Health Services Union cuts ties with NSW Labor, ‘not value for money’

One of the biggest political donors in NSW pulls the pin on Labor, saying it doesn’t believe the party represents ‘value for money’.

MAX MADDISON

Health Services Union NSW secretary Gerard Hayes. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Bianca De Marchi

less than 2 min read

3:51PMMarch 30, 2021.

Updated 4:09PMMarch 30, 2021

One of the most powerful unions and biggest political donors in NSW has disaffiliated itself from the state Labor Party, saying it doesn’t believe the party represents “value for money”.

Two weeks after the Health Services Union and Australian Workers Union released polling which showed Labor’s primary vote at 23.9 per cent, lower than the disastrous 2011 election,

the Health Services Union announced it would withdraw funding and part ways with the party.

“The Health Services Union has today resolved to disaffiliate from NSW Labor. A meeting of the Union Council determined it was dismayed with NSW Labor’s recent performance and saw little prospect of improvement,” a statement said.

NSW Labor Leader Jodi McKay. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

The simmering rift between the HSU’s general secretary Gerard Hayes and opposition leader Jodi McKay exploded into the public domain after the release of the polling, with Ms McKay likening it to tactics “straight out of the Eddie Obeid and Joe Tripodi playbook”.

“Our union is relentlessly member-focused. We no longer believe affiliation to NSW Labor represents value for money,” Mr Hayes said.

“We felt it was in the public interest to release this polling to the media to spark the honest, transparent conversation needed to trigger a revival of Labor’s fortunes. Unfortunately the leader of NSW Labor responded with personal insults.”

As one of the party’s biggest donors, the decision by the HSU takes a significant portion of NSW Labor’s union funding away at a critical juncture. With a by-election seemingly on the horizon, several senior Labor sources described the party’s financial position as perilous.

“This is her shooting herself in the foot and jumping off a cliff – it shows she doesn’t think two or three moves ahead,” one senior Labor source told The Australian. “She thought she won the battle but she’s lost the war.”