Grim reality of membership forgeries within Labor Party revealed in IBAC hearing

The Victorian Labor Party was so rife with membership forgeries, processes had to be implemented to stop dead people’s memberships being renewed.

Senior Victorian Labor figures continued misusing taxpayer-funded staff after the red shirts scandal because everybody had “skeletons in the closet” and a sense of “mutually assured destruction”.

The Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission on Wednesday heard explosive new evidence about a dysfunctional party culture that allowed public money to be spent on political games.

This included the purchase of thousands of dollars in postage stamps using taxpayer funds allocated to former minister Adem Somyurek. These were diverted to help another Labor MP’s election campaign.

Forging signatures and filling out forms for stacked memberships was so common among the powerbroker’s ­allies and staff they had to stop themselves from renewing dead people.

Adam Sullivan, a former staffer for Mr Somyurek and aligned MPs, was on Wednesday quizzed about the blatant misuse of taxpayer resources.

Lawyers for IBAC also grilled him as to the impact of the red shirts scandal – a rort exposed by the Herald Sun that saw Labor reimburse $388,000 after it was found the party had systematically used electorate office staff, paid to work in the interests of taxpayers, to run state Labor’s 2014 election campaign.

Former Adem Somyurek staffer Adam Sullivan. Picture: IBAC livestream

Mr Sullivan said the scandal and a damaging Ombudsman’s investigation that followed had a “negligible” impact among senior figures.

“The whistleblower in the red shirts scandal was a relative newcomer to the Labor Party,” he said.

“They didn’t have all that much to lose. I suppose the calculation was that everybody had skeletons in the closet.”

Mr Sullivan said no one was going to become a whistleblower because they themselves would have secrets that would then be revealed.

“There was a sort of sense of mutually assured destruction,” he said. “If you were to make the assertion that we were all involved in … a morally and ethically bankrupt calculation … that’d be a fair assessment.”

Mr Sullivan said the “means-to-an-end mentality” had been absorbed when working within the machinery of the offices and Labor Party student politics.

“It’s not as if we didn’t know that this was improper or inappropriate. We chose repeatedly to do the wrong thing,” he said. “Ultimately, the choice was we put our own interests, and our own loyalty, through a factional machine and a system of patronage above the interests of the public.

“As a former public servant (I know) there can be no greater failure.”

Mr Sullivan said he had initially worked for Holt MP Anthony Byrne, but went to work for Mr Somyurek in 2017.

Adem Somyurek a day before being called before the IBAC inquiry. Picture: Tony Gough

He was given the impression Mr Somyurek’s electorate office was “dysfunctional” and a liability amid the red shirts ­affair fallout because no one was working in there at the time.

“I had been initiated in the ways of Victorian Labor,” he said. “I was discreet enough.”

In 2018, up to $14,000 worth of stamps had been bought under the MP’s electorate ­office budget. But Mr Sullivan alleged these stamps were “re-routed” with the intention of being used for campaigning for the re-election of Mordialloc MP Tim Richardson.

Mr Sullivan said most staff working in the electorate office were used to recruit party members, fill out application forms and fill out ballots for influential Labor conferences during the work days.

Elle Schreiber as a witness at the IBAC hearings. Picture: IBAC livestream

Mr Sullivan was shown text messages between himself and Mr Somyurek in which they found they were trying to renew the membership of a person who was dead.

Counsel assisting the commission, Chris Carr SC, probed him about why the renewal of dead Victorians had become an issue for the group.

“There might be an issue where some of those renewal forms weren’t being signed by the people that were being ­renewed,” Mr Sullivan said.

Staffers were aware they were breaking party rules by renewing memberships on ­behalf of other people.

He described the breaches as “immoral”.

STAMP PLAN SWINDLED TAXPAYER DOLLARS

Thousands of dollars in postage stamps were purchased under Adem Somyurek’s electorate office budget and “re-routed” to help a Labor MPs election campaign, an anti-corruption commission has heard.

Adam Sullivan, a former staffer for Mr Somyurek, Anthony Byrne and Marlene Kairouz, detailed serious misuse of taxpayer money to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission.

Mr Sullivan said during his time in Mr Byrne’s office he had witnessed cash being put into a “kitty” that could be used to pay for party memberships.

He alleged this included contributions from Mr Somyurek, Mr Byrne and Steve Michelson, who was understood to be interested in running for the seat of Isaacs.

When prompted by lawyers assisting IBAC, Mr Sullivan said there were activities he saw and participated in that he was thoroughly ashamed of.

He said as much as $14,000 worth of stamps had been purchased under the electorate office budget for Mr Somyurek.

This was taxpayer cash that was not intended for communication related to party political activity.

Adam Sullivan detailed serious misuse of taxpayer money to the IBAC hearing. Source: IBAC livestream

Mr Sullivan said instead these stamps were “re-routed” with the intention of being used for campaigning for the re-election of Mordialloc MP Tim Richardson.

This would be done in increments of up to $2000.

“Let me put it this way, it didn’t seem out of the ordinary,” he said.

The commission also heard Mr Sullivan was asked to work in Mr Somyurek’s electorate office in August 2017, which he described as dysfunctional at the time.

“I had been initiated in the ways of Victorian Labor,” Mr Sullivan said.

“I was discrete enough.”

Mr Sullivan said he was given the impression by Mr Byrne and fellow staffer Nick McLennan that Mr Somyurek’s office had become a “liability” in the wake of the red shirts scandal.

There was concern no one was working in the office at a time when the use of taxpayer-funded staff was being investigated.

Mr Sullivan said at the time he had political aspirations and that he had felt like he would be considered “useless” if he did not assist in factional activity.

“Useless things have a way of disappearing,” he said.

He said he worked for Ms Kairouz and upper house MP Dr Tien Kieu from 2018 to 2020.

ALBO DEFLECTS BRANCH STACKING CLAIMS

Anthony Albanese has again deflected questions about allegations of branch stacking within his own party, telling the Prime Minister to clean out his own house before throwing stones at Labor.

The Opposition Leader is under growing pressure to dump veteran MP Anthony Byrne after he confessed to branch stacking and hiring ghost staff at a Victorian anti-corruption inquiry on Monday.

Pushed about the future of the Labor stalwart on Wednesday, Mr Albanese indicated he was standing by his colleague, for now.

“Look, the IBAC processes are under way and it is important that they be allowed to take place independent of political interference,” he told reporters in Sydney.

Peppered with questions about allegations of branch stacking within his own party, Mr Albanese levelled allegations against the Liberals, claiming Scott Morrison has been missing in action on the issue.

“I think the Victorian Liberal Party have a lot to answer for,” he said.

Read the full version of this story, here.

Originally published as Grim reality of membership forgeries within Labor Party revealed in IBAC hearing