ALP scraps national conference over by-elections clash

Labor has deferred its national conference because of an overlap with the ‘Super Saturday’ by-elections.

Malcolm Turnbull meets workers with disabilities in Gosford, NSW, yesterday. Picture: AAP

Labor has deferred its national conference because of an overlap with the “Super Saturday” by-elections, accusing the government of “blatantly partisan” tactics and ­interference with the Australian Electoral Commission.

ALP national president Mark Butler said the timing of the five by-elections on July 28 would disenfranchise “half a million Australians for at least four weeks longer than necessary”. Bill Shorten said it was a “sneaky and tricky ­manoeuvre”.

The decision to delay the ­national conference will avoid ­potentially damaging public ­debates over Labor’s position on asylum-seekers, border security and Middle East policy in the two days leading up to and including the July 28 by-election.

The ALP national executive will meet on Wednesday to determine the “earliest practicable date for a rescheduled conference”.

Malcolm Turnbull said attacks on the independence of the AEC were “outrageous” and blamed the Opposition Leader for the polling date, saying Labor MPs who were ineligible for parliament should have resigned last year.

“If Bill Shorten had wanted to have the by-elections in these electorates earlier, his members should have done the right thing,” the Prime Minister said.

Mr Butler, who said the timing “stinks of interference by Turnbull with the independent electoral commission”, warned that an early federal poll had the potential to force the Labor Party into an election without holding its national conference.

The July 28 date was recommended to the Speaker, Tony Smith, by Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers as the “optimal” choice to  ensure changes to the nomination process were effectively ­implemented.

Bill Shorten, centre, with plans for the Petrie campus of the University of the Sunshine Coast. Picture: Alan Quinney

The changes are aimed at ­ensuring greater compliance with section 44 of the Constitution, which prevents dual citizens from sitting in parliament. Four of the five by-elections are the result of MPs failing to meet the requirements of section 44, with three of them being from the Labor Party.

In his letter, dated May 23, Mr Rogers said: “The AEC will require time to implement, fully and lawfully, the proposed changes to the nominations process.

“The AEC ­estimates that it ­requires approximately two weeks to implement these changes.”

He suggested the work might be completed sooner, but warned of “the potential impact on the ability of candidates to comply if implementation is significantly truncated”.

Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese suggested the selection of July 28 was politically compromised. He also took a swipe at Mr Rogers’s advice to the Speaker.

“On what basis was that date chosen as the optimal date?” he told ABC radio. “One would have thought that the Electoral Commissioner would have taken into account events that were happening on that date.”

Mr Turnbull said the AEC was “utterly impartial” after Labor Senate leader Penny Wong suggested it had made a partisan decision. “It was outrageous of the Labor Party to make those accu­sations or inferences. The reasoning behind the date was all set out clearly,” Mr Turnbull said.

Mr Butler said the by-elections could have been on June 30 but conceded the AEC would need to update its “candidates’ handbook that it used as recently as the Batman by-election”. The handbook stated that those standing for parliament needed to take “reasonable steps” to relinquish citizenship rights — a position left outmoded by the High Court.