Dennis Shanahan
ALP crisis: Tongue-tied leader Anthony Albanese does an about-face to finally enter the conversation
Anthony Albanese’s fate is now captive to any damaging findings or revelations about Anthony Byrne’s role in the covert taping of the Victorian branch-stacking scandal as well as any more embarrassing or compromising texts from the backbencher to disgraced state cabinet minister Adem Somyurek.
The federal Opposition Leader has bound himself completely to his Victorian backbench colleague as factional plays and corruption inquiries, involving tapes made in the MP’s office, unfold over the next 18 months at least.
After three days of not just avoiding talking to or about Byrne but steadfastly refusing to speak to him, Albanese suddenly reversed on Thursday morning.
He has now accepted the MP for Holt has “done nothing illegal”, defended him against Somyurek’s attacks, contradicted his own public statement that he couldn’t even talk to Byrne about the covert taping in his office and, perhaps most importantly, has vouchsafed Byrne as the deputy chairman of the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security.
All these sudden assumptions and public declarations before any idea of what official investigations or political retribution may reveal.
Even Albanese’s criticism and “counselling” of Byrne over insulting texts about women and movie mafia-style tough talk about beheadings and “pissing on” a corpse was mild and forgiving relative to his damnation of Somyurek’s similar tough-guy talk.
Correctly, Albanese leapt early to attack the rorts exposed in the Victorian Labor Party, joined Premier Daniel Andrews in dumping Somyurek from cabinet and the Labor Party and backed a historic federal intervention to reform the Victorian ALP. He also rightfully condemned the vile language exposed on the tapes.
Yet he didn’t seem to prepare himself for media scrutiny about the impact on the federal party, Byrne’s involvement in the covert tapes and the ramifications of conducting covert taping in the office of not just an MP but someone possessed of intelligence secrets.
Albanese blustered and bluffed about not knowing about Byrne’s involvement, being unable to speak to anyone involved in an IBAC corruption inquiry and the possibility of an AFP inquiry.
The federal Labor leader wanted to identify with all the “good bits” of rousting out a rogue powerbroker and avoid the “bad bits” associated with a full factional war that has the potential to destabilise Labor and his leadership when Scott Morrison is at historic highs of public approval.
Albanese duck-shoved questions about Byrne’s involvement in the political sting on Somyurek, running the central defence that taping was “legal” in Victoria and to talk to a witness in an IBAC inquiry was illegal. “Because IBAC is a bit like ICAC in NSW — that I’m familiar with — if there was a previous investigation or not, you can’t talk about it. You cannot give answers to those questions,” he said on Neil Mitchell’s Melbourne radio program.
He also said he couldn’t talk about the taping, Victoria Police was investigating and the Australian Federal Police could also launch an investigation.
Yet first thing Thursday morning, he announced he had talked to Byrne, had discussed the tapes, had sought an assurance Byrne had not done anything illegal and that he was co-operating with IBAC and police inquiries.
No legal impediments, no problem with separation of powers, no breach of IBAC rules and no influence on police inquiries.
A complete contradiction of the political and legal arguments Albanese used to avoid being drawn publicly into the political and legal vortex of power plays and corruption allegations.
This sudden change came after Albanese became aware of texts from Byrne to Somyurek revealed in The Australian that painted him as a close confidant of Somyurek, someone fighting against Albanese’s leadership predecessor, Bill Shorten, and someone deeply into the mock mafia tough-guy language that seems to infest Labor’s private conversations.
