Labor probe fails to find anyone responsible for ‘egregious’ conduct in branch linked to Lily D’Ambrosio

Despite revelations that signatures of dead people were forged on ALP membership forms in a branch linked to an Andrews cabinet minister, an internal probe finds ‘nothing to see here’.

Premier Daniel Andrews and his Minister for Energy and Resources Lily D'Ambrosio, who is at the centre of the branch stacking scandal. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Valeriu Campan

The Victorian Labor Party has found no one responsible for ­multiple forgeries behind re-­signing two dead men as members in a branch linked to an Andrews government cabinet minister, with the son of one of the men saying he would now consider going to police.

Despite party monitor John Thwaites saying the practice was “egregious” and “troubling”, the party attempted to shut down the issue after a 10-day investigation, releasing a letter late on Friday finding no one was to blame for signing up the dead men.

The families of the dead men expressed their disappointment that the party’s investigation, sparked by the Australian’s revelations last week of allegations of branch stacking in Climate Action Minister Lily D’Ambrosio’s Lalor South branch, did not go far enough.

Tom Donato, whose father Antonio’s membership was renewed in 2018 and 2019 despite his death in 2017, said that while he welcomed an apology from the party, the investigation was clearly inadequate.

In an email response to the ALP, he said the investigation fell “well short of acceptable”.

“I mentioned in my original letter that a formal complaint to Victoria Police would be considered if we were not satisfied with an internal investigation,” Mr Donato said. “Our family will be discussing our options over the weekend.”

He told The Weekend Australian: “I need to discuss it with my brother, but I’m of the opinion that we should go to the police. How could this be enough? They knew who was in the branch and who was running things. Someone has to take responsibility.”

‘I’m troubled that this occurred’

In his letter to acting Victorian ALP secretary Cameron Petrie, made public late on Friday, Mr Thwaites said that while his role had been established “to consider complaints by members and review the integrity of the current party membership, in this case it was appropriate for me to consider how the memberships of two people were renewed after they had passed away”.

“It is clear that the posthumous renewal of memberships was an egregious act and has caused upset to the families of the deceased. I am troubled that this occurred,” the former deputy premier wrote.

Read John Thwaites’ letter

“In this case, I have taken a number of steps to try to understand who was responsible for this conduct and what may have occurred. Among other things, I have obtained correspondence from, and spoken with, members who I considered may have been able to shed light on what appears to have occurred in the Lalor South branch in 2018 and 2019.”

The Australian revealed last week that less than 10 per cent of members – 13 of 132 – who were signed up to the Lalor South branch, in Melbourne’s north, in early 2020, continued to be registered following a membership audit conducted by former premier Steve Bracks and former federal deputy Labor ­leader Jenny Macklin.

Tom Donato’s late father Antonio Donato died, aged 82, in 2017 but had his signature forged on ALP membership forms in May 2018 and May 2019. Picture: Valeriu Campan

No other Victorian ALP branch lost more members in the Bracks-Macklin clean-out, which was commissioned by Premier Daniel Andrews following allegations in 2020 of branch-stacking being conducted by his factional enemy Adem Somyurek.

Mr Somyurek was expelled from the Labor Party, and the scandal ultimately ended the parliamentary careers of all of his prominent allies, including former ministers Marlene Kairouz, Luke Donnellan and Robin Scott.

Despite records given to The Weekend Australian that show Ms D’Ambrosio’s ALP branch was the only one in Victoria where 100 per cent of membership fees were paid by non-traceable means – in other words, cash – this was the first public scrutiny of allegations of branch-stacking within the Socialist Left faction, to which both the minister and the Premier belong.

Mr Andrews has defended Ms D’Ambrosio, whose power base was for years underpinned by the Lalor South branch, as an “outstanding minister” in the wake of the allegations, and dismissed called to refer the matter to corruption watchdog IBAC or to the police.

A 2021 joint IBAC and ­Ombudsman investigation, known as Operation Watts, ­focused exclusively on allegations concerning Mr Somyurek’s Mods faction.

‘Disgusting’ conduct

The leaked Labor records revealed that 113 of the 132 members of Ms D’Ambrosio’s branch were paying the minimum fee of $35 a year, on the basis that they held concession cards The Australian established through conversations with former long-term members of the branch that at least nine had no recollection of ever paying for their memberships.

Many were elderly members of the Italian community, including Mr ­Donato, who died in July 2017 aged 82, and Celestino Nigro, who died in September 2017 aged 77.

Donato’s and Nigro’s memberships were twice renewed posthumously, in May 2018 and May 2019, giving them continuity of membership until May 2020 Membership forms are required to be signed by members, meaning signatures for both were forged when their forms were submitted. ­It is not clear who forged the signatures.

Membership fees for both men were paid in cash.

Mr Nigro’s daughter Mary said that while the party had offered an apology, “more effort in investigating the culprits would have been appreciated.”

“It hasn’t changed what happened and the impact and disturbance it’s had on us as a family,” Ms Nigro said.

Both families made formal complaints to Mr Thwaites late last week.

When they were made aware of the use of their fathers’ identities, Mr Donato’s son Tom said he was “horrified” and described the conduct as “disgusting”, while Mr Nigro’s daughter Mary said she could not believe “that the Labor Party would go to the extent of forging my deceased ­father’s name to use that for their party benefit.”

Culprits ‘cannot be identified’

Having investigated the allegations, Mr Thwaites wrote that he could not be “satisfied, to a level commensurate with the seriousness of what has been alleged, that I am able to identify any particular member who was knowingly involved in a breach of the branch rules.”

Mr Thwaites said that through correspondence and discussions with him, members had “denied any involvement in forging signatures of, or completion of renewal forms for, members who had died or any other member; denied any involvement in the payment of membership fees on behalf of other members; denied breaching the Rules; and disavowed knowledge of who may have been involved or responsible.”

The Labor Party elder said the “overwhelming majority” of both the members of the Lalor South branch’s 2019 executive, and the members of the branch itself, had ceased to be members of the Victorian ALP.

“In light of the denials and explanations I have received, there is insufficient evidence to conclude that any particular person was responsible for renewing members posthumously or otherwise breaching the branch rules,” he wrote.

“While I have been unable to determine who was responsible, it is clear that such conduct was possible due to inadequate membership processes that left the Victorian branch vulnerable before the changes to the branch rules that were instigated by the Bracks Macklin Administration.

“Having reviewed the membership arrangements in light of the substantial changes made by the Administrators, I am confident that such conduct could not be repeated now.”

“In my view, the Administrators’ work was effective in removing non-genuine members from the membership and will otherwise protect the Victorian branch against those who seek to subvert its processes.

“Clearly, the legacy of the Administrators’ reforms is critically important to the branch’s future.

“A representative of the Victorian branch should issue an apology to the families of Celestino Nigro and Antonio Donato.”

Party apologises

In his own statement, Mr Petrie issued an apology.

“As Acting State Secretary, and on behalf of Victorian Labor, I sincerely apologise to the families affected for the distress and hurt caused by the renewal of the memberships of their deceased loved ones,” he said.

Mr Thwaites said smaller branches such as Lalor South had now been abolished and subsumed within larger branches with greater oversight and governance, cash and non-traceable payments had been banned, and the practice of “bulk-renewals’ was no longer available.

“I note that, following the Administration, only around six per cent of the 2019 Lalor South Branch membership remained members of the Victorian Branch.

“Presently, only six of those members are financial members. Further, only two members of the Lalor South Branch’s 2019 Executive remain members of the Victorian Branch.

“To this end, I do not consider the remaining members of the former Lalor South branch, all of whom pay their memberships by traceable means, represent a risk to the integrity of the current membership.