By Broede Carmody, Kieran Rooney and Mike Foley
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has requested the Australian Labor Party’s national executive assume responsibility for Victorian preselections ahead of the coming federal election.
In a letter to ALP national secretary Paul Erickson on Saturday, seen by this masthead, the prime minister said the takeover was necessary because of the proposed abolition of the seat of Higgins and boundary changes to more than 30 other federal divisions across the state.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has requested the ALP national executive assume responsibility for Victorian preselections ahead of the upcoming federal election. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“These changes affect every single division that elected a Labor MP in 2022, and nearly one in 10 Victorian electors will be shifted into a different electorate,” Albanese wrote.
“In these circumstances it is appropriate for the ALP national executive to assume responsibility for conducting federal preselections in Victoria.
Albanese’s letter.
“I therefore request that the ALP national executive exercise the plenary power to conduct preselections for the continuing Victorian divisions that elected Labor MPs in 2022.”
Labor’s national executive – a group of about 30 party members that includes MPs and senators – will meet next week to consider Albanese’s request.
A national takeover of state preselections has occurred before, including in 2018 and 2021 in Victoria when new seats were created.
The massive boundary redraw for the upcoming election, due by May 2025, will demand a huge reorganisation for the state branch.
But the rationale for a national takeover is that it would keep MPs and ministers focused on their core business in the lead-up to an election. It would also prevent them from participating in a ballot process with branch members that previously were not in their electorates.
Under Albanese’s proposal, Labor’s national head office would decide which candidates run in Labor-held seats, as opposed to card-carrying locals participating in a potentially longer ballot process.
There are already simmering tensions among Labor’s grassroots members as to who will get to decide their federal candidates.
In Calwell, in Melbourne’s outer north, members feared not being given a say when retiring MP Maria Vamvakinou endorsed political staffer Basem Abdo as her successor ahead of any preselection being locked-in.
One local member, speaking on the condition of anonymity so as not to breach party rules, told The Sunday Age that Saturday’s announcement confirmed their fears.
“The seat of Calwell is one of the lowest socioeconomic places in Australia,” the member said.
“I just want a fair and equitable run of things, and not people trying to do secret deals behind closed doors.”
Another ALP member, also speaking on the condition of anonymity, said: “I knew this was on the cards. Watch with interest.”
The Australian Electoral Commission proposed abolishing Higgins, which takes in the Melbourne suburbs of Armadale, Malvern and Prahran, earlier this year.
Higgins, previously Liberal heartland, was won by Labor’s Michelle Ananda-Rajah at the May 2022 election.
While the abolition of the seat would deny Labor a shot at returning a sitting Victorian MP at the next federal poll, the party is tipped to pick up a new seat in Western Australia.
The prime minister’s declined to comment when contacted on Saturday.
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