Secret cameras, hit jobs: dark arts of Labor business exposed

Illustration: Johannes Leak

In this time of toppled monuments and liberal democracy under strain, it’s apt to revisit political icons for perspective. In Barton, in inner Canberra, there’s a sculpture of Labor’s John Curtin and Ben Chifley. It’s based on a 1945 photograph of the then prime minister and his treasurer strolling to work at the Old Parliament House.

When the public art was unveiled in 2011, former prime minister Julia Gillard spoke of a “humane and humble tribute” to two great patriots, one a radical journalist from the west, the other a railway engine driver from Bathurst.

Julia Gillard unveils the sculpture of John Curtin and Ben Chifley inspired by an iconic photograph by Don Stephens.

In that era, budding MPs did the rounds of union halls and mass meetings to “credential” themselves to the rank and file in the hope of winning party preselection. Labor had 150,000 members in the 1930s, but dropped to half of that by the 50s split. As Troy Bramston revealed, ALP membership stood at 53,550 at the end of 2017. But who can really tell?

The cataclysm in the Victorian ALP is at once spectacular — explosive texts, secret cameras, national intervention — and painfully familiar and banal. Premier Daniel Andrews sacked right-wing factional powerbroker Adem Somyurek amid allegations he had engaged in systematic branch stacking and used abusive, sexist language and homophobic slurs. Two other ministers resigned over allegations that they, too, were involved in branch stacking. Mr Andrews now says the problem “is unacceptable to me, unacceptable to all decent, hardworking rank-and-file members of our party and affiliate trade unions”. The Premier appears to relish crisis mode. Yet the scandal has shored up his position in the Byzantine tangle of factions, deals and enmities that, aside from Australian rules football’s tribalism, is the state’s blood sport.

Parties have used so-called “ethnic branch stacking”, across the nation, to bolster branch numbers in quick time. It goes on ceaselessly, even though it is against party rules. Why? First and foremost, it’s relatively cheap and very effective. Second, it’s tolerated to an extent. The sting that ensnared Mr Somyurek has set off a dozen theories about who and why, and what the long game may be. Game is the operative word. ALP preferment and patronage rewards those who put time and effort into the dark arts. It must be said most senior Labor figures cut their teeth in these shenanigans. The career path through unions and political offices attracts those skilled in gathering hard numbers, by foul means or fair. Serially underemployed staffers, warehoused in MPs’ offices, spend most of their time in these off-the-books endeavours of factional warfare and mischief in party branches. The ultimate prize for these bit players is to vault into a safe seat in state or federal parliament.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.

Adem Somyurek.

Little wonder so many MPs are underprepared for the real world of policymaking and arguing their case. Sure it was a long time ago, but Curtin and Chifley were schooled in the rough and tumble of manifest differences of belief and core values around wealth creation, fairness and social progress. The professionalisation of Labor politics, if that is what we can call it, has not only neutered passion for lasting change, it has seen a post-materialist shift to identity politics and niche cultural issues. It’s not surprising that ALP membership has plummeted as it obsesses over ideological battles with the green left. Labor can’t win this war and aspire to be a party of government.

Deep organisational defects — of union influence, narrow membership, lack of talent, confused beliefs — were exposed by Labor renegade Mark Latham in his tell-all Diaries in 2005. But they were spectacularly brought to the fore two years later when Kevin Rudd came to power. Next week marks the 10th anniversary of the coup, engineered below deck, which saw Ms Gillard become prime minister. It was an erratic, bloody and bitter two terms for Labor. As chronicled by Paul Kelly in Triumph and Demise, Labor’s “institutional malaise” infected the policies of the Rudd-Gillard show, as it handed power back to unions at the workplace, ditched the successful Hawke-Keating economic model and looked to “reassert state power”. The end point of policy and values decay was Bill Shorten’s dismal offering last election of class-war economics, social engineering and climate dogma.

Bill Shorten.

Kevin Rudd.

That’s the real damage from branch stacking, factional hits and careerism; it also pervades conservative politics, a discussion for another day. This internal tunnel vision is a huge turn-off for voters, at the very least, and perverts the democratic process. Such flaws of belief and structure always come home to roost in government, as occurred during Labor’s last stint in Canberra. In Victoria, we see risky adventures in bespoke social causes, virtually from end to end. Not all of this agenda is woke prancing, as Mr Andrews’s dalliance with Beijing’s perilous Belt and Road Initiative confirms. ALP stalwarts Steve Bracks and Jenny Macklin might be able to steady the ship until the new year, perhaps get rid of some stinky bilge water. But the real problems are structural and intensely personal. Unlike “humane and humble” nation builders Curtin and Chifley, today’s standard bearers and engine drivers are simply masters of the backroom dark and sly, sharp cleaver.