Victorian Labor Party loses 4500 members as seat war starts
More than a quarter of Victorian Labor Party members have left the party overnight after a ban on cash payments in light of allegations of branch stacking — and the cull has divided the party.
Victoria
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The Victorian Labor Party has lost more than a quarter of its members overnight, after a ban on cash payments.
It comes as a brawl has broken out within the Premier’s own faction over who will replace former Health Minister Jenny Mikakos, who resigned over the hotel quarantine debacle, in the upper house.
Senior figures claim Energy Minister Lily Ambrosio is making calls at the behest of the Premier to rally support behind staffer Prue Stewart.
Ms Stewart on Wednesday received special consideration to run for the spot despite not being a member of the Labor Party.
In a major financial blow to the state ALP, membership renewals closed yesterday for the first time since rules changed in light of allegations of branch stacking.
The Herald Sun understands more than 4500 people — from a total of almost 16,000 — did not recommit to the party.
The cull of cash members has divided the party, however, with some concerned that as well as getting rid of “stacks” the ban on cash has swept out legitimate older members, particularly those from certain ethnic groups.
Some branches across Melbourne’s north and west are effectively cash only. There are also other cash-heavy branches around the southeast.
Former Premier Steve Bracks and former federal families minister Jenny Macklin were called in to lead a review of memberships, after explosive allegations of branch stacking levelled against former local government minister Adem Somyurek and his allies.
Mr Bracks and Ms Macklin believe that changing the way memberships can be renewed will help clean up the party and stop people from paying for other people’s memberships.
This was viewed as a way to “stack” numbers into certain seats, who then help give control to powerbrokers at preselections.
One senior Labor source said the ban on cash could be seen as “racist” when aimed at legitimate members who have paid their dues for years.
Mr Somyurek has denied industrial-scale stacking but quit cabinet and the party after video footage emerged of him discussing signatures and payments for members.
Writing in today’s Herald Sun, the former minister has hit out at Mr Andrews and said his decision to ignore normal cabinet processes had contributed to the disastrous decision to use private security guards for hotel quarantine.
“The fact that Victoria has suffered the worst public policy disaster in Australian history, and still no one knows who made key decisions that caused the disaster, will affirm that backroom political operators should not be put in party leadership ever again,” he writes.
“A minister taking to cabinet a hotel quarantine proposal with compliance managed by private security would have been questioned relentlessly, given the industry’s sleazy reputation.
“In Andrews’ government, everything is centralised and micromanaged, even the most talented ministers lack autonomy and the bureaucracy are cowered by central control.
“Take it from me, nothing happens by ‘creeping assumption’ in this tightly controlled government,” he writes.
Members of Labor’s Socialist Left have turned on each other as the race to fill Ms Mikakos’s spot appears to be between Ms Stewart, Mat Hilakari and Casey Nunn.
Ms Stewart’s nomination has ignited further infighting because she was not a member of the party. On Wednesday, the national executive granted her an exemption after a letter from the Victorian branch accepting her membership.
Mr Hilakari, a convener for the Socialist Left, is still expected to contest the spot despite a push from within Labor to ensure the spot is filled by a woman.
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