Stunning admission: Federal Labor MP admits to branch stacking

A factional player allegedly linked to warlord Adem Somyurek worked in the federal office of Kimberley Kitching, inquiry hears.

Anthony Byrne appears as a witness at IBAC.

A factional player allegedly linked to warlord Adem Somyurek worked for a time in the federal office of Victorian Labor Senator Kimberley Kitching, an inquiry has heard.

Federal Labor MP Anthony Byrne told an anti-corruption hearing that Mr Somyurek planted Burhan Yigit and Hakki Suleyman to work in his office.

Labor Senator Kimberley Kitching. Picture: Sean Davey.

He said they never turned up for work but were still paid by the taxpayer. He said Mr Somyurek told him Mr Suleyman had to work in a federal office because he had an adverse finding against him and was barred from working in Victoria.

Mr Byrne said he eventually ceased paying Mr Suleyman who was moved into other MPs office.

“I think one was in Senator Kitching’s office and I think there was some other offices,” he said.

The inquiry heard electoral and ministerial offices were regarded as “a currency to be deployed at the will of the faction”.

Mr Byrne said he feared retribution from Mr Somyurek if he did not employ his factional allies and he was once employed his son.

Senator Kitching on Monday confirmed Mr Suleyman worked for her as a casual electorate officer from 2019 to earlier this year.

“Mr Suleyman attended the office and performed electorate duties,” she said.

Neither Mr Suleyman or Mr Somyurek are in the same Victorian Labor faction as Senator Kitching.

Sources close to Senator Kitching said she is not close to Mr Somyurek, and she never discussed any employee in her office with either him or any other figure in Victorian Labor.

Mr Suleyman - a former staffer for Rudd-Gillard government ministers Stephen Conroy and Jacinta Collins - now works for Labor MP for Fraser Daniel Mulino.

“While the Fraser electorate office has been operating remotely for much of the last two years, Mr Suleyman has continued to work, undertaking his duties through a combination of remote work and attending the office as an essential worker,” Dr Mulino said.

Ballots would be destroyed, reissued

Federal Labor MP Anthony Byrne says to ensure their members voted for the candidates they wanted, Victorian factional operatives would destroy or dispose of ballot papers before asking for them to be reissued.

The reissued ballots would be then be re-completed with the factional lord’s choice, signed off and submitted to head office as the members vote.

When counsel assisting Chris Carr SC asked Mr Byrne if it was correct that about 40 per cent of the ballots issued in his electorate of Holt had to be reissued, the federal MP said “I wasn’t aware it was such a huge figure”.

The other tactic to boost votes was members signing envelopes containing blank ballot papers.

These would be collected by ministerial and electorate staff during work hours and weekends. The ballots would then be completed and submitted to Labor’s head office. 

The inquiry was shown a text message from Mr Byrne to Mr Somyurek asking him to send over his electorate officer Adam Sullivan to complete ballot papers.

“We have 210 ballot papers that need to be filled out today from what I‘ve just heard,” he said.

“I think we need Sullivan to come to my office to complete otherwise they won’t be done. “Then papers need to go to head office.... Can you authorise Sullivan to come here so he can assist others to fill out papers. Thanks.”

The inquiry heard the text was undated but it is believed to have been sent during the delegate elections for the 2018 national conference.

Mr Byrne said he believed the message would have been in reference to filling out ballot papers already signed.

“If you’re saying that somebody else filling in that ballot paper is forgery than that’s forgery,” he said.

Community group paid for preselection

Federal Labor MP Anthony Byrne said the Subcontinent Friends of Labor wanted an Indian MP in Victorian Parliament in exchange for their support, which was granted by Mr Somyurek.

He said Kaushaliya Vaghela was duly elected representing the Western Metro region in the Upper House.

Mr Byrne said he believed Subcontinent Friends of Labor were paying for the memberships.

“There are so many people turning up they couldn‘t be paying their own memberships,“ he said.

Labor aspirant paid $5k for seat

An aspiring Labor politician paid $5,000 to factional heavyweights after being “led to understand” he would gain preselection for the federal seat held by Mark Dreyfus, an inquiry has heard.

Federal Labor MP Anthony Byrne said money from fundraisers was kept in a kitty in his office to pay for membership renewals to boost factionary numbers and political hopefuls were expected to contribute.

In an example of a substantial contribution, Mr Byrne said Steve Michelson paid $5,000 to Adem Somyurek because he was interested in the seat of Isaacs after Mr Dreyfus retired to “garner factional support”.

Mr Byrne said Mr Michelson was approached and asked to pay the fee, with the political aspirant “led to believe” he would gain preselection for the federal seat.

“Adem [Somyurek] advised me this was asked of him [Michelson],” he said.

Mr Michelson refuted Mr Byrne’s testimony and said he had never paid for anyone’s membership other than his own or participated in branch stacking.

“Whilst I have made many donations to the Party and to individual campaigns, I have always understood those donations to be for standard and legitimate campaign costs,” he said.

“Mr Byrne’s evidence was a report of a conversation he had with Adem Somyurek. It is mere hearsay, and should be treated as such.

“I condemn in the strongest terms anyone who has systemically breached the Party’s rules or engaged in corrupt conduct.

“I look forward to the opportunity to clear my name, using whatever remedies are available to me including under defamation laws for anyone who makes slanderous comments of

this nature.”

Mr Byrne said he and Mr Somyurek had a falling out in November 2019, telling the IBAC inquiry that he asked ministerial adviser Nick McLennan to record the “lunatic rants” of Mr Somyurek.

He said he was angry with how Mr Somyurek was treating people.

“The ongoing reports I had of Mr Somyurek berating, ringing all hours day and night, pushing people to do things they didn’t want to do,” he said.

Mr Byrne said Nick McLennan worked for him before transferring to the office Marlene Kairouz but was regularly called by Mr Somyurek.

Mr Byrne said ordering taxpayer funded office staff to perform political work for Labor during work hours was “widely practiced” and head office felt powerless to stop it.

Federal Labor MP admits to branch stacking

Federal Labor MP Anthony Byrne says he, Adem Somyurek and Victorian Child Protection Minister Luke Donnellan paid thousands of dollars to renew party memberships on behalf of others.

Mr Byrne said Victorian Labor MP Tim Richardson was also part of the southeast alliance but he was unsure how much he had spent on memberships.

He said it was practice for aspiring politicians to “pay their share” and boost their faction’s numbers, increasing influence over preselections and votes on state and national conference delegates.

He said the administrative committee - that runs the Victorian Labor Party - is elected at state and national conference.

Mr Byrne said he became part of the southeast alliance with the rival left faction in an attempt at a “demilitarisation” of branch stacking, saying the practice “rips the soul out of the Labor Party and the community.

Luke Donnellan. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Sarah Matray

Victorian Labor ‘was completely out of control’

Federal Labor MP Anthony Byrne says the Victorian ALP was “completely out of control”, telling an anti-corruption inquiry he witnessed branch stacking and the coercion of ministerial staff.

Mr Byrne is appearing before the Independent Broadbased anti-Corruption Commission to answer questions about branch stacking and misuse of public office allegations.

Mr Byrne said former state MP Adem Somyurek was taking over the ALP, driven by “the sole objective of power and power alone”. 

“I thought the party was completely out of control,” he said.

“I saw and heard things I just didn’t think I’d ever see in a modern Labor Party.

“I’ve heard about them, seen them in the 90s [but] never thought I’d see them again.”

The inquiry heard after the joint inquiry between IBAC and the Victorian Ombudsman was launched, Mr Byrne texted “Some hope for the issues we’ve talked about for years” to a fellow party member.

Mr Byrne said he had been involved in branch stacking and he had been assisted by factional heavyweights when he obtained preselection for the seat of Holt in the late 1990s.

He said he had paid for other people’s memberships and said there was a well entrenched system by which that took place.

“I recall some memberships can’t be too specific about the ones I may have paid for,” he said.

IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich QC granted the Victorian ALP and Mr Somyurek leave to appear via Zoom and cross examine Mr Byrne, saying the party had a “substantial and direct interest” as interested parties.

The office of Mr Byrne was used to film then Victorian MP Adem Somyurek allegedly engaging in branch stacking and ordering electoral staff to undertake political work on behalf of the party during office hours.

Mr Byrne served as assistant minister to former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Adem Somyurek speaking in Victorian Parliament last year. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

His political adviser Ellen Schreiber is due to give testimony on Tuesday.

Ms Schreiber worked as an officer manager for the Department of Premier and Cabinet until August 2019 before she relocated to Canberra to work for Mr Byrne.

Adam Sullivan, former electorate officer to the member of Clarinda Meng Heang Tak, is scheduled to give evidence on Wednesday.

Headed by commissioner Robert Redlich QC, the Independent Broadbased anti-Corruption Commission will on Monday begin hearings into allegations of serious corrupt conduct by public officials and politicians.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says significant reform has been undertaken within the state ALP ahead of the explosive inquiry.

Mr Andrews on Sunday declined to say whether he would be called to give evidence for Operation Watts, which is part of a co-ordinated investigation between the corruption watchdog and Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass.

“They’ve (IBAC) got resources, they’ve got powers and they’ve got a reference from me,” Mr Andrews said.

“My signature is on the letter (and) I’ve asked them to go and do this.”

Mr Andrews said as leader of the Victorian ALP he had already implemented significant reform of the party, as he refused to be drawn on whether he would sack any MPs that emerged as corrupt during hearings.

“Where I had a role to play more directly as leader of my party, we have made very significant changes (and) very significant reform,” he said.

“Not to say that journey’s over but I’ll leave it to the secretary and others to comment on that but it wouldn’t make much sense for me to be running an inquiry jointly with you guys while IBAC are doing that very same work.”

Operation Watts was launched as a joint investigation between the Victorian ombudsman and IBAC after claims on 60 Minutes about the misuse of public resources by Labor minister Adem Somyurek, who subsequently lost his ministerial position and was ejected from the ALP.

In the fallout from these branch stacking allegations, the ALP’s national executive ordered an audit of the Victorian ALP’s membership and 4500 of the ALP’s 16,000 members were taken off the party’s books.

Labor’s long-running practice of planting factional chiefs in taxpayer-funded jobs is expected to be a key focus of hearings.