Adem Somyurek urges voters to preference Labor’s Hawke candidate Sam Rae last

Exiled Labor powerbroker Adem Somyurek has intervened in the federal election in a bid to stop his old party from claiming the Victorian seat of Hawke.

Adem Somyurek urges voters to preference Labor’s Hawke candidate Sam Rae last.

Exiled Labor powerbroker Adem Somyurek has intervened in the federal election in a bid to stop his old party claiming the new Victorian seat of Hawke by tying its candidate to Premier Daniel Andrews.

Earlier this week the state upper house MP sent mail out urging voters in the seat which includes Sunbury, Melton and Ballan, to put Labor last on their ballots this Saturday.

The piece, which is understood to have gone across the entire electorate, features a picture of Labor’s candidate Sam Rae alongside Premier Daniel Andrews in front of a toxic waste dump, a reference to the state government’s Bulla dump site for PFAS contaminated soil from the stalled Westgate Tunnel project.

Labelling him, “DAN’S BOY SAM” it asks “Who is Sam Rae, the boy that Dan Andrews’ Labor is dumping on you?” and accuses him being an “inner-city elitist”.

Mr Rae has disputed the claims.

The state secretary of the ALP at the time of the party’s 2018 landslide win, Mr Rae is associated with the elements of the Right faction who Mr Somyurek believes were instrumental in the 60 Minutes expose that led to his expulsion from the party in 2020.

“Sam proudly lives in Ballan with his family and has a consistent history of strongly fighting against any toxic soil coming to his community,” a Labor campaign spokeswoman said.

“This material is a work of fiction, distributed by a disgraced former minister who remains under the cloud of an anti-corruption investigation.”

Originally published as Adem Somyurek urges voters to preference Labor’s Hawke candidate Sam Rae last