Labor Party can’t survive without radical reform

Anthony Albanese’s National Press Club address was bookended by turmoil in Victoria and NSW. Picture: AAP

Labor leader Anthony Albanese is stalked by allegations of the party’s corruption and foreign interference. The National Press Club launch of his bold new vision for it was bookended by scandals affecting NSW and Victorian branches. Albanese has tried to distance himself from the MPs at the centre of the unfolding drama, but the media has exposed their shared history. The Labor Party is at the threshold of a new Cold War between the West and the rest, but Albanese is too busy shadow boxing with climate politics to realise the enormity of the moment.

When corruption sets into an organisation, it takes radical action to eliminate it. To date, Labor has demonstrated a willingness to punish some perpetrators but little commitment to investigating the question of how corrupt men have come to hold its senior positions. That onerous task will be left to the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission, which confirmed this month it would investigate allegations of corrupt conduct, including widespread branch-stacking.

Last week I wrote on the branch-stacking scandal in Victoria. Albanese and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, both from the party’s Left, denied knowledge about MP Adem Somyurek’s alleged use of ethnic groups to stack branches in exchange for safe Labor seats. Albanese said he barely knew Somyurek. But news.com.au later revealed the denial was false. As well as having sat on the ALP’s national executive together, Albanese and Somyurek shared a private meeting at the Hyatt in Melbourne two years ago.

The optics for Labor were already bad. On Friday, the situation worsened. Australian Federal Police executed search warrants on the home and parliamentary office of NSW Labor MLC Shaoquett Moselmane, as well as his staffer, John Zhang. Intelligence agencies are investigating whether they are the subject of foreign interference by Chinese government agents.

In recent years, Moselmane has lavished praise on China, including the founder of the CCP, Mao Zedong, whom historians hold responsible for the deaths of an estimated 45 million people. He has spoken in glowing terms about China’s Belt and Road Initiative and criticised conservative government in Australia for prioritising our strategic partnership with the US in foreign policy.

Moselmane recalls first travelling to China in 1997 while a councillor at the then Rockdale city council. He is recorded in Hansard in November 2017 saying: “Before I commence my adjournment speech on Australia-China relations, I make a declaration of interest. Ever since I was a young man I have had a great fascination with China … My amazement with China has never ceased — in fact it grows by the day … Australia must see its future in the Asia-Pacific region … We must do away with the deep-seated Sinophobia that appears to underline and drive our foreign policy.”

Under the foreign interference laws introduced by the Coalition, it is illegal for MPs to act on behalf of a foreign power with the aim of influencing government. At the time of writing, no charges had been laid against Moselmane.

The spectre of Labor corruption and foreign interference in Australia’s two most populous states is not helped by Victoria’s socialist Labor government signing up to the BRI. It went soft on the Chinese government and criticised Australia’s response to the CCP’s cover-up about the origins of COVID-19. As I wrote last month, Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas defended the Chinese government during a coronavirus inquiry, saying its decision to suspend Australian meat imports was a result of language that “seemed to vilify China”.

Like former senator Sam Dastyari, who resigned over concerns about his relations with CCP agents, Moselmane and Somyurek have both made multiculturalism a central feature of their political lives. In his maiden speech, Somyurek thanked the former Liberal member Neil Lucas and candidate Mick Moreland for not playing the “anti-Muslim card, which I am sure would have had resonance in the electorate”. He praised the Labor Party for its egalitarian ethos in contrast to the Howard government, which he claimed had pitted social groups against each other. Somyurek was later caught on film pitting ethnicities against each other as a part of branch-stacking activities.

Moselmane said his entry to the House was proof that Australia was inclusive. He felt “deeply conscious” of representing Labor, the party of the fair go, and noted a special interest in his status as the first Australian of “Arabic-Lebanese-Muslim heritage” to enter NSW parliament. He is an ardent supporter of indigenous rights and established the Multicultural and Indigenous Media Awards. In 2014, he launched the National Indigenous Human Rights Awards.

Earlier this year, Moselmane praised Xi Jinping’s response to COVID-19 and claimed Australian criticism of the CCP management of the viral outbreak was racist. He resigned as assistant president of the NSW upper house after footage of his praise for Xi went public. The editor of the Australasian Muslim Times, Zia Ahmed, claimed Moselmane was the victim of a witch-hunt by pro-Israel lobbyists. In a front-page article, he held News Corp responsible for the “disgraceful treatment” of the politician.

Former social work professor and the founder of the Sydney Peace Foundation, Stuart Rees, also contends Moselmane has been unfairly targeted. In a blog post last month, he described Moselmane as a “generous, selfless parliamentarian” and a “significant human rights advocate”. Anthony Pun, president of the Chinese Community Council of Australia, issued a reply on behalf of it and the Multicultural Communities Council of NSW. He complained Moselmane was the victim of character assassination and warned: “Shaoquett is an identifiable vote-catching asset for his party and commands a sizeable support of (the) Chinese-Australian community … competition for Chinese-Australian votes whether it is for local, state or federal elections, is tough and sudden changes in swing votes could unseat an incumbent.” No prizes for subtlety.

The Labor Party is mired in a corrupt politics of its own design. If it looks bad, the reality is worse. The party cannot survive without radical reform.