NSW Labor boss Kaila Murnain suspended in the wake of anti-corruption revelations
Explosive revelations about allegedly dodgy donations at an anti-corruption hearing have led to NSW Labor’s boss being suspended.
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The boss of the New South Wales Labor Party has been suspended in the wake of explosive revelations at an anti-corruption inquiry.
Kaila Murnain was refusing to quit her post despite being dragged into damning allegations involving a Chinese billionaire and a $100,000 donation delivered in cash, in a shopping bag.
But tonight, Ms Murnain — the general secretary of the party’s state branch — was suspended.
Labor leader Jodi McKay, who relied on Ms Murnain’s support in the recent race for Opposition leader, intervened in the matter.
In a statement, Ms McKay said she was “appalled” by the evidence heard by the Independent Commission Against Corruption over the past three days.
“Tonight I am taking steps to clean up the mess at ALP head office,” Ms McKay said.
“I have therefore asked the party officers to convene a meeting tonight to suspend Kaila Murnain as General Secretary, as I no longer have confidence in her judgment.
“Pat Garcia will act in the role of General Secretary.”
ICAC has been examining alleged breaches of the state’s electoral finance laws, including that Ms Murnain saw the bag of cash that Chinese businessman Huang Xiangmo handed to her then boss Jamie Clements in 2015.
RELATED: Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo gave NSW Labor general secretary $100,000 in cash, ICAC hears
The cash hand-off came a few weeks after a fundraising dinner hosted by a group called Chinese Friends of Labor at a restaurant called The Eight.
That dinner supposedly raised $100,000 via 12 donors. ICAC is investigating the suggestion that Mr Huang was the true source.
NSW electoral law back in 2015 limited donations to political parties to $5700 per person each year.
Most of the alleged donors at the dinner in question got around that technicality by giving $5000 to NSW Labor and a further $5000 to Country Labor, which is a separate entity.
The donations were properly disclosed in accordance with the law. But they still raised the suspicions of electoral officials.
Today, Ms Murnain today alleged the party’s lawyer told her to forget what she knew when she raised her concerns about a “massive f***-up” relating to the donation.
She said that in September 2016, NSW upper house MP Ernest Wong told her Mr Xiangmo — who was a prohibited donor — had made a donation to the state party.
She said Mr Wong was “distressed and agitated” when he told her a person who said they had donated money had not actually done so and the money had instead come from Mr Huang.
The party’s general secretary urged Mr Wong several times to get the person to come forward, the inquiry heard.
Ms Murnain said she couldn’t remember the donation amount but connected it to the money raised at the contentious dinner.
“At some point I responded back (to Mr Wong) ‘What the s***’,” Ms Murnain said.
“I do remember stepping back and realising what all this meant. That a significant donor had made a donation to our state campaign account who was a prohibited donor.”
Ms Murnain recalled being “pretty upset” and “stressed” after speaking to Mr Wong.
After calling then-Labor Senator Sam Dastyari for advice, Ms Murnain went to see the party’s lawyer, Ian Robertson.
She told the inquiry she was advised to “forget the conversation happened” after she informed the lawyer that she believed Mr Wong.
“At the end of the conversation, Ian told me … ‘There is no need to do anything from here, don’t record this meeting, don’t put it in your diary, forget the conversation happened with Ernest and I won’t be billing you for this either’,” she said.
“And (he said) ‘Don’t tell anyone about it’. So I literally didn’t tell anyone about it.”
Mr Dastyari — whose connection with Mr Huang in part led to his political downfall — is also expected to address the inquiry this week.
Originally published as NSW Labor boss Kaila Murnain suspended in the wake of anti-corruption revelations