show instructions pinned to an attendance list from December 17, 2017, which nominates a series of blank spots that appear to need filling in.
The instructions are signed with an L initial, which the whistleblower alleges to be that of Laurie Ferguson.
A second picture shows several of the spaces filled in as per the instructions.
In another series of images contained in the dossier from 2014, the first photo shows a page in which Ms Finn appears to have signed the top space of the attendance roll.
The page is then photographed in a car — clearly outside a branch meeting — with a list of handwritten names on a separate piece of paper which features Mr Ferguson’s official letterhead.
A third photo shows names added to the attendance list — the allegation being that staff were driving the book to the people to get extra signatures.
The dossier also alleges that Mr Ferguson personally paid for branch members’ fees.
In a joint response, a spokesman for Ms Voltz and Ms Finn said they “roundly reject these allegations and look forward to the anonymous individual putting their name forward to their complaint to party office”.
Mr Ferguson and Ms Owens did not comment.