Federal Election: Parachuting Andrew Charlton into Parramatta is a risky move for the ALP

It is impossible to believe the ALP could not find a good Western Sydney candidate for Parramatta other than a millionaire from Bellevue Hill, writes James O’Doherty.

Anthony Albanese’s move to parachute a candidate into the seat of Parramatta has been a long time in the making.

As early as October last year, when Julie Owens announced she would retire at the election, Labor’s National Executive was expected to install a candidate in the seat rather than allow local party member to choose their own.

At the time, Labor sources said that the National Executive needed to pick a candidate because an explosive branch-stacking report — first ­revealed by The Daily Telegraph in 2020 — had recommended a two-year ban on rank-and-file preselections involving certain suburbs.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese’s decision to parachute Andrew Charlton in to contest the federal seat of Parramatta could come back to bite him. Picture: Terry Pontikos

Despite the knowledge that a candidate was required, the stalemate which prevented a candidate being selected went on for five months.

And it was a stalemate that could have been avoided — but for long-running disputes within NSW Labor.

Local lawyer Durga Owen had long been the candidate proposed by the soft-left (a tight-knit group known as the “Fergusons” after powerbroker Laurie Ferguson).

At one stage, state Granville MP Julia Finn was also in the mix.

But Labor’s National Executive ­refused to rubber stamp Owen, despite her having the support of locals.

The refusal was said to be in part because Albanese’s hard-left faction has long been at loggerheads with the Ferguson left.

Albanese’s faction proposed its own candidate — union lawyer Abha Devasia. She wasn’t considered acceptable either. Labor operatives this week blamed Sussex Street for staunchly sticking behind Devasia ­instead of finding another candidate.

Former adviser to Kevin Rudd and Adjunct Professor of Economics at Macquarie University, Andrew Charlton.

At least two others were courted but said no — former candidate Cameron Murphy, and former state minister (now Business Western Sydney boss) David Borger.

Albanese finally landed on Accenture managing director Andrew Charlton, wooing him from his $16 million Bellevue Hill home.

It was an undemocratic captain’s pick that dudded local party ­members. Albanese immediately faced backlash, accused by party members of trying to “whitewash” the electorate.

The fact that it came months after Kristina Keneally was parachuted into Fowler makes it even worse.

The move has blocked a Tamil refugee from Sri Lanka putting her name forward for Labor in the seat where she is a local. Why did Albanese and Labor bosses not think Durga Owen was good enough to run? That’s the question multiple Labor operatives have asked.

“I honestly don’t know,” outgoing MP Julie Owens tells me.

“She’s an extraordinary person, she’s very well connected, she’s worked ridiculously hard.

“She would have been a fine candidate. She had earned the right to put her hand up and face the judgment of her branch member peers.”

Owens called for a rank-and-file vote when she announced her resignation. The fact that one never eventuated is a “shame,” she says.

However, she says Charlton is an “exceptional” person whose skills would be a benefit to the electorate.

Albanese this week backed Charlton as a “great success story” who is “an outstanding contributor to public debate”.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese also parachuted Kristina Keneally into another Western Sydney seat. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

Mr Charlton served as an economics adviser to Mr Rudd during the Global Financial Crisis. He started his own consultancy company Alpha­Beta in 2015, which was bought by the Fortune Global 500 company Accenture in 2020.

Every person spoken to for this column, and our stories this week, believes Charlton is extremely bright and would make a good contribution to parliament.

But most, if not all, thought that he was the wrong fit for Parramatta.

“Why are we taking the risk?” Labor sources say.

It is impossible to believe the party could not find a good Western Sydney candidate other than a millionaire from Bellevue Hill. As multiple people within Labor have told me this week, picking Charlton shows a ­hubris from Albanese.

It suggests he’s already looking to stack Labor’s government benches with qualified MPs rather than select candidates that can win the seats the party needs to get there.

Albanese’s pick also threatens to create headaches for the party down the track because of how the party’s factions divide different electorates.

Parramatta is a “left” electorate. Charlton is from the party’s right wing faction.

Operatives from the right fear that in agreeing to install Albanese’s preferred candidate in Parramatta, a secretive deal has been done to give up a right-faction seat elsewhere.

But that’s a problem that will only be realised further down the track. Labor has to win the seat first.

At the coalface of every election campaign are hundreds of local party members, who volunteer their time and energy to get their candidate elected.

Labor sources now fear that branch members won’t want to turn out for someone they don’t know.

And as an outsider, Charlton will need all the local knowledge he can get.

“This is an extremely diverse community (and) very hard to reach,” Owens says.

In formally requesting National Executive take over the Parramatta preselection this week, Albanese noted that “the federal election is due to be called in the coming weeks, and Labor needs a candidate in the field as soon as possible”.

The preselection won’t be sorted until Wednesday. If Labor bosses had put aside factional fights they could have had a candidate doorknocking the electorate ages ago.