Opinion: Faction-obsessed politicians power a broken, self-perpetuating system

Adem Somyurek’s IBAC testimony exposed a broken system run by people with no desire to fix it, because not only are they complicit – they enjoy it. And we’re the fools paying for it.

It would be easy to say Adem Somyurek’s evidence at IBAC this week was shocking.

But, in truth, it confirms what we all knew – many politicians are simply out to feather their own nests.

In the few moments when the former Labor Minister wasn’t tying himself up in knots by simultaneously saying everything and nothing at all, he revealed a toxic culture inside the ALP.

Paying other people’s party memberships, getting publicly funded staff to do public work, stacking branches to save their own positions and spending $14,000 of our money on stamps to allegedly send out campaign material.

Somyurek claims up-and-comers in the party had to complete a factional “apprenticeship” to get anywhere.

In other words, they had to do the bidding of their masters, often in “unethical” ways, as IBAC commissioner Robert Redlich put it, to be considered for preselection.

It’s a dirty, grubby way to enter a system that is meant to serve us and act in our best interests.

Adem Somyurek. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

Somyurek, who alleges Premier Daniel Andrews entered politics through such an apprenticeship, is now trying to use the excuse that everyone did it to abrogate himself of any responsibility.

What else was he meant to do when this was the expectation?

Well, there was always the option to leave the ALP when he saw the grim reality of how the machine operated.

But he didn’t. He stayed and complied. And, by his own admission, became a major cog in that wheel.

This is the problem. The only reason you would stay within that machine is if you are obsessed with the politics of politics rather than achieving the best results for normal people.

And, if Somyurek is to be believed, that applies to just about everyone in the Labor Party room.

Modern politics is awash with cookie-cutter politicians who all come from the same university clubs where they develop obsessions with the minutiae of politics, such as factional fights and stacking branches.

They spend much of their working lives prior to entering politics working in other politicians’ offices.

Politics is all they know. It’s hardly surprising, given many pollies have no other notable skills, that they’d do anything to keep their bums on a leather seat.

Daniel Andrews has only ever worked in politics. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

Our esteemed leader Andrews graduated from Monash University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1996 and promptly went to work in the office of former federal Labor MP Alan Griffin.

He was there until 1999, when he shuffled off to ALP head office and worked as an organiser for two years and then spent another two years as assistant state secretary.

Then he gained preselection for Mulgrave and was elected in 2002.

The bloke has never worked outside of politics, has no real-world experience, and he is running the joint.

Doesn’t that say it all?

It’s a broken system being run by people who have no desire to fix it because not only are they complicit – they actually enjoy it.

And we’re the fools who pay for it.