Premier must get to the root of Somyurek scandal

Whether he was sacked or he resigned, the result is the same. At 9am on Monday, Adem Somyurek walked into Premier Daniel Andrews' office as a right-wing powerbroker and senior Victorian Labor minister, and walked out soon after a disgraced former minister. He handed in his party membership by the end of the day. After the revelations on Sunday night of Mr Somyurek's alleged industrial-level branch stacking and abusive and misogynistic language towards his party colleagues, there was little choice. Mr Somyurek’s close ally Robin Scott stepped down as assistant treasurer last night.

For a premier dealing with the aftermath of the disastrous summer bushfires, an infrastructure build unprecedented in scale and ambition, and a global pandemic, Andrews' only option was to act quickly and decisively to short-circuit as much as possible the political fallout from Mr Somyurek's actions. But this is not about to go away any time soon.

Former Victorian cabinet minister Adem Somyurek leaves his home in Lynbrook on Monday morning. Credit: Eddie Jim

Mr Andrews did his best to show surprise at the breadth of Mr Somyurek's operations, but the factional warfare over branch stacking in Victoria, mostly kept from the public eye, has been in play for months. In referring Mr Somyurek and his allies to Victoria Police and IBAC, Labor's dirty laundry is about to get a much wider audience.

While police generally keep their investigations under wraps, as they did during their probe into Labor's "red shirts" affair involving the alleged misuse of $388,000 in taxpayer funds, IBAC has insisted on open public hearings that have showcased corruption in all its sordid detail. If IBAC were to put on full public display Labor's backroom machinations in the wielding of political power, it could rapidly diminish Mr Andrews' standing.

Even without a formal investigation, Labor's image in Victoria has been tarnished. It was just under three months ago that MP Ros Spence was elevated to the frontbench after the resignation of senior minister Gavin Jennings, giving cabinet for the time a greater number of women than men. It was a historic moment to be celebrated. And yet now we know that Mr Somyurek, one of the most senior ministers in that same cabinet, was using the most vile and misogynistic language when describing a female minister.

While Mr Andrews rightly called it out as completely intolerable, the reality is that without its exposure by the media, Mr Somyurek's alleged branch-stacking operations and foul-mouthed tirades would still be shaping Victoria's Labor Party. And that goes to the heart of the problem for Mr Andrews.

For all of the Premier's tough actions, it was in response to an investigation by the media. Without a referral, there was little chance that Victoria Police or IBAC would have investigated Mr Somyurek, and there was absolutely no chance that an internal probe by the Labor Party would have come to the same finding.

And the threat of expulsion in Labor's rule book was hardly going to impede the worst of Mr Somyurek's excesses.

Since the early 1980s, when John Cain was elected premier, Labor has been the dominant force in Victorian politics. It has managed that by an amalgam of competent leaders and a predominantly progressive policy platform, while in most part avoiding the scandals and corruption that have afflicted its counterpart in New South Wales.

That changed on Sunday night. It is now up to Mr Andrews as to whether Mr Somyurek's disgraceful actions bring about real change or whether the party goes back to business as usual when it comes to the dark arts of factional politics.