Red Shirts: Rebel Labor MP Kaushaliya Vaghela claims party tried to ‘break’ her

Rebel Labor MP Kaushaliya Vaghela has claimed she has been pushed to the edge of a nervous breakdown by bullying inside her own party, and she’s scared of ‘spiteful’ Premier Dan Andrews.

Labor MP Kaushaliya Vaghela at her electoral office in Werribee. She is accusing the Victorian Labor government of bullying. Picture: David Caird

Rebel Labor MP Kaushaliya Vaghela has claimed she has been pushed to the edge of a nervous breakdown by bullying inside her own party.

Ms Vaghela, who is facing expulsion from Labor after sensationally crossing the floor to vote to have the Andrews government’s Red Shirts election rorts reinvestigated, said she was left mentally and physically broken by a toxic culture fuelled by the party’s ongoing factional infighting.

Speaking exclusively to the Saturday Herald Sun, Ms Vaghela said members of Daniel Andrews’ Socialist Left faction including a key adviser threatened, intimidated and harassed her after she deflected to the party’s Right faction.

“They wanted to break me mentally, physically, and psychologically,” she said.

“They thought if they did this I would get tired and walk away, they wanted me to walk away. I was determined not to.”

In a withering attack on the party’s leadership Ms Vaghela said she felt personally let down by the Premier and his office.

She accused Mr Andrews of refusing to make public appearances alongside her, and said multiple complaints to his office about bullying were ignored.

“I’m scared actually, I’m scared of him, and I’m scared about what he’s going to do,” she said.

“I was scared before I crossed the floor.”

Kaushaliya Vaghela with Premier Daniel Andrews. Picture: Supplied

She said she was confident she would not be booted from the party after becoming the first MP since 1987 to cross the floor in defiance of the party.

“He has a problem with women, but he also has problem with anyone who doesn’t hold the same views as him or doesn’t do what he wants,” she said.

“Every Labor MP, every Labor Minister is scared of the Premier because they know he is so spiteful.

“He will take revenge. Everybody’s scared. That’s why nobody says anything against him. And anyone, any woman that does, they disappear. Like Jenny Mikakos.

“People don’t see his real side. He is a very nasty man. He’s a misogynist, that is what he is.

“He speaks very bad about women. He says one thing, does another.”

Despite the explosive attack on Mr Andrews, Ms Vaghela made no specific allegation of bullying against the Premier.

But she accused him of turning a blind eye to relentless bullying she says was facilitated by his refusal to intervene.

She said she first raised complaints with his staff in 2019, before formally writing to the Premier’s Office in May last year.

At least one staffer was subject to disciplinary procedures following her complaint.

A government spokesperson said Ms Vaghela’s comments had no basis in fact.

“A complaint was made against a staff member and appropriate action was taken. To suggest otherwise is incorrect,” she said.

In her May 2021 written complaint Ms Vaghela said she was relentlessly targeted by a group of men including the a key adviser.

Labor MPs and Ministers are “scared of the Premier because they know he is so spiteful”, claims Ms Vaghela. Picture: Ian Currie

“I am at the brink of mental collapse and feel like I have no choice but to say in parliament how badly I have been treated by Premier’s staff and Premier’s close friends for such a long time,” she wrote.

“Please remember that if anything ever happens to me or my family, then only you and your office will be fully liable.

“I can’t go anywhere or to any event alone anymore, as, if they are around and see me alone anywhere or at an event, and if no one is around then I am sure I will be assaulted or hurt by the gang.”

In February 2020 Ms Vaghela sought an intervention order against one of the men.

“As a Labor Party member, we tout in our policies of gender equality, inclusion, multiculturalism and believe in calling out such behaviour that is not acceptable towards women. But sadly, I have to say Premier’s staff … and Premier’s close friend … have no regard to such Labor policies.

“The truth is, I should not feel unsafe in presence of Premier’s staff or Premier’s close friends.

“I should not have to look around hundred times when I am alone at events – scared for my safety at the events, in car park or in parliament.

“The reality is I get way better treatment from the Liberal and cross benchers’ staffers than some of our Indian Labor staffers.

“In the Labor Party our enemies are not the Liberals, but they are within.”

Ms Vaghela said since becoming Australia’s first Indian-born female MP in 2018 she had been largely ignored by the Premier and other colleagues.

“I was invisible,” she said.

“To most of the Labor MPs, particularly those in the Socialist Left, I was invisible. What what they wanted to achieve was to undermine me as an MP, to sideline me, to exclude me from wherever they could.”

Ms Vaghela failed to be re-endorsed in a bloody factional war that decided preselections in December.

She said her dumping had nothing to do with speaking out now, but said it was vital the culture inside Labor changed.