Labor senator Gavin Marshall dumped amid infighting over preselections

VETERAN Labor senator Gavin Marshall has been brutally dumped amid rising factional tensions which are threatening Bill Shorten’s authority over the Victorian party.

VETERAN Labor senator Gavin Marshall was tonight brutally dumped amid rising factional tensions which are threatening Bill Shorten’s authority over the Victorian party.

Senator Marshall, who has served since 2002, was demoted from the No.2 position on the ticket by the Socialist Left faction in favour United Voice state secretary Jess Walsh.

Senator Marshall’s axing is linked to a split within the Left of the party two years ago which saw him join Kim Carr’s breakaway faction.

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Mr Shorten had requested that all sitting MPs be re-endorsed but Labor sources told the Herald Sun last night he was powerless to intervene because of proportional representation rules.

The latest outbreak of factional warfare comes ahead of five critical by-elections for Labor next weekend.

Bill Shorten’s authority is under threat again. Picture: AAP Image/Darren England

Some Labor MPs are also furious at the possible ­elevation of Natalie Suleyman, the state member for St Albans, into the new ­federal seat of Fraser to make way for former emergency services minister Jane Garrett.

The deal would see Ms Garrett given a seat in Victorian Parliament in exchange for Ms Suleyman moving to Canberra.

But opposition towards that swap increased over the weekend, with senior figures question Ms Suleyman’s suitability because of her links to the Victorian Ombudsman corruption inquiry at Brimbank council, where she was mayor.

One senior Labor Right source last night said: “The seat of Fraser should be filled by someone with the capacity to be a minister in a future federal Labor Government and she doesn’t fit that bill.”

Natalie Suleyman’s suitability has been questioned.

Mr Shorten had wanted state upper house MP Daniel Mulino to take up the seat but a swap hit a stalemate amid a public spat between the influential United Firefighters Union and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union.

The Opposition Leader wrote to national secretary Noah Carroll last week to request that the national executive invoke its powers over preselection.

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A senior Labor figures told the Herald Sun last night Senator Marshall was a victim of payback towards Senator Carr’s faction.

It’s understood Senator Carr did not turn up to the vote and was unable to gain enough numbers to protect Senator Marshall.

A senior Labor source said Mr Shorten could not have intervened.

“Carr said he could deliver the numbers to protect Marshall. He lost it,” the source said.

“The party is bigger than Gavin Marshall and Kim Carr.