170 Liberal Party members likely to be expelled on the back of a branch-stacking probe

Liberal members will be hauled before a committee over allegations their behaviour was “gravely detrimental” to the party.

Victorian Leader of the Opposition Michael O'Brien. Picture: Daniel Pockett

The Victorian Liberal Party is poised to expel 170 members after a branch-stacking investigation found their fees were paid with another person’s credit card.

A bombshell probe by forensic auditors has also identified a staffer at Liberal headquarters whose login was used to access membership records 288 times in 2017 and 949 times in 2018 - far more than any other employee - including 92 instances after hours.

The Herald Sun understands the staffer’s login was used for another six months after they left HQ, during which time they worked for a federal MP, although insiders claimed one login had been provided for multiple party employees.

Party chiefs fear membership records were used improperly and that false entries were made, after auditors found 13 instances where memberships were renewed or signed up without payment.

Findings from the KordaMentha investigation - sparked by branch-stacking allegations aired against conservative operative Marcus Bastiaan which embroiled federal MP Michael Sukkar - were shared with the party’s administrative committee on Thursday night.

About five party members will be hauled before the governing body in the days before Christmas to respond to allegations their conduct was “gravely detrimental to the best interests of the party”.

The Herald Sun understands the group includes former federal Liberal vice president Karina Okotel, who has been under fire for allegedly penning a dirt sheet about state MPs, prompting several to call for her to be booted from the party.

Karina Okotel. Picture Kym Smith

In a missive to members on Thursday night, state president Robert Clark said KordaMentha had identified the document’s author, and they would face “one or more possible charges” over the incident.

Ms Okotel had fallen out with Mr Sukkar and his allies, and shifted her support behind Victorian Liberal leader Michael O’Brien.

Mr Clark also revealed there were 222 instances of members joining the party through one electorate and shifting to another within 180 days, including 59 through Mr Sukkar’s Deakin seat.

In 2017, 45 per cent of new members in Deakin transferred elsewhere within six months.

Mr Clark said that while some defended the practice of “warehousing”, it was “at best ... a deliberate circumvention of the party’s constitutional provisions and at worst it is a form of ‘branch stacking’”.

But a senior party figure said the investigation had “spectacularly blown up in (Mr Clark’s) face” and had found few significant issues.

“Robert Clark has no interest in winning elections,” the figure said.

“He only has an interest in internal factional matters ... He should resign.”

In his email, Mr Clark said “serious breakdowns in standards and good governance” had compromised the party’s disastrous 2018 state election campaign.

“The Liberal Party in Victoria has paid a heavy price for what has taken place,” Mr Clark told members.

“While much has already been changed since then, (it) is imperative that we continue to learn from and act on the lessons of what has occurred so that it can never happen again.”

KordaMentha recommended sweeping changes to party processes, including for membership applications to be made online with photo ID and signatures, and the introduction of new rules on the transfer of memberships between electorates.

Michael Sukkar. Picture: David Geraghty

Mr Clark warned: “Amendments are needed in particular to remove incentives for unacceptable recruitment practices and to enable misconduct by party members to be dealt with more quickly, effectively and independently.”

Mr Bastiaan, who resigned from the party when the scandal erupted earlier this year, told the Herald Sun that KordaMentha “found no evidence that I or the membership and training committee breached the Liberal Party’s constitution”.

“I am pleased but not surprised to be cleared of all branch stacking allegations,” he said in a statement.

“Anxieties of a growing Liberal Party membership should not be justification for rejecting new members, and I welcome KordaMentha’s recommendation to amend the constitution to stop this practise.”

“After reviewing 12,000 memberships KordaMentha identified an average of 34 members per year had been paid inappropriately. The job of the president is to protect and preserve the reputation of the party, not to create the impression that we have suffered the same problems as Labor.”

Mr Bastiaan hit out at Mr Clark, saying his email was “unhinged and unbecoming of the state president”.

“Party volunteers are not to blame for Robert losing his safe seat after 30 years,” he said.

“There is no bravery in lies and treachery ... Robert Clark needs to come clean about his faction’s plot to damage federal MPs and hold accountable those who have brought the Liberal Party into disrepute.”

The federal Department of Finance had previously probed allegations that Mr Sukkar and fellow MP Kevin Andrews had misused taxpayer-funded resources. Both were cleared of any wrongdoing.