Tom Minear: Andrews makes net gain in branch-stacking fallout
Is Premier Daniel Andrews committed to cleaning up the Labor Party or are his reforms a purge of his enemies? In failing to act sooner, he has allowed his party to be tainted by yet another selfish scandal, writes Tom Minear.
Opinion
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They say history is written by the winners. Right now, in the Victorian Labor Party, its author is Daniel Andrews.
It was only four days ago Andrews’ status as the state’s premier belied his position in
the party.
His Socialist Left faction was outnumbered in caucus by a coalition of Right-aligned unions and the Industrial Left. That group, spearheaded by powerbroker Adem Somyurek, also controlled the party’s admin committee and had their choice in charge at headquarters.
But within 12 hours of Sunday night’s 60 Minutes program, which blew the lid on Somyurek’s alleged branch-stacking and offensive tirades, Andrews had blasted the factional war lord out
of his Cabinet, his government and his party.
Another 24 hours after that, two of Somyurek’s Cabinet allies were gone. And while they were drafting their resignations, Andrews was tapping out his own letter, ordering the Victorian branch be taken over by his chosen party elders, Steve Bracks and Jenny Macklin.
The ruthlessness of the inside hit on Somyurek was almost matched by Andrews’ manoeuvres to retake effective control of the party he has led for almost a decade.
Bracks and Macklin will run the state branch until at least January, reporting to Labor’s national executive and acting on the wishes of Andrews and federal leader Anthony Albanese.
No matter what shenanigans Somyurek and his allies have up their sleeves, Andrews is in charge. So it’s worth looking at how Labor got here — and what it means for the party’s future.
All member voting rights have been suspended until 2023, meaning state and federal MPs will be automatically re-endorsed for their next elections.
This came after Andrews said he had “no confidence in the integrity of any voting rolls that are produced for any internal elections in the Victorian branch”.
It was a stunning statement that provoked valid questions from his enemies.
First, how on earth did it take the 60 Minutes program for Andrews to realise Somyurek’s forces had engaged in an alleged “industrial-scale stackathon”? Andrews’ allies have been complaining for months about new members lobbing into their branches.
Second, is Andrews acknowledging branch-stacking is a problem across the party, not just in Somyurek’s orbit? He has not been willing to admit that before.
Third, and most important, is the premier committed to cleaning up the party — or are his reforms a purge of his enemies? We’ll come back to the answer on this later.
As Andrews drafted his intervention, Socialist Left kingpin Kim Carr was blasting Somyurek’s alleged branch-stacking, saying that “if the process is so corroded, it destroys all credibility”.
“Of course you want to stop it. You want to clean up this corruption,” the senator said.
Powerful words. If only Carr had thought to speak up three years ago.
That’s when the Herald Sun revealed a branch-stacking scheme was allegedly run out of the office of state MP Khalil Eideh, one of Carr’s closest allies.
Labor operatives weren’t just breaking party rules. Whistleblowers alleged hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars was siphoned from MPs’ printing budgets. Invoices were allegedly created for material that was never printed, and the money paid by parliament to MPs was used to pay for Labor memberships.
One of those allegedly involved was Justin Mammarella, who was a candidate for the 2018 state election. He dropped out for “family reasons” — and was charged by the anti-corruption watchdog several months later.
Last year, the Herald Sun obtained leaked documents showing dozens of Labor members — whose fees were paid in cash — had their memberships expire after the rort was exposed.
When contacted, many had no idea their memberships were being renewed, meaning their signatures may have been forged.
While it is not suggested Carr was involved in any wrongdoing, he chose to not speak out. The silence from Andrews was similarly deafening.
This week, the premier said Labor needed to validate every member “as genuine, consenting and self-funded”.
Why wasn’t that necessary in 2017, or on the many other occasions branch-stacking has been exposed?
That leads us back to the question of whether the premier is genuinely committed to fixing
this problem.
As Carr rightly pointed out this week, branch-stacking has been an issue for decades. And there’s a fine line between right and wrong.
Extracting wads of cash from ATMs and forging signatures is wrong.
But membership numbers in political parties are dwindling. Legitimate mass recruitment has never been more important, particularly because on the Labor side unions do not have the same societal influence any more.
Andrews is right to check the bona fides of everyone on Labor’s books. He needs members who are out there campaigning, not people who don’t even know they are signed up.
Instead of making the party more inclusive for them, however, Andrews has denied them of their right to choose their elected representatives until 2023, a significant blow to internal democracy.
And by failing to act sooner, he has allowed his party to be tainted by yet another selfish scandal.
No wonder it’s hard to convince people to join the Labor Party.
Tom Minear is Herald Sun national politics editor