Bill Shorten steps in to end Victoria’s ugly Labor faction mess

BILL Shorten has dramatically stepped in to end the Labor Party’s preselection chaos in Victoria which has descended into an ugly factional war with words of abuse flying between two powerful unions.

BILL Shorten has dramatically stepped in to end the Labor Party’s preselection chaos in Victoria which has descended into an ugly factional war with words of abuse flying between two powerful unions.

The Opposition Leader on Wednesday night wrote to the party’s nat­ional executive asking it to take over federal preselections.

The intervention comes as the Victorian branch is engulfed in a bitter factional brawl over the future of former state emergency services minister Jane Garrett.

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It is understood a rapid-fire process will now begin, as nominations for the federal seats will open on Friday and then close on Monday with the national executive to then pick candidates in the coming weeks.

Labor’s factional power­brokers were locked in negotiations on Wednesday night in a bid to come to an agreement on the most contentious seats, including Jagajaga and Fraser.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten. Picture: AAP

former state emergency services minister Jane Garrett. Picture: David Caird

It is understood Mr Shorten has still not made a decision on whether to switch to the new seat of Fraser, which borders and takes in a significant part of his seat of Maribyrnong.

Senior sources last night hoped the factions would not come to a deal before next week, otherwise the 20-member national executive would decide each seat which was “the most ugly option”.

If a state MP moves into one of the federal seats, it would allow Ms Garrett to take a spot in state parliament.

A senior federal Labor MP said Mr Shorten was supportive of a deal which would see Ms Garrett, who has been left without a seat after vacating Brunswick, find a new seat.

A number of MPs within federal Labor have been angry at Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews for his failure to deal with the issue.

Sources said Mr Andrews had been “telling different things to different people”.

“Andrews needs to show leadership by promoting peace and reconciliation in caucus rather than standing by as his feral Socialist Left caucus insisting on mindless conflict,” one senior source said.

“He needs to start by reining in (State Minister) Lily D’ambrosio and get on board the deal that is supported by the Right.”

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is under pressure to sort out an internal fight.

A senior Victorian Federal MP said “Bill is showing the leadership required to fix this mess and to make sure all sides are accommodated”.

In his letter to national secretary Noah Carroll, Mr Shorten said the party needed to “set an appropriate timetable to preselect all Victorian candidates for the next Federal Election in

the seats”.

Mr Shorten’s intervention will not affect the preselections which have already occurred for key non-held marginals Corangamite, Dunkley and LaTrobe.

The factional war engulfing the party deepened on Wednesday after the United Firefighters’ Union secretary Peter Marshall called on Labor to investigate fundraising activities linked to factional powerbroker and State MP Adem Somyurek.

Adem Somyurek has become a powerful player. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

The UFU is also now in open conflict with the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union over its support for Ms Garrett, with the two militant unions penning a series of open letter this week flinging abuse at each other.

Mr Marshall, who is opposing any move to find a new seat for Ms Garrett, has denied claims by the CFMMEU that he waged a bullying and sexist campaign against the Brunswick MP.

Asked in a senate inquiry yesterday to respond to the claims, Mr Marshall said they were “totally untrue”.

Questioned whether the union’s actions were contributing to harm and harassment in Victoria’s fire services, Mr Marshall said there might be a “generational thing” but it was no worse than any other industry.

“There has been no finding of bullying against the union,” Mr Marshall said.

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