Adem Somyurek hit job a neat piece of political bastardry
Even some of Adem Somyurek’s enemies — and there are many — are shocked at the suddenness and brutality of his fall, writes James Campbell.
James Campbell
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The political hit job that has ended the political career of Adem Somyurek and ministerial career of his close friend Robin Scott is as neat a piece of political bastardry as you are ever likely to see.
Even as 60 Minutes began on Sunday night, Somyurek and his friends had no idea what was about to hit them.
How could they? The idea that the electorate office of his close friend Anthony Byrne had been wired for sound and pictures was the stuff of science fiction.
In Victorian politics, the secret-tape bombshell has long been a Liberal specialty, another thing
for the grown-ups in Labor to laugh about.
They’re not laughing now.
Even some of Somyurek’s enemies — and there are many — are shocked at the suddenness and brutality of his fall.
As one Cabinet minister, no friend of his, mused yesterday: “Seriously, who in politics would survive having their private conversations recorded? I’ll tell you: no one.”
As for the pearl-clutching from Daniel Andrews over “multiple-recruitment”, the less said the better.
This was a bloke who was once the assistant state secretary of the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party.
Seriously, to someone who has held that position, nothing could be less shocking than allegations of branch-stacking.
The Premier may not have had any foreknowledge of what was to be in Sunday’s program — those who dealt with his office over the weekend swear that if they knew what was coming they did a good job of hiding it — but presented with the chance to slot his enemies, he wasn’t going to miss.
The destruction of Somyurek’s career does more than just get rid of a turbulent enemy from Andrews’ cabinet and caucus.
It gives the Premier and his allies an opportunity to purge the party of their enemies.
That is why they have moved quickly to institute an inquiry through Labor’s National Executive, a body that can pretty much do as it likes.
As a senior Liberal MP joked on Sunday night, he controls just about every institution in this town except one — the ALP — and Somyurek’s stupidity has given him the chance to run that one too.
Whether this comes to pass remains to be seen but the Liberal’s assessment of the situation among his opponents until yesterday is undoubtedly correct and that this was so was largely down to Somyurek.
When he was ejected from Andrews’ Cabinet over allegations he manhandled his female chief-of-staff in July 2015, it looked as though he was finished.
Instead he set about uniting the Right of the party under his leadership in a way it has not been united in more than a decade.
When he set out on that task, few gave him any chance of success.
The one constant in Victorian Labor politics since the turn of the century had been the ease with which the Socialist Left has managed to play the various tribes of the Right off against each other. Somyurek ended that fighting, aside from a few holdouts in the grouping associated with former Senator Stephen Conroy.
But his achievements didn’t end there.
In 2018, a group of unions broke away from the SL to form the Industrial Left. They have been in alignment with Somyurek, ever advancing slowly but steadily.
At the next round of federal preselections, this alliance would have finally reached the ascendancy.
As one can imagine, this has made a lot of Labor MPs very nervous. Who knows whose seats Somyurek might have promised in order to stitch together his coalition?
It is a rule in party politics the larger the faction, the more mouths there are to feed.
By this year, Somyurek had a lot of mouths to feed indeed.
The fear among his enemies was the only way he could feed them was by taking over more
real estate.
His fall has ensured the MPs he was threatening will be automatically re-endorsed through National Executive while at the same time inquiries are made into who should or should not be a member of the ALP.
On the face of it, it all looks pretty grim for the Right and their IL allies with the SL already getting ready to pick apart their coalition.
And while Andrews and the SL’s use of the National Executive trump card does appear to have dealt them a blow, and it goes without saying it is very early days indeed, what has been surprising in the first 24 hours since the political death of their leader is the determined noises Somyurek’s former party colleagues are making about keeping their show together.
The assumption of whoever organised this hit on Somyurek will have been that his political legacy would die with him.
And on the balance of probabilities, you would have to bet that this is still likely.
But if this calculation turns out to be wrong, then the revenge of his friends will be terrible.
As one Liberal observed “they’re in shock today, but tomorrow they’re going to be angry”.
It has not escaped anyone’s notice either that while Somyurek has departed the ALP, he has not departed the parliament.
JAMES CAMPBELL IS A HERALD SUN COLUMNIST