Federal election 2016: another ALP hopeful goes rogue over boats

Another Labor candidate has spoken out against key elements of her party’s asylum-seeker policy.

Labor candidate for Bradfield Katie Gompertz.

Another Labor candidate has ­spoken out against key elements of her party’s asylum-seeker policy, and suggested the ALP under Bill Shorten has become a “weakened right-wing” opposition.

In another blow to the Opposition Leader, who is battling internal dissent over his party’s support for boat turnbacks, The Australian can reveal that Katie Gompertz, Labor’s candidate for the Sydney seat of Bradfield, has become the 21st ALP candidate or MP to ­express concern about Australia’s near-bipartisan asylum-seeker policies. Ms Gompertz has been a strong critic of boat turnbacks and has ­advocated an end to the practice of detaining asylum-seekers.

The revelation came as Malcolm Turnbull ramped up his ­attack on Mr Shorten for “crab walking” towards the Greens on border protection. “They lack the conviction and they lack the commitment to keep our borders ­secure,” the Prime Minister said.

In Facebook posts, Ms Gompertz has said she agrees that “the Australian government has a disastrous obsession with stopping the boats”. She is also critical of the government for the practice of offshore detention, a policy revived by the Labor government in 2008.

“We live in a land of plenty, it even says we’d like to share it in our national anthem, wait what? Only with Anglo-Europeans/US/Canada/other Anglo nations? That makes no sense, oh you’re racist, I see, move along then. Seeking asylum is not a criminal offence so why do we lock them up? #notinmyname,” she says in an April 2015 post that is at odds with Labor’s support for offshore detention.

Ms Gompertz also used an opinion piece in March to advocate for a “moral outcry” against current asylum-seeker policies.

And in a direct criticism of Mr Shorten, Ms Gompertz shares a post from advocate Julian Burnside that says Australia has a ­“corrupt hard-right-wing Liberal government”, a “weakened, right-wing Labor opposition” and “no political leadership at all”.

Sharing the comment, Ms Gompertz says: “Oh dear. I fear he may be right!”

She also uses her Facebook page to rail against the deficit levy that Mr Shorten proposes to keep if he wins government, and ­describes the Australian Christian Democratic Party as “turds” and its supporters as “some of the most heinous people on this planet”.

“That new proposed debt tax can literally and figuratively go stick it’s (sic) head up it’s (sic) posterior! Thanks, another bill to pay on an already strained household budget!”

GRAPHIC: Shorten’s growing band of asylum rebels

Major Projects Minister Paul Fletcher, who holds the safe Liberal seat of Bradfield, said Ms Gompertz was another example of Labor’s divisions on border protection. “They’re divided on border protection, divided on penalty rates and out of touch with the concerns and aspirations of Australian families,” he said.

Ms Gompertz joins a growing number of Labor MPs and candidates at odds with Labor’s asylum-seeker policies. When contacted by The Australian, Ms Gompertz would not say whether she supported the ALP’s turnback policy. “I can’t answer that question. I can’t answer that question over the phone, only in writing.”

When questions were put to Ms Gompertz, a response was provided from Labor’s communications unit saying she was “excited to be part of a Labor team that will fully fund the Gonski education reforms and protect Medicare”.

“I fully support the Labor policy as adopted at national conference,” the statement said.

Seizing on the ALP’s divisions, Mr Turnbull invoked John Howard’s rallying cry for tough border protection and launched a savage attack on Mr Shorten, saying 25 candidates and backbenchers against the policy were “just the tip of the iceberg”. “They are the symptom of a fundamental problem ... which is that the Labor Party does not agree with the government’s strong policy on border protection,” Mr Turnbull said at a visit to the Port of Darwin.

Questioning whether deputy leader Tanya Plibersek wanted to “change” the framework, Mr Turnbull claimed his party was the only one that could deliver “strong leadership” on illegal boat arrivals.

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