Judge orders Labor, unions into mediation over preselection fight
An internal war over the federal takeover of Victorian Labor has been ordered to mediation
An internal war over the federal takeover of Victorian Labor has been ordered to mediation, four days into a Supreme Court trial.
The National Executive seized control of the state branch in the middle of last year, following allegations of branch stacking involving former Andrews government minister Adem Somyurek.
Nearly a dozen unions launched legal action last month after the executive attempted to fast-track preselections in 22 federal seats, including those held by sitting members and the new seat of Hawke.
The 21 voting members of the body expected to endorse former Victorian ALP secretary Sam Rae — a factional ally of federal deputy leader Richard Marles — for the new seat on Melbourne’s northwestern outskirts.
The planned endorsement of Mr Rae was part of a “stability deal” agreed between the majority of Left and Right factions, which excluded key unions and factional allies of former federal leader Bill Shorten, Mr Somyurek and Left powerbroker Kim Carr.
Justice Tim Ginnane slapped an injunction on the preselections being declared until the outcome of the trial.
The intervention by the national executive indefinitely suspended voting rights for Victorian party members and gave the executive the powers to preselect candidates for Victorian seats.
Lawyers for the unions told the Supreme Court trial the intervention was illegal and affiliated unions and local members should control preselections.
However, Peter Willis SC, acting for Labor, portrayed the challenge as evidence of factional frustration from persons who have been “frozen out of the tent”.
“The plaintiffs are not humbled members of the party being denied their rights,” he said on Monday.
“They’re not foot soldiers of the true believers but they are displaced powerbrokers.”
Concurrently a second trial is running with former Andrews cabinet minister Marlene Kairouz’s action against the National Executive.
Ms Kairouz claims party administrators Steve Bracks and Jenny Macklin brought “trumped-up charges” of branch-stacking against her.
Mr Bracks and Ms Macklin struck 1800 people off the ALP membership list in the biggest purge of members in the party’s history.
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