Matt Johnston: Tempers fraying as Labor Party problems pile up

THE printing rort scandal is just another big problem looming for a Labor Party under increasing pressure, write Matt Johnston.

Premier Daniel Andrews. Picture: Mathew Farrell

AS soon as the Herald Sun tweeted its front page on Tuesday night showing a story about an alleged printing rort in offices of unnamed state MPs, text messages started to flow from senior ALP figures: “Who are the MPs?” And, perhaps more to their point: “Who is the target?”

“Who are the MPs?” And, perhaps more to their point: “Who is the target?”

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Those were the first questions about a story that had exposed the inner workings of an elaborate “cash for stacks” scam, including allegations of criminal activity.

The alleged rort involved the creation of false invoices for printing work that was never done.

Those invoices were paid by parliament and then thousands of dollars in cash was funnelled from the printer to the MP’s office to pay for hundreds of ALP memberships.

Those people could be activated to vote in the way branch stackers want, across state and federal seats.

Such serious allegations warranted a serious reaction and they got it. A probe by state parliament’s presiding officers, and the potential for a referral to anti-corruption officials and an investigation of work done by printing companies for state MPs, were all immediately in the offing.

Premier Daniel Andrews. Picture: AAP

Premier Daniel Andrews said on Thursday it was “no laughing matter” and that anyone with information about alleged criminal conduct should go to police.

That is a very different reaction from when the Premier was confronted with a different rort — that of taxpayer-funded electorate officers campaigning for his party at the state election.

When it came to that scheme, Andrews claimed the “rules were followed”. Other MPs, many of who were in on the red shirts program whether they liked it or not, rowed in behind the Premier and dismissed it as a beat-up.

Not this time. While no allegations have been proven, the serious nature of fraud claims levelled by Labor insiders has set off a bomb internally. Some people who have seen branch-stacking operations up close were surprised by this. Others were taken aback by the scale and others were aghast that a newspaper had managed to get such detail about a private party practice.

Sitting alongside that, as shown by the flurry of texts and calls when the story broke, were concerns that there could be more explosive revelations. Many Labor MPs and recruiters are in a highly emotional state at the moment with preselection season upon them. As soon as it became evident the alleged rorting had occurred in the west, factional warriors started to make up their own version of the story. It must be a bid to smear a preselection candidate, one mused.

Everything is an internal hit to them, in the same way that some Liberals are obsessed with the lobster saga being an inside job.

Labor senator Kim Carr.

Former Labor senator Stephen Conroy. Picture: Aaron Francis

There isn’t a single person inside the Labor Party, from Andrews down, who isn’t bracing for things to get nasty. One of the big reasons for this is there are some safe seats up for grabs — like Tarneit and Melton. Seats for life, unless you are caught rorting.

There is also a realignment of forces in Left and Right factions that is causing angst. For some time now, it has been clear that the influence of former powerhouses Stephen Conroy (Right) and Kim Carr (Left) is waning. The most important factional player on the Right emerging in Victoria and federally at the moment is Adem Somyurek, who is gunning for a space once owned by Conroy.

Meanwhile, Left unions in Victoria like the CFMEU once controlled by Carr, and MPs close to them like Jane Garrett, have been flexing their muscles internally.

These state preselections may show how far this change has come. All of the state shenanigans will have a big impact on the power base of federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, whose most important relationships in his home state are with Conroy and Carr.

Carr was critical on delivering him votes backing boat turnbacks at national conference a couple of years ago.

Conroy and Carr are still on the all-powerful national executive, but elections for those positions are up next July.

Victorian MP Khalil Eideh. Picture: AAP

Conroy is no longer in the Senate and has taken up a position as a gaming lobbyist, and Carr is hanging on to his spot in shadow Cabinet by his fingernails.

Some could hardly conceal their pleasure at the fact Khalil Eideh — one of Carr’s close allies — was caught up in the latest rorts allegations.

Eideh claims to know nothing of the scheme, which most Labor people say is entirely plausible given his political career has been largely directed by others.

It hasn’t been a good month for Eideh, who was refused entry to the US while on a parliamentary junket, returning to Melbourne where he held a media conference next to Carr.

“I bet he was glad he went to the airport with Khalil now,” one Labor source said.

With power at stake, and tempers fraying, some Labor MPs are bracing for a bloodbath.

There is nothing unusual about brutal preselection processes in the ALP — nor, in fact, in the Liberal Party.

But the latest allegations of rorting aren’t a game, as senior Labor people have pointed out.

It’s a claim of criminal activity.

The Labor Party can’t afford to be bogged down by such allegations leading into a state election next year.

But some ALP members also fear this investigation, currently led by state parliament, may soon spread further into the world of federal politics.

Matt Johnston is state politics editor

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